Restoring a System Image (Windows 7-10)

Complete

Ok, so you need to restore a system image.  I usually perform a System Image every month or so and certainly after any app change to my server.  As I take openVPMS backups daily, I can restore a crashed server with a combination of System Restore to get back to within 30 days, followed by the most recent MySQL OpenVPMS backup restore.

Remember:

  1. restoring a system image will return your PC's hard drive to exactly the configuration at the time of creating the system image - alll documents, apps, images etc will be replaced by the system restore so move any such items off the C: drive before undertaking the restore;
  2. if you've renamed the previous system image (as outlined in a previous guide) on your external drive, you will need to rename it to WindowsImageBackup before you start.

Click Start | Settings (gear wheel) | Update & Security.
Click Recovery, then click Restart Now in theAdvanced Startup section.

The Advanced Startup screen will appear.
Click on Troubleshoot.
Click on Advanced Options
Click on System Image Recovery

The PC will ask you to log in with your account and password. Provide the Windows account credentials and click "Continue".


The PC will now fully reboot and restart.

It will scan for a system image backup on your external hard drives.

If it can't find a suitable image, you will be warned.  Generally it means you haven't correctly renamed the image file to WindowsImageBackup.

When it finds an image, it presents the details as to date and location on your PC.   If you have more than one image on separate external drives, it will generally default to the most recent image.  Note that the time zone and time of creating the system image may have been set to Microsoft's home state of Seattle, Washington (!) - add 18 hours for Au EST or 19 hours for AU EDST.  One another of my systems, the time zone is set to GMT (GMT-00:00) - add 10 hours for Au EST or 11 hours for AU EDST.  Confirm that this is the system image toy wish to restore.

Click Next

Click Next

Click Yes

Confirm restoration of image.  Click Yes.

The restore starts.  You can stop the restore if you wish but do not turn off the PC while the restore is underway.

When the restore has completed, the system will reboot.

You have now reverted your system (apps, data, everything) completely to the configuration at the time of taking the image.

HTH.