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

2015-07-29T09:06:27+00:00

This answer is very accurate. One minor addition:

3a. If you have backed up several machines to the same drive, Windows 7 image recovery does not understand image recovery directories from newer Windows versions. So copy the exact directory structure of the wanted Windows 7 image to another NTFS-formatted external USB (non flash) drive before restoring. This saved my day.
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Anonymous

2014-11-25T19:37:44+00:00

ENCRYPTED DRIVE!

I had a problem with a Windows 7 machine that wouldn't boot and couldn't be repaired and was trying to re-image it from a Windows Image Backup. Had the exact symptoms as described here. Tried every fix and work-around in this thread and in others. Even tried putting the files on a network share and went to the trouble of loading network drivers, etc. Nothing worked.

Later on I discovered that the PC had been running Dell Data Encryption. External drives connected to that PC were encrypted. All the files were visible and looked normal. But they were all scrambled. No wonder Windows couldn't see them!

Anyway, if you've come to this thread with a similar problem find out if your system was using any type of encryption software. Maybe my experience can save you a few gray hairs.
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Anonymous

2014-11-18T15:11:27+00:00

I know question was posted long ago, I will answer two problems that I faced during recovery from System Image. I hope this could save someones time.

When System Image is on the external drive:

In this case supposed to made or stored system image on external hard drive. If you ever need to recover from here just boot you system with windows 7 bootable, or DVD and go to repair. Select option saying about Restore from system image, plug in you eternal hdd to the system. and it will find WindowsSystemImage and rest follow the wizard you will be done. You may face some problem if you have changed folder name of the WindowsSystemImage and you have to revert your folder name back to orginal, otherwise otherwise system will not recognize folder congaing system image. So far so good lets now focus on how to restore if WindowsSystemImage is stored on the NAS drive,process is quite similar to simple external drive but you must access your NAS. When you go to advance option and select image from network you will face "network location cannot be reached see windows help 0x800704cf in recovery mode" it means you dont have Network driver, once your enter (\server\share) address It will ask you for password and user name for the NAS in case if it is protected. and will through you an error about "network location cannot be reached see windows help 0x800704cf ". Now its time to load your driver. How to load driver is our next question, if you go to load driver option and which is just beneath select Select system image from network storage select this option and now find .inf (system information file in Ethernet folder on the disk) once you load that file it will show you different drivers, load one compatible to your hardware and then you will be able to communicate to the drives over the network. Rest is just follow wizard and you will be done.
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Anonymous

2014-07-14T00:08:54+00:00

You call it the Repair Disk! Instead of all that clicking and hassle, just insert the repair disk, and choose restore from a system image. It will find your external drive with the backup immediately.
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