I cannot restore any system image which was created in Windows 10 v1709 using Backup and Restore.

Anonymous
2017-11-04T01:05:06+00:00

I cannot restore any system image which was created in Windows 10 v1709 using Backup and Restore. I receive the following error:

“The system image restore failed.

Error details: A Volume Shadow Copy Service component encountered an unexpected error. Check the Application event log for more information.

(0x80042302)”

This is a fresh Windows 10 v1709 installation. The repair disk was created using Backup and Restore. The image resides on an external USB hard drive which contains other images. I can restore any Windows 10 v1703 image using the repair disk. I cannot restore any Windows 10 v1709 image using the repair disk.

As a first test, I installed Windows 10 v1709 on a new HP EliteBook 840 G4 laptop (before installation I wiped its hard drive). I also used a different external USB hard drive to back up the image successfully. I checked Event Viewer and found no errors or warnings relating to Windows Backup. After a successful backup, I wiped that laptop using the “clean” command and tried to restore the same image I created earlier. It failed with the VSS error referenced above.

As a second test, I installed Windows 10 v1703 on the same HP EliteBook 840 G4 laptop (before installation I wiped its hard drive). I used the same external USB hard drive to back up the image successfully. I checked Event Viewer and found no errors or warnings relating to Windows Backup. After a successful backup, I wiped that laptop using the “clean” command and tried to restore the same image I created earlier. The restore was successful.

Unsuccessfully, I tried to restore an image using repair disks I created in Windows 10 v1703, v1607 and v1511.

I am aware System Image Backup (SIB) Solution is deprecated (not removed) in v1709. I searched online for other users with the same issue and came across the following post on TechNet forum.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/1f21b451-1431-414c-89e4-8010dfa5d239/win10-1709-system-image-restore-vss-error?forum=win10itprosetup

The culprit appears to be v1709. Something changed to prevent a successful restore.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-01-24T16:05:12+00:00

    For the record, 'deprecated' means no longer being developed, which is why Microsoft recommends using a third-party solution.

    I can't believe this thread is still going on, and with such convoluted 'solutions' being offered, when Macrium Reflect is rock-solid reliable and virtually effortless once you've learned how to use it. And Reflect isn't the only worthy third-party image solution. Moreover, third-party solutions can do things that System Image Builder can only dream of.

    Maybe some of you folks enjoy making an engineering paper out of this. Me, I'm busy making and occasioinally restoring backups. Yes, restoring ... because every now and then one of the Bulldog's computer experiments has a rough landing.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-01-12T17:57:57+00:00

    Far more involved than the normal system recovery available since XP. Far too complicated for the layman. And since you have to install the OS from installation media (which may not be available) just to *"*give you a Windows 10 machine to work on" it's not really a bare metal recovery.

    Don't get me wrong, good idea, but far too impractical in a non-hobby/non-tech environment.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-12-04T17:32:40+00:00

    I think he's suggesting giving up on Windows 10 and going back to Windows 8, which if he is is a completely useless answer.

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-11-06T20:17:31+00:00

    I am now 100% certain the culprit is v1709. Here is my proof.

    I wiped the drive clean on an HP EliteBook 840 G4 laptop. I installed a fresh copy of v1709 while disconnected from the Internet. This way, no updates are automatically downloaded and installed during setup.

    Without any Windows updates, drivers or third-party software I created a system image on an external drive. This is now a barebones image.

    Again, I wiped the drive clean. Immediately after clicking Yes on the final prompt I received a VSS error.

    The proof is in the pudding. Pudding is good.

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  5. Anonymous
    2017-11-04T16:46:05+00:00

    Let me rephrase.

    This is a clean/fresh installation of 1709 on a wiped drive. I installed 1709, installed all Windows Updates, installed all drivers and then created a backup on a USB drive without any errors or warnings. There are no third-party programs in the image.

    To perform a clean boot is not applicable since there is no OS to boot into. Like I said before, the problem is in the 1709 build.

    Put it this way, there are 7 images on the USB drive. 3 from 1703 and 4 from 1709. All images created from 1703 can be restored successfully.  All images created from 1709 produce a VSS error.

    I am an IT admin at my company. I have been creating images since Windows XP (I used Norton Ghost back then). In Win7, Win8, Win8.1 and Win10 I have been using Backup and Restore, successfully. Nothing in my imaging process has changed. What changed is the version of Windows, 1709.

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