System Image Recovery - Can't find System Image

Anonymous

I am trying to restore a backup system image to my repaired PC. It is wiped clean. I have the "Repair Disc Windows 7 64 Bit" that I created in Windows 7. Using Windows 7 Backup I have a system image backup on an external WD Essentiasl 1TB USB Hard Drive.

I insert the Repair Disc and start the system. Get to System Recoevery Options. I have the external Hard Disk with the system backup image connected. Select System Image Recovery option. Says "Windows cannot find a system image on this computer. Attach the backup hard disk or insert the final DVD from a bckup set and click retry. Alternatively, close this dialog for more options. Retry gives me the same message. Tried starting with drive attached, not attached, same result. Click cancel.

Next option selected is "Select a system image." No system image listed. Hit refresh, still nothing. Top of screen says "Click Advanced to add a network location or install a driver for a backup device if it does not show up in the list below." I click on the Advanced tab. Option to "Search for a system image on the network" or "Install a driver." I select install a driver. Find the right driver for the WD Essential hard drive (disk.sys and partmgr.sys) and when I click on them I get "The specified location does not contain information about your hardware." Click OK. Can't find how to load these drivers I am being asked for.

Funny thing is that on the screen where I search for driver I can see the WD Essential Hard Drive connected to the system. I can also see the system image files but when I click on them I get the same error message, "The specified location does not contain information about your hardware."

Please HELP. This is very frustrating!!!

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Anonymous

While in Repair Mode, you have an option to open a Command Prompt. From there try the following commands:

Mountvol

(This command will show you all available drives, including your external disk)

dir Q:

(Replace Q: with one drive letter at a time from the letters that the mountvol command showed you, e.g.

dir D:

dir E:

etc.

until you see a folder "WindowsImageBackup" on the screen. Let's assume it is F:\WindowsImageBackup.

dir F:\WindowsImageBackup /s

(This command should show you the contents of the image folder, with files totalling more than 10 GBytes)

Now perhaps this image folder is missing, incomplete or inaccessible.

I have to add that I am disappointed with the native imaging facility under Windows 7. It is temperamental and its functionality is extremely limited. I recently bought myself a copy of Acronis TrueImage 10 and its is to the Windows imaging tool like a fully functional motor cycle is to a child's tricycle. Other brand imaging tools are just as functional - just make sure that they are certified for Windows 7.

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95 additional answers

Anonymous

2016-06-17T01:34:15+00:00

Thanks Amanda great input

Never occurred to me that images of both W10 and W7 in the same folder would cause a problem. Interesting that this problem is only with the W7 repair disk, the W10 repair disk does find all images when mixed.
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Anonymous

2016-06-17T02:48:08+00:00

Frederick that was a life saver. I now know about VHDs. I would point out that this VHD method does not work with an external USB connect drive. I have to remove the drive from its case and connect as an internal drive, then all was fine.
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Anonymous

2016-06-17T05:54:25+00:00

Frederick that was a life saver. I now know about VHDs. I would point out that this VHD method does not work with an external USB connect drive. I have to remove the drive from its case and connect as an internal drive, then all was fine.

Good to see that this methos worked for you. It seems to me that you may need to review your backup process. It appears to be deficient because it did not contain copies of your E-Mail files.
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Anonymous

2016-09-15T16:21:19+00:00

<<<RANT>>>

So many wasted days of reading and efforts to no avail.

I am throughly convinced that Microsoft is truly evil and useless.

#1 - I have not found an answer that works and have tried everything you see in this thread and others.

#2 -I am working with Windows Server 2012 R2 not a desktop version of the OS.

     Everything I have found online is people trying this with a desktop OS.

#3 -I can't just give up or use a free version of Acronis or some 3rd party solution "because Microsoft Sucks"

     This is a production server environment and built in backups actually need to work.

     I am NOT currently in a crisis situation I am simply testing and auditing backup & restore on a system

     for a client that they actually expect should work when it was sold along with all of it's very expensive licensing.   I'm irate and infuriated 4 days into this and still not working and no real information out here to troubleshoot this issue other than a stupid message that no backup images are found when I

can see plainly with the command prompt that they are actually there and the files are accessible and in the proper place. This is a pile of horse manure and is the same worthless pile of crap that you guys have been struggling with on desktop operating systems but has been included on a server OS that I expect to actually just work and it does not.

I have the same problem (Can't find a system image to restore).

And I have tried everything I can think of.

Been backing up for months to a network file share all looks good all seems to be there

But cannot restore from the network (intel nic drivers are built in to the restore environment)

Nor will the restore environment recognize my images copied from the network back to a USB (not flash) drive or local SATA drive.

Frustrating Frustrating and useless poop with no path to troubleshoot or fix that I have found yet.
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