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
    2014-04-06T01:22:33+00:00

    An example of trudge through...A friend got a Dell laptop for Christmas Win 8.0 sealed cant access battery/hardware without major disassembly. I created a system image using WindowsImageBackup for him on my external hard drive at that time. He caught a nasty virus and called me. I came over plugged in my hard drive using system restore within windows...failed, Chose image restore, system appeared to reboot into winre but again failed saying system drive "C:\windows" was on line :-) Win repair USB would not show up in boot menu (F12) Until I entered the uefi bios (F2) and disabled secure boot which allowed legacy devices, now on F12 menu the repair USB showed up under the uefi device listing and was able to restore the image...Great...NO Restart after image apply trying to enter F2 to turn secure boot back on...no go, would not boot into the OS :-( After countless times hard pressing the power button to force restart finally I get "Attempting repairs on your computer" that goes on forever with no glory. Finally out of the blue it actually boots and the image was applied but no touch pad mouse, had to use my usb mouse to navigate...the touch screen worked though. After reboot the touchpad mouse began to work. This was three days ago and spent from 10:00PM to 1:00AM and never was able to get back into the bios to turn secure boot back on...I was tired by then and the computer was working. He called me today to say the computer was working fine, don't know if he got back into the bios to turn secure boot back on or not. Amazing!!!

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-04-05T23:26:39+00:00

    The Microsoft Deployment Blog reports that there will be new Windows 8.1 update ISO images on the Volume License download site in about 10 days.  The ISO will contain all the Win 8.1 updates so far and a new WimBoot functionality.

    The blog recommends using the latest full installation source (also known as “slipstreamed” or “refresh” media) for Windows 8.1 Update from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC) as the starting point for  OS deployments. This media should be available on or about 14 April 2014.

    I do not know if the rest of us will ever have access to the win 8.1 refresh media or if it will solve error 0x80780119 by giving us the correct partition sizes on a fresh install.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-04-03T18:27:17+00:00

    I know what you mean, I have been trudging through various problems for years, just when you think everything is going to go smoothly something always pops up. Microsoft is just going to have to fix this problem in the next release of Windows because there are too many copies released and the problem is at the core of their setup program. They cant release a patch because of the seemingly infinite platforms out there including modifications that considering the risk involved manipulating partitions contain data would just open another can of worms. I hate Apple products because of their access controls and monopolization of software purchases which Microsoft is heading that way with their "Windows Store" trying to force you to create accounts. If they continue down this "Cloud" control path I will with some regret face the Linux open source flavors. Hopefully by then the hardware and software vendors will have improved support even if they focus on just one release or two. I have tried Mandriva and it is pretty cool.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-04-03T17:44:36+00:00

    Great response, problem is it's NOT OUR PROBLEM! What we should be doing is forcing Microsoft to solve this THEMSELVES. We didn't cause this. The only thing we did wrong was pay a lot of money and trust Microsoft. If my system crashes and I've lost data and I was unable to make a system image AS OFFERED BY MICROSOFT OPERATING SYSTEM, then it is time for a class action lawsuit. No question. If this was a vehicle, food, medical equipment, furniture or any other product this would not be acceptable. I've fixed Windows shortcomings since Windows 3.1 and I'm done!

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