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

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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.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-12-20T05:42:27+00:00

    Okay, I got it to work.  I had to add users and full control to gain access.  Evidently I'm not signed on as the administrator.  Odd.  The old wim file was 245mb and the new is 231mb.  My recovery partition now has 42.3mb of unused space.  I am going to give it a go with creating a system image.  Hopefully it will be enough space.  Thanks for all the help, and again, sorry for all of the questions.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-20T05:36:44+00:00

    Okay, I found the newly created winre.wim file.  It's under the C drive.  It's at the very bottom.  It's 231mb in size.  I imagine the old one is in the recovery folder, and I've tried various things, but it's still not letting me access it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-20T05:13:47+00:00

    Okay, I was able to run the program.  I was also able to change the permissions.  I first had to reassign the s letter to the recovery partition.  It must lose it when you shut the computer down.  Who knows.  Anyway, when I click to check the wim file in the recovery folder, it says "Location is not available.  S:\Recovery is not accessible.  Access is denied.  This is where the wim file is, correct?  Or am I mistaken? 

    I am signed on as the sole administrator and have all permissions checked.  It says the same thing if I try to open the system volume information folder as well.  I have it set to show hidden files and have the hid protected OS files box unchecked.  Any ideas?

    I also checked the recover partition under the MiniTool Partition Wizard, as this is an easy tool to use to see the actual usage amount of a given partition.  The recovery partition says 28.49 unused.  I don't know if anything has changed as I didn't check it before.  Perhaps I should have.  Or, have I not done a step that updates the wim file yet?  I think running that command does, right?

    Okay, I see that I still have to copy the new winre.wim file, but where is it, and if I can't access the folder, how do I do that?

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-12-20T03:57:30+00:00

    Ah, I see what went wrong.  Since Program Files (x86) has a space in it, command prompt thought it was a seperate command.  "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Deployment Tools\amd64\DISM\ImageX.exe" /export s:\Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim 1 c:\winre.wim should be in quotation marks like shown here.  That was my mistake for leaving them out.  Make sure to end the quotation marks after the exe and before /export.

    The correct command is:

    ImageX.exe /export s:\Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim 1 c:\winre.wim

    The original got cut off before the 1 somehow when I pasted it into the field to post, and I didn't notice it right away.  That was the edit.

    As for the security, you want to give your current user (whatever user account you log in as) permission.  If you run as administrator, give that.  If you run as Bob, use that, ect.  You need to add that user to the list, and give the user at least read and write privileges.  These should be added to the permissions list.  To do this, on the Permissions tab, click the "Add" button below the box (click "Change Permissions" button below the box first if that is the only button).  A new window will pop up.  Click "Select principal" and type in your account name, then click OK.  It will default to "Read & Execute" and "Read".  Check "Write" as well, then click OK on all the dialogs to commit the changes.

    My vim shrank by 20MB.  The total amount to shrink may vary by system, I don't have enough data to know.  Both my shrank by that amount, but it could be different for different systems.  If you don't know how to check the size, just find the original, right click and go to properties to the size.  Do the same to the new version and compare the numbers.

    I've been working with Windows since I was young, and am comfortable with command prompt and permission dialogs.  Every person's knowledge and comfort areas will vary, so if you prefer the partition version, that's great.  The more potential solutions the better.  Now if only Microsoft would find a way to fix this issue for all impacted users...

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