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

2018-01-21T18:23:26+00:00

If your System Image on a CD or DVD see if you can boot from that disk. Restart the PC and keep clicking F12 to choose where to boot from.

Also booting from the install disk, if you have it, might help

Here is a link to a solution:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7702/restoring-windows-7-from-an-image-backup/

You can use the Windows install CD instead of a repair disk. The key is to change the boot order and boot from the CD
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Anonymous

2018-01-20T18:21:37+00:00

I have same issue on one of my computers. I tried to repair it w/ system image recovery, but it pops up saying that it "cannot find system image" despite I DID create a system image there in the first place! I click Cancel on that box and proceed, I search for a driver, but all of the drivers in "Install a driver" reply to me with this message :"The specified location does not contain information about your hardware." LOL

It DID show me the drive that I had the system image on, but it still says that it cannot find it, even after I installed the drive with system image backup on it (which btw it is NOT corrupt, I saw that in the contents of it), it still says that it cannot find the system image, even if I do anything to load it in!

The funny part is, where I try to install the driver that was for the system image, it says the same message (that being "The specified location does not contain information about your hardware.") when YES IT DOES contain information about my hardware.

Now what can I do?
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Anonymous

2018-01-07T16:44:48+00:00

In most cases when you turn on your PC press the "Delete" or "F2" key and that should bring you to the BIOS boot order. Then select the hard drive that you OS is on. That could be hard drive, SSD or even external USB drive. Hope this helps you.
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Anonymous

2018-01-06T20:46:37+00:00

Hi Folks the original submitter is back. Here is a link to a solution:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7702/restoring-windows-7-from-an-image-backup/

You can use the Windows install CD instead of a repair disk. The key is to change the boot order and boot from the CD
Was this answer helpful?

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