Superb tutorial thanks, exactly what i was doing since i bought windows 7 (and laptop), my old PC had windows xp and the backup system sucks comparing with this so in the past i had to use copy partition that comes with western digital data life diagnostic, but this is better and works all the time.
milanmpq posted a problem getting his system image recognized on 9-1-09, post #12. I have the same problem: I created a system image on a network drive, carefully noting the credentials and folder path. I booted to the System Repair Disk that I had created with the MS Win 7-64 Ultimate OS Backup and Recovery function, and went to Advanced, selected Network, put in the \\path exactly as reported when created, put in credentials exactly as created when the System Image was created, etc., and I get the same error as milanmpq: The network path was not found. (0x8007035) I have another computer on the same network so I have verified that the boot OS is connecting to the router (it reports a domain name which appears on the router's DHCP client list, further the NAS is also listed in the router DHCP client list and accessible from the other computer on the network (right down to the folder/files constituting the System Image). The System Image is just created--no changes in name, path, etc. This NAS doesn't require credentials, but I followed the Win Help instructions on this and created the required credentials when creating the Image.
What I wonder is if there is some trick in this. Is the path name case sensitive? I have tried pretty much every possible verision upper/lower etc. Or does this function simply not work? Has anyone been able to access their System Image stored on a NAS? Too bad, as I had hoped to use the canned function in my Ultimate instead of buying ShadowProtect, but I may have to see if the ShadowProtect trial version can handle this--bet so.
I did try Markah1's suggestion in the many path name iterations I attempted--didn't work.
Anyone else? Does System Image Recovery from a network not really work?
I got access to my System Image on the NAS. Here is the trick: specify the path using the NAS's IP, not name. In my case, I had been specifying the network name of the NAS: \\dlink-0766E\Volume_1\etc. Instead I put: \\192.168.1.3\Volume_1\etc. Viola, I was on to the next error (but I was past the network access hurdle).
Next error? Not relevant to this post (but maybe to the thread/tutorial), but I got a very long winded error and possible 1) excluded disk a. b. c., 2) USB drives a. b. 3) invalid system disk a. solution message ending (0x80042412). The short answer is that when creating my System Image I had excluded the second physical disk in the computer (as it was empty and was just in for a hardware check before I intended to put my System Image on it--a new HD). I only wanted an image of the C:drive, not the H:drive (2nd physical disk in for testing) as it was empty anyway. So before the attempted System Image Recovery I pulled the C:drive, swapped what had been the H:drive to its position, and attempted the recovery. (I figured that I would be fine as the H:drive would be completely reformatted to the Image of the C:drive.) But no, as I had excluded the H:drive from the Image, somehow the Recovery wouldn't write to it. So now I am creating another System Image with only one physical drive in the computer (thus no excluded drive letters, etc.). Then I will reattempt cloning the C:drive to the new HD. If my supposition about (0x80042412) is wrong I will be back. (That error also goes into USB disk issues and invalid system disks.) Maybe I could have reformatted that H:drive from the Win RE first before attempting the System Image Recovery and the process then wouldn't have recognized it as from the excluded list. Whatever.
Last edited by XB77; 14 May 2010 at 14:59. Reason: spelling
Good day. I don't know if this question has been answered yet, but would just like to ask if it would be possible for me to install windows 7 using system image recovery on a NEW 160ssd? my previous hardrive where my OS is installed now is a 500gb 5400rpm. Thank you in advance.
Hello Louj, and welcome to Seven Forums.
Yes, you can restore a system image to another hard drive like that as long as there is enough space on it for the image. :)
thanks for the very quick response. on that note, I'll go and purchase the ssd now and be on my merry way. =) thanks again brink. will be posting if I would experience any difficulties. fingers crossed.
Hopefully not. Just be sure to not move or rename the image backup folder to avoid any possible issues with Windows 7 being able to detect it when you're ready to restore it.
Last edited by Brink; 21 May 2010 at 12:18.
OK, I am trying to do a recovery, but I'm stuck on steps 4-5. My Select a System Image list is empty. I have roughly half a dozen system images that I manually made with Windows 7 backup tools. I was backing up C:, which is a single system partition/disk, onto a partition on a larger, separate drive. However, (as I've read in this thread this is important), I not only renamed the folders, I also moved them.
Backup was set up to image onto K:\WindowsImageBackup and I moved them to K:\Backups\ and renamed them by adding a date so I have folders WindowsImageBackup1-12-10 and WindowsImageBackup2-15-10 and so on. I did this because I was worried every new image would overwrite the first (which probably wasn't a valid concern), but now I am learning that recovery can no longer see these backup images because of the move and/or rename?
What am I to do now? Anything? Thanks!
Hello Blotsome,
It's a slim chance, but you might see if renaming the main backup folder that you want to restore with back to WindowsImageBackup may be able to allow Windows to see it afterwards. If not, then copy it back to K: to see if it may.
Hope this helps,
Shawn
Renaming by itself did not work. But I then tried it moving it back to the original location, and it was able to see that system image and I recovered fine.
In the future, if I want to create a system image, if I choose say K:, will it overwrite my old system image? I'm creating the system images manually, should I just set up Windows Backup instead? I didn't want to do that because I didn't want any system resources going to something like that, and I wanted full control over when I make backups and such (I like having a very minimal system). Probably those concerns aren't warranted, but I'm worried about a program always running in the background, or system back up running at a bad time for me or something like that, you know?
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