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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Answer accepted by question author

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

2012-08-31T03:12:44+00:00

had the same issue but i also had other images on the WD HDD in seperate folders in "windowsimagesbackup"

E:\windowsimagebackup\dell-pc

                                        \dell-pc_20120826

                                        \dell-pc_20120827

i moved my saved images straight under the HDD letter rather than under "windowsimagebackup"

E:\

    \windowsimagebackup\dell-pc

    \dell-pc_20120826

    \dell-pc_20120827

and windows recovery found my back up images incuding the ones under the HDD letter

no idea why it worked after shifting my images around but it did and thats all i wanted, hope this helps
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Anonymous

2012-09-06T10:17:45+00:00

yes do the same for the windows HD .. it seems that windows can only find ur image if its on the root/main folder not in the subfolder .. just shift the image to the root folder and it may recognize it
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Anonymous

2012-09-06T10:22:32+00:00

and yes another thing .. dont use windows disk management for partition .. some how the windows installation disk does not consider as a separate partition .. copy the image to external HDD orr use the windows partition tool that pops up when u r installing windows.. once partition is complete copy the image to root folder of partitioned drive then try finding it through the windows disk ...

sorry for english hope it helps
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Anonymous

2013-02-19T19:57:15+00:00

Some additional information that may help those dealing with how MS handles restoring an image on a HD or other type of storage device where the image resides on a network and is shared.

If you install the LAN driver (Install Driver Option) for your target computer after booting with the Win 7 install CD and choosing Repair, you will be able to navigate to the shared folder location (\sourcecomputer\imagefolder) on your network. You will need the credentials (domain\user and PW) to log on to the source computer where the share resides. This will eliminate the need to put the 'Windowsimagebackup' folder in the source drive root directory and connecting the remote drive directly to the target computer. If the target drive partition is larger than the source, then after successful re-imaging, go to Manage Computer and Disk Management on the target computer to Extend the Volume into the Unallocated portion of the new drive to make full use of the total storage capacity. If the target drive is smaller than the source partition, you will have to Shrink the source partition, make a new backup image, then restore the image as described above.
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