Maintenance :: Restoring 8.1 Image From One PC To Another
May 24, 2014
I have two desktop PCs, both of which are 5-7 year old Intel Core 2 Duo-based with 2-4GB of RAM.
I performed a clean install of Win 8.1 Pro onto the first partition on a freshly cleaned disk and all went well. Booted up and ran MS Update to get the whole system up to date. Then installed all of my apps. Then I used Acronis TrueImage to create an image backup of the Windows/App partition.
Then rather than going through the entire process on my second PC, I simply partitioned the drive in an identical manner to the first PC then restored the image backup from the other PC onto the second system. Then I rebooted the system and it came up without any issues. I ran MS Update and it downloaded and installed a couple of drivers (GFX, audio, etc) since the second system was slightly different hardware-wise. The only thing I changed on the second system was to give the PC a different name and also change the default user account name, to avoid networking conflicts.
That was a couple of weeks ago. I've been running both systems (seemingly) without any problems. I have two Win 8 licenses, but only used the first. I haven't been nagged or warned about the same licensing key when running essentially the same system on two different machines.
Aside from the obviously licensing issue, are there likely to be any other problems that may crop up?
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Mar 6, 2014
Using the built in Windows 8 function. Using a User Profile tool and experimenting with copying profile settings, I managed to corrupt my Windows 8.1 install. I thought, no, problem, I'd made images of the system partition and I would restore one of those.
Upon attempting to copy one of those image files back to the system partition, I found my machine unbootable.
I used Aomei Partition Assistant to create the image and to copy it back. Aomei though requires that the destination partition be deleted before it will copy and I think that's the root of the problem. I suspect that Aomei destroys the hidden UEFI partitions in the process which renders the machine unbootable. I did check with Diskpart and could see that I no longer had four partitions after the above which does indicate that Aomei did trash one of the other partitions.
I have now used my bootable install media to make a new windows 8 instal on the machine. I can see with Diskpart that the machine again has the four UEFI partitions.
So, now I'm ready to try again to copy my backup system partition to the new system partition. I had put in lots of work updating to 8.1, installing software, and customizing settings, etc. so I'd rather not reinstall everything again!
The question is how to do this without messing it up again. By the way, windows own "restore from image" function will not allow me to select my Aomei created drive image.
My thought right now is to find a different partition copy tool which will allow me to OVERWRITE the new system partition on the machine (as said Aomei Partition Assistant does not allow this). The old version of Norton Ghost would do that, but my only copy is floppy based and this new MOBO doesn't even have a floppy connector.
I do want to maintain the setup as UEFI and I'm wondering whether there's anything else I need to know about UEFI installs that would suggest another approach.If indeed I can solve this by overwriting the partition (instead of deleting and creating a new one), any recommendation for a bootable tool (USB or CD) ....
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Dec 25, 2013
0xc000000e at restoring backup image at mbr.
I backuped windows 8.1 x64 of MBR with 'Terabyte image for windows', and restored this backup image on gpt hard disk drive.
At booting screen, I got this error message. 0xc000000e
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Apr 18, 2014
I did a restore of an image backup of Windows 8.1 and now I cannot open web links or from short cuts of a web page. How do I reconnect..
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May 27, 2014
I installed Windows on my friends MacBook Air using Bootcamp a few months ago. At that time I made a Windows Image to an external hard drive, not really sure if it was even feasible to restore it. How to do a restore in a situation like this, or if it is possible?
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Aug 25, 2014
I bought a sumsung Ativ smart pc about a year ago, recently had to take it in for repairs (still under warranty), before taking it in I used the "windows 7 recovery" system (despite being in windows 8) to create a system image, I then reset my computer to factory settings
Have the image on a USB drive, just got the computer back, however I cannot restore my computer. Not sure why but whenever I select the restore option it wont let me pick a local folder or usb drive as the location of the backup image, it seems to be looking exclusively for networked drives/machines
I've read I may need a restore cd to get this working, however my tablet only has 1 usb drive and no disk drive, what should I do?
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Jun 28, 2014
tried to do system restore and got this message (see attached) I then did an error check on C drive and I got this message.(see attached)
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Oct 17, 2013
I naturally thought that if I used File History that I would be able to get my files back from the external drive if I had to reinstall Windows8. After a HDD crash it appears that isn't the case.
13gb of Excel Spreadsheets is riding on this solution.
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Jun 12, 2014
In few days I will have my new computer with Windows 8.1, and I wonder what solution would be the best for easy backing up and restoring of system drive in the new machine. For last 5 years I've been using Acronis to create an image of entire partition c: , with windows and all my crucial software, and if only my system felt slow or there was too many stuff installed, I simply restored it from this image (of course app data was moved to d:, so that no settings of my programs were replaced). From time to time I was making new image, so that it was always ready to work 'out of the box' with all the updates etc..
Any different solution to accomplish the same as I don't want to move app data to d: any more because I'll have ssd drive for my system, and I would prefer to have it all in one partition, so my solution will no longer be effective. Is there any native Windows 8 solution for system backup and is it any good? Or maybe I could simply backup "windows" and "program files" folders, and restore just them. Would it be as effective as restoring entire partition?
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Mar 7, 2013
I've been dual-booting Windows 8 Pro and Windows 7 Ultimate, but a while back my Windows 8 kind of went "South" and wouldn't boot at all (I got an error message that a device was "not attached"). I have a recent system image on an external USB hard drive, but when I boot to "system recovery" using my repair disk it can't seem to find my USB drive at all.
The tutorials here mention installing a SATA driver to access disks that are not recognized, but this doesn't seem to be the case.
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Jul 1, 2013
I bought an Acer notebook with Windows 8 SL (Single Language) and UEFI BIOS (with Secure Boot) factory installed (Windows Key is set in Bios).
I have the habit of installing all programs and make an image of partition C: in case of having to reinstall the entire system for problems with Windows, HDD exchange or similar cases. With this gain too long and not have to reinstall all the programs one by one.
My HDD is partitioned into 4 parts: C:, E:, F: and G:.
When I enter the Windows 8 app to generate the system image appear two partitions pre-marked for backup: C: (Programs) and EFI System Partition (no drive letter). C: partition is formatted as NTFS, but the EFI is as FAT32.
My question is: when I restore this, how should I format the partition where you install the system again (C ? Format all the partition as NTFS and Backup app creates the EFI partition FAT32 by own?
How it works and how to proceed? I will boot the system by CD-ROM.
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Jul 17, 2013
How Often Do You Create a System Recovery Image?
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Dec 29, 2013
When I entered recimg/show current in elevated cmd , I get the message : There is no active custom recovery image.
However when I checked disk management , I get the following partitions:
EFI System 50mb
OEM 40mb
Recovery Partition 2GB
OS C 50.12Gb
Recovery Partition 5.42Gb
What are in those 2 Recovery Partitions ? Are they the 2 restore points I created? Why is the second Recovery Partition so much larger than the first?
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Jul 21, 2013
I am new in Windows 8, Secure Boot, UEFI bios, etc.
I have a Windows 8 Single Language (SL) based system (Notebook Acer), that uses Secure Boot in UEFI Bios and has Windows Product Key recorded at BIOS by factory.
I have a 500GB HDD partitioned in drives C: (228GB), E: (40GB), F: (40GB), G: (78GB) and H: (64GB) and Windows is installed on C: partition.
I installed and configured all programs that I use and now I want to do an image to be used in cases of HDD damage, Windows crash or other cases that I need install OS and apps again. I want to earn time with this and don't have to install the apps one by one.
What is the best option (method) to do backup and restoration of the system?How I use the Boot DVD generated by the backup feature (Windows 7 File Recovery)?Can I do image only of partition C: or I need to include all other partitions?Do I need change the BIOS UEFI to LEGACY BIOS to boot with Windows Boot DVD generated?Do I need to format the C: partition before restore the image? What kind of format I need to use? NTFS? FAT32? GPT?
I have a lot of friends that are using Windows 8 now and all of them have the same doubts that I have.
Is it possible to create a new step-by-step tutorial of Backup and Restore process in Windows 8?
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Mar 25, 2013
In Windows 8 Home (the edition that came with my Dell XPS) there is no option to save System Image to Network, only to Disc or HD.
Is this feature missing from 'Home' version only and is the option to save to Network available in Windows 8 Pro like in W7?
If so what is the best and cheapest way to upgrade (officially, not via torrents) to Windows 8 Pro?
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Oct 23, 2013
I am trying to get a handle on how these 2 functions are related. I assume the Recovery disk would be needed if you can't boot to the computer (assume the OS needs to be present) and does the Recovery disk replace the boot files that may be damaged and then after you get booted up I assume the System Image (is that is referred to as a "backup")?? would be ran to get the computer back to the working order when the Image was taken. Assume that the Recovery disk would take place of the OS installation disk if it were not available and you couldn't just reinstall the OS and so you could load the Image.
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May 2, 2014
Its my first time to create my first system image in my windows 8. Can I exclude a certain file if not how many blank cd's do I need I got 146GB used currently in my C drive and while creating a system image could it take the process an hour or more?
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Jan 4, 2014
Trying to create a System Image Backup on a Windows 8.1 ACER laptop. My latest attempt is to a external hard drive with 3.63 TB free but the backup fails due to not enough disk .
I have attached the full error message.
New to the ways of Windows 8 and this is my first time trying to create a System Image Backup.
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Mar 1, 2014
I tried to start windows 8.1 this morning and it was stuck in a boot loop. System tried to carryout repairs to no avail.
I re-installed Windows and I have some drives that are setup in a raid configuration which has a system image I created some time ago after I performed a fresh install of windows 8.1. However, I can't seem to get recovery to locate it.
Is there a way of restoring from this backup to save my having to install each programme from scratch? The file is 141 gig and is an ADI file with an XML and disk image text file.
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Apr 24, 2013
I'm attempting to follow the instructions here, to do a system image of my Dell Windows 8 machine:
Using Windows 8′s “hidden” backup to clone and recover your whole PC | Ars Technica
As I go through the wizard, I arrive at this screen:
I don't have the option to deselect any of these "drives". I proceed with the backup - it chugs along, and then consistently fails here:
"One of the critical volumes is not having enough free space." It doesn't tell me which - but, it's certainly not the OS drive, this is a virgin system.
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Jul 10, 2013
So I was just about to create a full system image of one of my HDD's, and I noticed that I have 2 different "system" drives.
My main system drive is the C: Drive, which is the 111.79gig HDD. Im not really sure why the 1TB drive is listed as a system drive, as well as being drive 0. Is there any easy way to fix this so everything to do with the system is back on the 111.79gig C: drive where it belongs?
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Feb 23, 2013
I have 2 hard drives in my computer, my main Windows 8 C:, and a win7/game/data drive, the second of which is failing. reports show it is failing a smart short test, and although it has been running fine for months, i figured i would replace it with my tax return.
My question: If i create a system image of C: and D:, would it be possible to just restore the D: portion of the image, or do I have to restore both, then delete the second C: on the new drive? i do not have the resources or courage to test this on my system now because I am not sure what this reformat, and with my luck, the drive would die during the restore.
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Dec 23, 2013
I created a custom refresh image the day before upgrading to 8.1. I am having shut down and sleep issues with windows 8.1 that I don't have time to troubleshoot any longer and I wish to go back to win 8 for now. I went to check that my image was there and active and this is what i get:
It showed successful when I created it? I can find in in the location that is it supposed to be:
and:
Now I'm stuck. I don't want to use the factory image and reinstall everything, and I can't cope with the bsods and hangs when trying to sleep or shutdown ( I have tried every option in that massive thread about windows 8.1 not sleeping ) ...
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Oct 26, 2013
My system crashed yesterday. I am trying to recover my image. I boot from the recovery CD that I created when created the system image. The system image is stored on an external hard drive. When I try to recover the image it comes up with an error "Network path not found error 0x80070035". I have shared the folder, I have tried everything that I can think of to fix this.
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Jun 26, 2014
I own an OEM Machine which is from Acer.
To ask what is probably well known amongst IT pro's; does a system image backup solution (and consequently a restore from that image if needs be) work on OEM PC's, like a desktop from Acer, actually work without problems, and would I get a proper bootable and working machine after restoration.
Brief scenario - I have used Acronis TI 2014 (Or even the Windows 8.1 system image utility) to create an image of my C: Drive/EFI Partition/Recovery Partition - and backed it up to an external USB HDD.
My OS crashes for whatever reason and I can't boot.
I then either use my Acronis bootable media CD (which I've tested and boots despite all the secure boot/UEFI/GPT mania going about users like myself) to reinstall the Acronis disk image.
OR I use a Widnows 8.1 bootable disk with the ISO (which I've tested to boot) to reinstall the Windows created system image. (I could also use the recovery drive I created in Win 8.1, which just to add, however irrelvanat it might be, includes my OEM factory default partition which was copied as part of the recovery flash drive creation)
Would either of those restore solutions give me a reasonably likely working PC again - taking into account all the stuff I don't understand like the Windows 8.1 OEM key being on the motherboard (which I would understand in terms of Windows activation and authentication could have a negative impact on restoring images over an OEM installed OS and it's partitions)....
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Aug 22, 2013
I have read a lot about windows 8 (and 8.1) and how to make a system image for it.
Well the most people used the 7 file recovery tool in windows 8 to make full system images. But in windows 8.1 it's gone.
Like in this thread: System Image - Create in Windows 8
Now I hear and see everyone making system images with a powershell command.. How to Create and Restore System Image Backups on Windows 8.1
But why doesn't anybody just use the windows 8 (and 8.1) backup function wich also includes a feature called:
include a system image of drives:
It seems to me that if you do this at an clean install it's a lot easier then powershell? (and maybe you can uncheck the backup of files and only include a sytem image?)
I know that at this moment I can still make a 7 file recovery tool image and restore it with windows 8(.1) repair/recovery disc.
But I wan't to know this for the future when I have a system with 8.1 from factory.. (some manufacturers like asus don't provide repair/system restore discs or utils anymore....)
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Mar 28, 2014
I made a system image from Windows 8.1 using Windows' own system image feature. I seem to be unable to restore it. I booted with the Windows 8 disc, and told it to restore from a system image. It found the image, ran a few minutes, then failed because of version mismatch (?). Not before hosing the entire system, by the way. Luckily, I was well backed up.
I booted with the Windows 7 disc, and it didn't even see the system image (on my external HD). It saw my Windows 7 system image and restored it just fine, and here I am.
Anyway, is there some trick to restoring a Windows 8.1 system image? I am not running Windows 8.1, so I can't generate a repair disk that way. Is there one available online somewhere for download?
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Apr 2, 2013
I have been trying to a system image (Windows 8) and keeps telling me to insert a blank disk and mark it, Computer Name, Date and Disk #. It keeps telling me to install one and mark it #1 every time the current disk (DVD) is full, also the status bar does not show any advancement in the process. The other 2 machines I have and did a system image on asks you to insert a disk with the numbers going in sequence, 1, 2, 3 etc.
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Jun 17, 2013
When I first got my new laptop I made and image using Asus backup restore but all it did was make a copy of the restore partition on the hard drive. Is there a way to make an image of what the computer is with all the data and programs there are installed? I had to do a restore and then I had to reinstall everything and reload all my data files. This took a long time to do. It would be so much easier to just have an image of everything just the way it is now.
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Aug 17, 2013
I need creating a recovery image of my system. I would like to create an image recovery drive with just the barebones needed for Windows 8 to run. I all ready have a recovery partition created. I just don't know how to create a recovery image for usage whenever something happens to the system.
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Mar 12, 2014
I recently got myself into a quandary. I installed 4 additional drives with the intent of creating a RAID volume that's supported by the BIOS. In order to do that I must change the BIOS setting for the controller which includes all volumes including my boot drive (which I don't intend to RAID.) The problem I have is that when I switch the controller from UEFI to RAID, Windows Recovery will not use the System Image that I made. It says the volume was created under a different setting (Bios vs. EFI).
What are my options? Is there a different backup setting that will preserve all my installed software? I'm not concerned about data which I can copy to an external volume but it would take several days to get all my software reinstalled. I'd like to avoid that. I assume I will have to reinstall Windows 8.1 Pro and then use a backup program to restore everything else. If that's the case, then I need to know which backup program will work. If there's a better way, I'd love to know. I see my options as either, get another backup program, get a separate controller card for either the boot drive or the RAID volume, or reinstall everything.
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