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

Anonymous

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.

initiate the system image backup

both volumes to be backed up

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

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.

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Anonymous

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.

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.
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.
Delete the 100MB EFI System Partition after the Recovery Partition.

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

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.
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

Open a cmd prompt with administrator privileges. Press Start Key, Type cmd, right click, select run as administrator.
Type diskpart to start windows command line disk manager.
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
Select that disk by typing the command "select disk" and the disk number.
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.
Once you have determined the partition number, type "select partition " and your partition number
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.
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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Anonymous

2014-02-20T14:06:11+00:00

Moving and copying and deleting and setting id of the partitions is too daunting a task. Using Macrium, I cloned my disk to a WD Passport. I then tried moving/re-sizing the partitions using Partition Wizard. The EFI System partition cannot be moved (it must be copied, then delete the old one and "set id = c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b" for the new one). So, I'm giving up and going to use Macrium as my Image backup choice.

I agree with other posters that Microsoft should find a way to fix this. Other software companies can create image backups without all these issues ... why can't Microsoft?

Thanks to everyone for their help and support.
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Anonymous

2014-02-19T17:00:21+00:00
Yes. On all systems with UEFI/GPT since disks are large and have plenty of space even if one is using SSD's they could have made these partitions 2Gb to avoid the space restriction/availability problems. Even windows setup either retail new or online/local upgrade could detect existing GPT partitions and their ID's using them instead of ignoring and creating new ones. Every time I build a system with 8.1 & UEFI bios I am going to have to deal with this to make windows image backup to work. It would be nice for Microsoft to create a "fix it" program to clean up unneeded partitions resize and position them. It would be easier to fix it post install by booting USB offline into a Hirens boot disk but I have yet to find or create one that will boot on UEFI systems. HBCD PE environment ahs partition wizard as part of the tools to do the work off line and then I could use Diskpart to reestablish the ID's in this same off line environment.

I got the order backwards above when listing the partitions on a retail new drive install. 8.1/UEFI

Typically Disk 0
1. Windows (Recovery Partition) - DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC
2. System (EFI System) - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
3. MSR (GPT Reserved) - E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE
4. Basic Data (Windows/Data) - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
I then create another partition at the end of Disk 0 or when possible use another physical disk (Disk 1) to use for image and data storage (this partition/physical disk is not included in the image creation) I pre create the folder "WindowsImageBackup" and make it hidden, windows will still use this folder for the image and helps prevent tampering.
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Anonymous

2014-02-19T11:15:59+00:00

Such a shame about this issue, Surely Microsoft could atleast acknowledge us?? I must admit though that after my earlier work on adjusting the system partition my system has remained stable and I create a backup image once per week without issue. Ive heard there might be a rather large "update" next month possibly so we shall wait and see if that materialises? Good luck folks... (the thread lives on :-)
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Anonymous

2014-02-19T03:51:27+00:00

These look like OEM machines that received the free online upgrade to windows 8.1, I have a copy of retail 8.1 pro to mess with. I have found that if windows setup starts there is partitions already on the drive any partitions that are before the one you select for install are ignored and new ones are created. What a mess!!! OEM keys that are imbedded in the UEFI bios will not work for install or activation of 8.1 either. The only path is factory reset then online upgrade which leaves this mess. I hope you have created a factory USB bootable recovery drive so that you can go back to out of the box condition. (which for me is virtually useless because of all the bloatware that is included)

This is a very accurate comprehensive explanation. http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/fix-the-0x80780119-error-when-creating-a-system-image-in-windows-7-and-8/

Windows system image requires free space on every partition (volume) that is to be included in the image for volume shadow creation during the imaging process.

volumes 499mb or less require 50mb of free space.

Volumes 500mb to 999mb require 320mb of free space

volumes 1000mb (1gb) and larger require 1000mb (1gb) of free space.

In your case the problem looks like the 40mb volume obviously does not have 50mb free space.

I don't know if you can safely delete that volume. Other wise you can use third party tools like partition wizard to manipulate the volumes but risk losing the disk type partition id. If you do then you would have to use built-in windows "Diskpart.exe" to re assign the ID's to each manipulated partition which loses it's ID. Here are some of the ID's

Basic Data (Windows/Data) - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

MSR (GPT Reserved) - E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE (this one not shown in windows disk management)

System (EFI System) - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

Windows (Recovery Partition) - DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC

If you cant safely delete the 40mb then the option would be to use partition wizard to shrink the 490mb leaving free space before the partition, say 90mb leaving it at 400mb. (note type for later reassignment if necessary of all partitions modified)

Then extend the 40mb to use up all the 90mb free space created by the shrink for a final size of 130mb.

Now use the internet to do research on how to use Diskpart to reset the ID's as necessary.

DaveOb52 problem looks like the 1gb partitions. if he shrinks them by 5mb this would solve the volume shadow problem but there was some information that GPT disks do not like unallocated (Free) space between partitions. The safe thing is to save important data before doing anything and have the factory restore USB drive created and waiting if you screw up the system. Even using a retail 8.1 pro install on a new clean drive system with UEFI bios I had to manipulate partitions to get windows system image to work. This not only shows the factory system manufacturers have screwed up but Microsoft as well when dealing with UEFI/GPT systems.
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