trying to restore system winimage 64bit to 32 bit system

[mzc]

Hello, here’s my situation. I have 2 dell laptops, one is 32 bit (running win 7 ultimate), the other is a 64 bit (inspiron 14R) (was) running win 7 home premium. I’m currently overseas and the HD died on the 64 bit. Dell Thailand came and installed a new HD. BUT I have no win7 disk for that pc. I thought I was safe because I backed up all my files, etc (using easeus sw) and I had made a win7 restore disk, and I had a system image (winimage) that I could restore.

In my silliness, I thought I needed to put an OS on the pc before I could restore the winimage. I had forgotten that one pc is 32 bit and the other 64 bit. My actions and problems are…

- Installed win7 ultimate 32 bit on the 64 bit pc
- After successful installation tried to do a restore from the winimage (following instructs from these forums). The msg I get is: ‘the selected system image cannot be restored in this recovery environment’ is this because the winimage was made from a 64 bit system and I am trying to restore it to a 32 bit??
- Then I tried to use the restore disk I made for the 64 bit pc. It bombed with error msg: ‘error 4001100200001012’

I have researched online these 2 msgs and I get nowhere. The new HD is exactly the same size as the old HD. I even uninstalled the 32 bit win7 and tried to use the 64 bit recovery disk. No go. I tried to use the recovery disk from the 32 bit pc. It worked (I read online that it makes no difference which pc made the recovery disk), but I was still not able to restore my win image.

I really don’t want to reinstall all the programs (a lot) on the pc again and set up all my preferences. On the dell website I submitted the form asking that they send me the win7 OS disk to my USA address. I should be back in the US in a few months. I haven’t heard from dell so don’t even know if they will send it to me.

That’s the saga, my more specific questions would be:

- Does it make a difference that the current windows on the 64 bit pc is 32 bit and I’m trying to restore a 64 bit system image made from windows itself? Should I be able to do this?
- If so, any advice on how to do this?
- if i cannot do this, any issues with running the 32 bit win 7 ultimate on the 64 bit laptop? i have some 64 bit sw, must i now use 32 bit sw?

Thanks in advance
z

 

[VistaKing]

Hi mzc

♦ If you need a Windows 7 installation disc look at the link below .

:ar: Windows 7 Direct Download Links

   Note

Just use the Product Key you have for the version of the OS you have

♦ You could not upgrade a 32-bit OS to a 64-bit OS . You would have to do a clean installation of the 64-bit OS . If the laptop has more than 2GB of RAM I'd personally have a 64-bit OS on the laptop . Now for software a 32 bit OS can't install a 64 -bit application . A 64-bit OS could install both applications 32-bit and 64-bit .

♦ Might want to take a look at this link as well

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

♦ Here is a tutorial that will show you how to have one DVD with both 64 and 32 bit OS versions

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/85813-windows-7-universal-installation-disc-create.html

 

[mzc]

hello vistaking,
thank you for you quick response! now, if i understand you, you are saying i can:
- download the 64bit win 7 home premium & use my prod key to install it? it will automatically 'install' over the 32 bit win ultimate?
- & then i can do the system image restore so i don't need to reinstall all the programs again?
thanks,
z

 

[VistaKing]

No you would have to format the drive to install 64-bit OS . Which means you will need to reinstall the software .

The link I provided you with is just the OS . You would have to pick which OS you want . For example if you need an Ultimate x64 bit ISO download the Ultimate x64 ISO if you need a 32 bit download the 32 bit .

   Note

If you have a Product key for Home Premium it will not work for Ultimate

Take a look at this link . It will show you how to create a Windows 7 USB FLASH DRIVE

♦ http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html

 

[mzc]

sorry, i'm not understanding you.
as i write i am downloading win7 home premium x64 - which is what was originally on the dell 64bit & for which i have the prod key.
ultimately what i would like is to get 64 bit sw back on the 64 bit pc & THEN use my winimage of that same pc (before the HD died) to restore it the way it was. is this possible?

you say i need to format the pc. the pc was originally 64 bit when it was shipped from dell. so are you saying that because i loaded 32 bit win7 on it, i need to reformat it now (any tutorials you know to help with this?)

after i do the reformat, i would need to do a clean install from the file i am now downloading?

then after i do the clean install i should theoretically be able to do the restore from the winimage?
thanks

 

[VistaKing]

To go from 64-bit to 32-bit OS you would need to do a clean installation

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

From a clean install of Windows . Install the programs you want to install then create an image

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html


If you have the winimage disk that you created of the 64 bit you may use it

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html

What did you use to Create the winimage ?

 

[mzc]

hi again.
perhaps i am misunderstanding you. this is what i have done:
- had a 64 bit dell laptop running win7 home premium x64
- the HD died & dell installed a new one
- i installed 32 bit win7 ultimate.
- tried to restore winimage so i don't need to restore all programs/settings. it didn't work
- assuming/hoping/thinking that if i get the PC back to 64bit OS, the winimage restore will work
- the winimage was made on the dell before the HD died (hw 64bit & win7 64 bit). i made the winimage using the windows software.
thanks for your patience

 

[VistaKing]

To do a restore of an image you don't need to have an OS installed .

See if this link will help

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html

But if you have an OS already installed you need to wipe the hard drive them restore the image .

Did you get an error massage when you tried to restore the image ? What did it say if you received one

 

[mzc]

yes, in my initial posting i wrote:

Installed Windows 7 ultimate 32 bit on the 64 bit pc
- After successful installation tried to do a restore from the winimage (following instructs from these forums). The msg I get is: ‘the selected system image cannot be restored in this recovery environment’
is this because the winimage was made from a 64 bit system and I am trying to restore it to a 32 bit??
- Then I tried to use the restore disk I made for the 64 bit pc. It bombed with error msg: ‘error 4001100200001012’

I have researched online these 2 msgs and I get nowhere. The new HD is exactly the same size as the old HD. I even uninstalled the 32 bit Windows 7 and tried to use the 64 bit recovery disk. No go.

the winimage would not be restored. i faithfully followed the instructs from these forums.

thanks.

 

[VistaKing]

Did you try to restore the image like this

:ar: How To Restore Windows 7 from a System Image

Added : See If this what happened to you

:ar: windows 7 recover disk fails with 0X4001100200001012 - Microsoft OS Forum - Software & Operating Systems - Dell Community

 

[mzc]

yes, but
when the screen for 'select a system image backup' displayed, the button for 'use the latest available system image...' could not be used. i could not click on that.
so i used the bottom button for 'select a system image'. then it found my image on the external HD (attached via usb) & i was set to go. then i got the msg, '‘the selected system image cannot be restored in this recovery environment’

 

[VistaKing]

I'm reading that the issue is due to Dell having its own image restore software called DataSafe . Do you have a non Dell PC you could test the image ?

Question : When you created the image did you get a message saying that it was created successfully ? Reason I ask is cause I am also reading it has it do with either the image creation didn't complete or the burn speed was too fast.

Source : http://www.justanswer.com/computer/5i90v-dell-inspiron-inn-one-suddenly-refuses.html

 

[mzc]

yes, when i tried to use the original recovery disk made on the 64bit dell, i received that msg.

 

[VistaKing]

Did you test your hard drive

 

[mzc]

the new HD was tested & passed everything

 

[VistaKing]

I'm taking a wild guess here after reading a lot of people who have Dells and got the same error message " error 4001100200001012 " using the Windows 7 Version of the backup creation of the OEM windows not a clean installation .

That error is a Dell error

Added : Is the new hard drive the same size as the old one ?

 

[mzc]

yes, i agree. so now i am still wanting to do a clean install of win7 home premium x64 & the HOPEFULLY do a restore of the system winimage. i don't want to have to re-install all my other programs & all my preferences...

the problem now is not the dell issue with the recovery disk. the issue now is the error msg: ‘the selected system image cannot be restored in this recovery environment’. i am thinking i get this msg because the OS is x32 & the winimage was made from the laptop when is was OS x64 .

what is the point of the winimage if i can't get it back on the pc? beyond frustrating

 

[mzc]

ahh, i just saw this from you:
'Question : When you created the image did you get a message saying that it was created successfully ? Reason I ask is cause I am also reading it has it do with either the image creation didn't complete or the burn speed was too fast.

Source : http://www.justanswer.com/computer/5...y-refuses.html'

good point. i had made winimages before & restored them on the laptop. the one i am trying to restore now i had never needed to restore from before. but, when i made it, it gave no error msg

 

[VistaKing]

The error message " The selected system image cannot be restored in this recovery environment " . Are you using a 64 bit OS to boot off ?

 

[mzc]

i tried it from the 64 OS recovery (which doesn't work) so never got far because of the error msg (string of numbers....)
so then i tried it from the 32OS recovery disk - & got The selected system image cannot be restored in this recovery environment "

i tried it from within windows proper, going to the control panel / backup & recovery / under restore, 'recover system settings or your computer'
same msg: The selected system image cannot be restored in this recovery environment "