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

2017-02-26T19:23:56+00:00

My client had created the system image on a WD My Passport external hard drive that was password protected. When she booted from a Windows 7 repair disc and chose to Restore System Image it could not be found because there was no way to enter the password.

So I copied the WindowsImageBackup from the password protected external hard drive to one that didn't have a password.

We rebooted from the repair disc and it immediately found the system image.
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Anonymous

2016-03-31T10:14:58+00:00

Sorry for late reply, just catching up after overseas trip.

I resolved my problem using Acronis which will recognize a Windows image and find it without being in the root directory. Give it a try, little cryptic initially but works to install on other machines too.
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Anonymous

2015-10-27T23:39:19+00:00

Remove all subfolders from the windowsimagebackup folder.

Put back the only folder of the image you want to restore. The easiest way to do this from the recovery console is to click on the buttons to load a driver and use the folder explorer to cut and paste you folders and move them to the root leaving only one subfolder in windowsimagebackup named for the computer you want to restore.

Yes it must be the original computer name. You will be amazed at the true problem. You can only have one system image for a particular computer name in the windowsimagebackup folder. If you try to put multiple backup copies of the folders with old images from the same computer, it causes the system to not display any of them!
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Anonymous

2015-08-14T15:30:57+00:00
I have a solution that might work for some people. It might have been posted earlier but take it as a double check.

I have a 3TB WD Mybook, I made system images for windows 7 laptop and desktop, the location was not changed (WindowsImageBackup) and nothing added to the folders. in addition to this folder, there were other backups/files in the hard drive.

The system was working fine without any problems and I just wanted to test restoring the system image of the laptop.

The first attempt: hard drive connected to USB 3,,, restart PC,, use system repair ,, I get the error (Windows cannot find a system image on this computer).

I tried restarting/ retrying multiple times without success.

Solution: shutdown the pc, remove the hard drive, start the pc and start the system repair. selected the system image restore and it searched for system images and couldn't fine any ( the hard drive was not connected).

I connected the hard drive to a USB 2 port and pressed retry multiple times. after pressing retry multiple times the system images were found (both the desktop and laptop).

After that I could use the system image.

Points:
- connect the storage to USB 2.
- do not connect the hard drive from the beginning, connect it at the final stage.
good luck
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