Cant backup 8.1 using system image backup! Error 0x80780119, Cant optimise system partition, (this is why i cant backup) please read. . .

Anonymous
2013-10-19T14:16:48+00:00

I am having this issue, cant optimise the system partition 350mb. 8.1 official release,

This is also causing a huge problem, the optimise option in windows 8.1 allows me to optimise the c: drive but not the system partition this prevents a system image backup...!!

Due to the system partition being out of space for a shadow copy to be placed onto it the backup fails every time with this error code, -- 0x80780119 --.

Backups are a huge factor in operating systems and since upgrading I cant backup my system using windows image backup, if I could optimise the system partition and straighten out the file structure within it (free up some space) for the shadow copy then the volume shadow copy could be placed onto the drive but it cant...

This all worked fine in 8.0 but not now...please fix this problem!?

Not being able to backup your system is not good enough...

here is my my issue again in pictures...

1.system volume needs optimising

but pressing the optimise for this does nothing at all.. current status remains "Needs optimisation".

The way an ssd reclaims drive space is to use the optimise function, this not working prevents the reclaim for files/data to be written to space where files have been deleted previously. Giving the impression the drive/partition is full when really its not full just needs optimising/trimmed.

 

  1. initiate the system image backup

  1. both volumes to be backed up

  1. error message due to insufficient space on the system partition for shadow copy. 

 

  1. finally here is a capture of the current disk setup on my system, notice the system partition only has 17mb free space and according to the above error message I need atleast 50mb free for the volume shadow copy !? Due to this I cant create a backup of my system using windows 8.1 !

(system partition has no drive letter assigned to it 350mb)

PLEASE HELP !! Thanks for reading.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2013-10-20T20:19:10+00:00

I have found a way around this getting Windows System Image Backup working again. I did this on my laptop and desktop confirming that I could recover from the images. It is actually pretty easy but should not be necessary. The reason that the backup would not work was because the recovery partition was using 284MB of the 300MB available. There was not 50MB available for shadow copy. Here are the steps I took on an EUFI GPT disk:

Note: All commands are without quotes. 

Disclaimer: I would recommend backing up all of you important data as any time you mess with partitions, there is the possibility to lose data. This process was done one both my laptop (Win8.1 Home) and desktop (Win8.1 Pro). I cannot take responsibility if this causes any damage. With that being said, I hope this helps.

Download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html Note that none of the changes will take effect until you hit apply. I am sure others may work but this is the one that I used and it is free. 

You should have 3 Windows partitions; Recovery - 300 MB, EFI System - 100 MB, and your system Volume to start off with. 

  1. Once installed, Open Partition Wizard and Shrink your system volume, C: in my case, by 101MB at the beginning of the partition. (I had to put 101MB as when I tried 100 it said that the space was too small when doing the next step) To do this, Right Click the C: Drive, select, Move/Resize, and the put 101 in box named "Unallocated Space Before:" and click OK.
  2. Copy the EFI System partition (100 MB FAT32) to this new Free Space by right clicking, selecting copy, and then selecting the unallocated space. Then next the OK.
  3. Delete the 100MB EFI System Partition after the Recovery Partition. 

After this is done, you will see 100MB unallocated space after the Recovery Partition. 

  1. Right click on Recovery partition and select Extend. Drag the bar to take up all of the extra free space. This will change the recovery partition from 300MB to 400MB allowing for enough space (50MB) for the shadow copy. Click OK. 
  2. Next Click Apply. I received an error stating that it could not make changes due to C: being in use. I clicked restart. 

When the computer restarts, Partition Wizard will do its thing. Once it is done you should boot into Windows again.

This next part is essential, because, windows now does not recognize the partition that was moved before as an EFI System Partition. If you try and do a backup image now, only the system partition will show and not the Recovery or EFI System

  1. Open a cmd prompt with administrator privileges. Press Start Key, Type cmd, right click, select run as administrator. 
  2. Type diskpart to start windows command line disk manager. 
  3. Find the disk that Windows is installed on by typing List disk. This will be different on each machine but for illustration mine was disk 0
  4. Select that disk by typing the command "select disk" and the disk number.
  5. Next, determine the EFI partition that was moved earlier. This is the partition that was moved earlier and should be 100MB. Type in the command "list part" to see a list of the partitions on the disk. Mine was Partition 3. This may be different on your system. 
  6. Once you have determined the partition number, type "select partition " and your partition number
  7. Next you have to set this partition as an EFI System volume. Type in this command - "set id = c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b" This changes the partition type to an EFI system volume.
  8. After all of this is done, restart your computer and you should now be able to back up you system using the System Image Backup in File History.

I know some of this may seem a little elementary to some but you never know who needs help and their technical knowledge. 

I hope that this helps and let me know if you have any questions.

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

778 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2014-05-03T17:42:29+00:00

    On MBR systems I force the recovery and system files onto the boot(OS) partition by installing to a pre-formatted partition 1 or by letting windows setup create the system reserved then deleting the target partition 2 then extending the system reserved and installing to it. Window 8 (.1) however on UEFI/GPT will recreate them during setup and you could end up with 7 partitions post installation. Here is what I do to get unallocated space in front of the OS partition. Run setup on bare drive or remove all partitions. (you can leave partitions at the end of the drive provided there is enough space in front of it (them) for the OS and system files) format the unallocated space at the front of the drive. Windows will create the partitions...recovery/efi system/msr resrved/data os. Now delete those partitions except partition 1 recovery. Format recovery. make recovery to say 300Mb. (not too much because in the end you want the recovery and efi system to not exceed 495Mb) now install to the unallocated space or format it and size it to 150-250Gb as your preference. (smaller partitions at the front of a spinning drive being used for the os and programs reduces fragmentation and seek time)  Post install you can now delete the partition 1 ~300MB and have unallocated space to use partition wizard for sliding and resizing the front or rear of the recovery and efi system partitions. (Do not copy or move these partitions, just resize and or slide them within available unallocated space. Do not mess with the msr reserved or data os partitions. Do not connect to the internet because you don't want the interference with updates and subsequent processing although if necessary grab video drivers to help with screen resolution. (windows usually does this on its own after a few minutes of internet connection anyway.) Factory systems are scary because they create a mess and there is a risk of data loss, especially if they have not created the factory restore disk and or saved important files to an alternate location. With a clean install the worst case scenario is to start all over from scratch. Remember you can keep a partition at the end of the drive for storage. If is a 1TB drive make the os partition 250GB and the storage partition 750GB, just make sure the storage is a primary not logical (extended dos) partition. Window likes to create logical and does not offer the ability to make primary...partition wizard does.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2014-05-03T13:38:03+00:00

    Harry,  Thank you for all your work on this issue.  What I should have typed was "on a bare GPT formatted SSD that meets UEFI specs or something like that.  I realize that the MS Win 8.1 install routine actually does the partitioning and GPT formatting and that the WinRE.wim that it plants in the Recovery partition it creates on the SSD is too large to allow shadow copy to work in the partition size it creates.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2014-05-03T01:26:02+00:00

    I just did another 8 to 8.1 update and Microsoft is not adding a 450 MB partition instead of the 350 MB partition for UEFI installs.  Maybe this is what you are referring to, but it should help most folks...

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2014-05-02T16:14:21+00:00

    I am happy to see that the developers finally fixed the ISO image.  How can we get a Win 8.1 Pro image with this fix?  Some of us want to deploy Win 8.1 Pro.   I know, hard to believe after 61 pages of issues.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments