Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media
-
Hello ,
Story
The title says it all, can I restore this windows 7 image not using windows repair or installation media to a brand new HDD mounted on a docing station.
if so what Programs are out there to aid me in my quest
Side Quest>>
I have alot of remote users using Lenovo's X260, unfortunately that model is having HDD defect issues, so now i need to be able to image a new HDD with a windows 7 image taken quarterly and send it back to the user for a swap out.
on any other image not using UEFI i am able to use repair s disk on a VM with the new HDD on a docing station to restore the image by conventional means and ship them out to all my users that have older x250 laptops but when i try to restore an x260 image in this manner i am getting the error:
"the system image restore failed, windows cannot restore a system image to a computer with different firmware. the system image was created using EFI and your computer is using bios".
and if i boot the vm in EFI mode i get the error
"this version of system recovery options is not compatible with the version of windows you are trying to repair. try using a recovery disc that is compatible with this version of windows" -
There are a few options, you could simply clone the disk with all of the files that the user has and then provide them that. Which is likely the best approach.
Making users restore their files themselves seems like it would be a lot more of a headache in the long wrong.
You can clone hard drives using linux DD or any of the commercial cloning solutions out there.
-
it would take the rout you have suggested but unfortunately there are a lot of special designed programs that are difficult to reinstall without having the machine present
-
@ezacal said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
it would take the rout you have suggested but unfortunately there are a lot of special designed programs that are difficult to reinstall without having the machine present
A clone wouldn't require you to install any software in most cases.
-
@dustinb3403 ah yes i neglected to mention we are able to clone the drive via clonezilla but a lot of the times the users have to continue work while we send out a new drive, so as of now i only have a windows image to work with, with the constraint of not being able to use a repair disk
-
@ezacal said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 ah yes i neglected to mention we are able to close it via clonezilla but a lot of the times the users have to continue work while we send out a new drive, so as of now i only have a windows image to work with with the constraint of not using a repair disk
Ah... I see so you need some way to take a live image.
You might try something like UrBackup. You create a server and have a bunch of agents (the laptops). The laptops would push a full backup of the drive on a schedule and then you could restore that to a new disk.
-
@dustinb3403 I appreciate the recommendation of alternate imaging software and i personally would love to use them but my mission is to get the VHDs stored in the windows image to transfer over directly to a blank HDD, no matter the method used the windows image must be the source of the restoration.
-
@ezacal said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 I appreciate the recommendation of alternate imaging software and i personally would love to use them but my mission is to get the VHDs stored in the windows image to transfer over directly to a blank HDD, no matter the method used the windows image must be the source of the restoration.
VHDs are a virtual term. Unfortunately it seems whoever gave you this task is telling you to do it with your hands tied behind your back.
You need a software tool to create a VHD (image) of your physical systems.
Do you have any software you're looking at?
-
@dustinb3403 when i say VHD i am referring to the Mountable VHD contained in the Windows system image folder created by windows, however the proper way to phrase it the end desired result is to take that windows image and apply it to a blank HDD, i just want to know if anyone has had success doing this without the windows repair disk and or if its even possible.
-
@ezacal said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 when i say VHD i am referring to the Mountable VHD contained in the Windows system image folder created by windows, however the proper way to phrase it the end desired result is to take that windows image and apply it to a blank HDD, i just want to know if anyone has had success doing this without the windows repair disk and or if its even possible.
This isn't possible. You can create a golden image, and restore that without user data. Or you can backup the entire system with user data and restore it.
In any case you need imaging rights.
-
How wa s the VHD created in the first place? Using windows backup?
If that’s true, then MS should have a solution that will allow you to boot to The needs mode, UEFI or BIOS and restore.
-
Was the VHD in question made on a UEFI machine? And if yes, using what method.
-
@dustinb3403 said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@ezacal said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 when i say VHD i am referring to the Mountable VHD contained in the Windows system image folder created by windows, however the proper way to phrase it the end desired result is to take that windows image and apply it to a blank HDD, i just want to know if anyone has had success doing this without the windows repair disk and or if its even possible.
This isn't possible. You can create a golden image, and restore that without user data. Or you can backup the entire system with user data and restore it.
In any case you need imaging rights.
You need no imaging rights just to backup and restore a system. That is just a stupid thing to say.
-
@jaredbusch said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@ezacal said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 when i say VHD i am referring to the Mountable VHD contained in the Windows system image folder created by windows, however the proper way to phrase it the end desired result is to take that windows image and apply it to a blank HDD, i just want to know if anyone has had success doing this without the windows repair disk and or if its even possible.
This isn't possible. You can create a golden image, and restore that without user data. Or you can backup the entire system with user data and restore it.
In any case you need imaging rights.
You need no imaging rights just to backup and restore a system. That is just a stupid thing to say.
He is not restoring to the same system and he wants to change what is on the image.
-
@dustinb3403 said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@jaredbusch said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@ezacal said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 when i say VHD i am referring to the Mountable VHD contained in the Windows system image folder created by windows, however the proper way to phrase it the end desired result is to take that windows image and apply it to a blank HDD, i just want to know if anyone has had success doing this without the windows repair disk and or if its even possible.
This isn't possible. You can create a golden image, and restore that without user data. Or you can backup the entire system with user data and restore it.
In any case you need imaging rights.
You need no imaging rights just to backup and restore a system. That is just a stupid thing to say.
He is not restoring to the same system and he wants to change what is on the image.
He is swapping the drive, it most assuredly is the same system.
But that is not what I was responding to. I specifically quoted your stupid ass post stating that a backup and restore required imaging rights.
-
@jaredbusch said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@jaredbusch said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@ezacal said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 when i say VHD i am referring to the Mountable VHD contained in the Windows system image folder created by windows, however the proper way to phrase it the end desired result is to take that windows image and apply it to a blank HDD, i just want to know if anyone has had success doing this without the windows repair disk and or if its even possible.
This isn't possible. You can create a golden image, and restore that without user data. Or you can backup the entire system with user data and restore it.
In any case you need imaging rights.
You need no imaging rights just to backup and restore a system. That is just a stupid thing to say.
He is not restoring to the same system and he wants to change what is on the image.
He is swapping the drive, it most assuredly is the same system.
But that is not what I was responding to. I specifically quoted your stupid ass post stating that a backup and restore required imaging rights.
You're being a dumbass Jared. Golden Image (custom) requires imaging rights. Or you can backup the entire system in restore it.
In any case (what he has explained he wants to do) will require imaging rights. FFS.
-
@dustinb3403 said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@jaredbusch said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@jaredbusch said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@ezacal said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
@dustinb3403 when i say VHD i am referring to the Mountable VHD contained in the Windows system image folder created by windows, however the proper way to phrase it the end desired result is to take that windows image and apply it to a blank HDD, i just want to know if anyone has had success doing this without the windows repair disk and or if its even possible.
This isn't possible. You can create a golden image, and restore that without user data. Or you can backup the entire system with user data and restore it.
In any case you need imaging rights.
You need no imaging rights just to backup and restore a system. That is just a stupid thing to say.
He is not restoring to the same system and he wants to change what is on the image.
He is swapping the drive, it most assuredly is the same system.
But that is not what I was responding to. I specifically quoted your stupid ass post stating that a backup and restore required imaging rights.
You're being a dumbass Jared. Golden Image (custom) requires imaging rights. Or you can backup the entire system in restore it.
In any case (what he has explained he wants to do) will require imaging rights. FFS.
Imaging from a golden image of course requires imaging rights. Backing up and restore a system does not.
Stop misleading things.
Also, you can 100% image your system, say quarterly, and restore that image back to your system without image rights. That style of imaging is just a backup.
-
Where's the original thread - why isn't it linked in the OP?
-
@jaredbusch Hence the recommendation to backup and then restore the drive using a solution like UrBackup.
Yet he has repeated he does not / will not / cannot create backups, but wants to install a new operating system onto these systems and then send them out.
In this case he would require either the OEM image (assuming of course OEM licensing of Windows) or Imaging rights to do this.
-
@dashrender said in Cross Post - Restoring Windows 7 Image Without a Repair disk or Installation Media:
Where's the original thread - why isn't it linked in the OP?
The OP is in the first post. I'm no longer linking to SW.
