Restore System Image Cannot Find Backup

Question

I saved my system image (Desktop PC) to an external hard drive (WD My Passport USB Device). The operation "completed successfully". The device has 749 GB free of 929 GB). When I try to restore the system image from this external disk, I get message "Windows could not find a backup for this computer".

I am using the tool "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)". Is there another one I should be using ?

Answer 1

Hello rockydean

Welcome to the Microsoft Community.

It sounds like you are facing an issue where Windows is not recognizing the system image backup you created using the "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)" tool. Here are a few steps you can try to resolve this issue:

1. Check the drive letter: Make sure the drive letter of the removable hard disk is consistent with the backup one. If it is inconsistent, you can modify it to be consistent. Modify drive letter: Change a drive letter | Microsoft Learn
2. Try the following modifications to fix:
   1. Press Win+R to open the Run window, type "regedit," and click OK.
   2. Open the Registry Editor, click "File" then "Export" to back up the registry.
   3. Expand the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers and delete any suspicious entries.
   4. Right-click on "My Computer" then go to "Manage" -> "Services and Applications" -> "Services."
   5. Find the following services, right-click on each, enable them, and set their startup type to "Manual" or "Automatic":
      • Background Intelligent Transfer Service
      • Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider
      • Block Level Backup Engine Service
      • Windows Backup
      • Volume Shadow Copy
   6. Restart the system.
3. Apart from that, you can use this function to backup: Back up your Windows PC - Microsoft Support About Windows backup and sync settings - Microsoft Support

If there is anything not clear or I can't understand your problem, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Best Regards

Patch - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Hello rockydean

If you have any questions about subsequent use, please feel free to ask.

We look forward to hearing back from you.

Best Regards

Patch - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 3

Thank you for the information. Just wanted to let you know it will be awhile before I am able to work on this - have bigger fish to fry.

I will update this when I have time to move on.

Answer 4

Have you changed the name of the backup?

Is it in the Root directory of the external drive?

Has your current install changed in some way so that the backup is no longer valid?

You may need to search for the backup yourself if the system does not see it.

Make sure you are selecting the correct version of the recovery actions. I don't remember right now but it should show recover from an image or something similar.