Win 7 Pro-System Images & System RestoreMy OS is Win 7 Pro 32 bit. I

[royw]

Win 7 Pro-System Images & System RestoreMy OS is Win 7 Pro 32 bit. I

My OS is Win 7 Pro 32 bit.
I created a System Image using the feature in Control Panel-Backup and Restore-and saved the image on one of my 3 internal drives. When I click Restore My Files I am told "there are no backups at this location" and if I choose Restore from another location again no backups are found. If I boot from my system repair disk I can access the system image I created. Does this mean that system images can only be restored using either a system repair disk or the Windows installation dvd?
Apart from the above I am puzzled about System Restore. When I open it various System Image restore points dating back to July are shown, yet whenever I create a system image I first delete the previous one, and the only one I can find on my computer is the one I created yesterday, being the one that shows up when I boot from my system repair disk. All the system image restore points listed in System Restore appear to be valid, in the sense that if I select any of them, and choose scan for affected programs, a list of programs that will be deleted and programs that will be restored is shown, but how can this be when I have previously deleted the Windows Image backups referred to. Moreover, I ran command prompt as an administrator and used the vssadmin Delete All command to delete all restore points and was told the command completed successfully. (I then created an up to date restore point on each drive).
Assuming the vssadmin command did not in fact delete the old system image restore points, how do I find and delete them?
Help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks and regards,
Roy Whitethread

 

[gregrocker]

I would not worry or count upon your Image being functional via System Restore. The most reliable way to Restore Using an Image is using the DVD or Repair CD and a stored image on another HD which is placed in the root and named exactly as original.

 

[royw]

Hi gregrocker,

Thanks, but could you please explain exactly what you mean by "placed in the root and named exactly as original." (Forgive my ignorance. I'm trying hard to learn from Forums like this).

Regards,
Roy

 

[mjf]

Root means it's a first level folder under the disk letter.
Or say we mean disk c: then the root is c:\.
The exact name that Windows recognises is WindowsImageBackup.
If WindowsImageBackup is in a sub folder or c:\subfolder\WindowsImageBackup Windows will not recognise it. Simply move it to c:\WindowsImageBackup and Windows recognises it.
Change the name to WindowsImageBackup_xxxx it won't be recognised. Rename it back to WindowsImageBackup it will be recognised.

 

[royw]

Thanks gregrocker and mjf. I took ownership of System Volume Information on my C drive, and found the old System Image restore points resided there. I deleted them and System Restore is back to normal now.

Regards,
Roy