How to backup a Windows 10 system. Methods for creating an ISO image on Windows

Today it is not so difficult to find an image of the “ten” on one of the many sites and torrent trackers, however, in most cases, instead of a clean system you will get a rather strange “SOMETHING”, filled with unnecessary software, third-rate drivers and a bunch of “whistles” which only slow down the OS and make it appearance, let's say, miserable. Also, as a bonus, there may also be malware, such as viruses and Trojans. In a word, it’s time to start figuring out: how to create one that will contain a clean system, without unnecessary nasties?

Where to get it?

For regular readers of our site, it will not be a surprise that you can upgrade to Windows 10 manually - the Media application is successfully used for this Creation Tool, however, few people know that using the same application you can create bootable media, as well as ISO images of the system. To do this, you do not have to download additional tools or make changes to the system - just carefully follow the instructions that appear on the screen while the application is running. So let's get started:

1. Download and launch Media Creation Tool;
2. In the first step, select “Create installation media for another PC”;

1. Specify the parameters of the ISO image you want to create - language, edition, and bit depth (32 or 64 bits);

1. Finally, in the last step, select the location where you want to write the downloaded data. This can be either a flash drive (USB drive) or an ISO image, which can then be burned;

1. Click "Next" and wait until the download completes.

The last step can be particularly time-consuming, given that you'll have to download anywhere from 3GB to 7GB of data, depending on which version you choose. Congratulations, now you know how to create a Windows 10 image!

How to record?

As you can see, creating an ISO with Windows 10 is quite simple, but you can’t do much with the image itself - it can only be used in experiments with virtual machine, where it can be successfully connected as a real disk. If you need to create real media - a disk or flash drive, from which you can then use the WinSetupFromUSB or Windows DVD Download Tool applications - articles about these programs, as well as videos, you can find on our website - they have a more than comprehensive answer to the question of how to write Windows image 10 per disk.

A Windows 10 system image is an exact copy of one or more disks (partitions) of the computer, and can be used for recovery in case of problems with the hard drive or system.

By default, the image includes only the sections needed to boot and Windows operation, but if you wish, you can add other computer disks with information important to you.

When restoring a system using an image, the information on the disks is completely replaced, and its relevance will correspond to the time the image was created. Those. you cannot restore individual documents, programs, drivers, etc., only backup copy disk fully.

Now let's look at this process point by point.

Creating a Windows 10 image

1. Open the control panel. To do this, right-click on the menu “ Start» and select the appropriate item.

5. In the menu on the left, launch the “”.

7. Select a location to save your archive and click the " Next».

There is several options for positioning the system image :

• On hard drive. This means that the archive will be saved on an external hard drive, an internal additional hard drive, or on one of the partitions of the disk being archived. The first option is the most reliable and preferable, because if the hard drive on which the Windows backup the archive will also be lost. And if you select a partition of the current disk, the system will issue a corresponding warning. This message is not shown in the image below because... selected individual hard drive.
• OnDVD-disks. This option is for rarity lovers. Not convenient, not reliable, but also has the right to life.
• In a network folder. This method is for experienced users. To use it, your computer must be properly configured network connection and you need to know the parameters to access the network resource.

8. In the next step, you can select the disks for archiving. After that, in the confirmation window for archiving parameters, click the button “ Archive" The approximate volume that will be required to create a backup copy will also be indicated here.

10. Once the process is complete, you will be prompted. If you don't have one yet, take advantage of this opportunity or you can record it later.

Where is the system image stored?

If you are interested, you can see the location of the archive files and the volume they occupy. The system image is saved on the previously specified media in the following format:

Drive letter:\WindowsImageBackup\ Computer name\Backup year-month-date hours minutes seconds

For example, for the archive created for writing this article, the image location is as follows:

E:\WindowsImageBackup\site\Backup 2016-02-03 065439

You can also see how much space the image takes up.

Features of creating an image

Finally, here are a few nuances that need to be taken into account when recording a Windows 10 system image:

• The archive can only include disks formatted in file system NTFS.
• You cannot include in the image the disk partition on which the archive is saved.
• You can't restore 64-bit image on 32-bit system.
• If you save an archive to a network resource, only latest version data. When creating a new image, the old one will be overwritten.
• An image created on a computer with UEFI, cannot be restored on a computer with classic BIOS.

Backup operating system will be useful to the user if he decides to restore the previous state of the OS from an image, or if an unexpected situation occurs in which the computer fails. In both cases, you will need standard utilities from Microsoft and several third-party ones. free programs. Let's figure out how to backup Windows 10.

Built-in using Windows you can easily create a backup copy. However, in terms of functionality and capabilities, standard operating system utilities are much inferior third party programs, so below we will consider applications for archiving and recovery from independent developers. So, you can reserve the OS using:

• built-in Windows 10 wizard;
• third party programs.

The article will also discuss instructions for restoring from a backup with detailed description actions.

We use standard OS functionality

You can create a backup on the hard drive itself, if available. free space or place it on external media. The second option is convenient if your hard drive turns out to be completely faulty. You can restore the operating system by simply connecting a flash drive/inserting a disk and performing the necessary operations.

Windows uses the concept of a "system image" instead of a backup. To access the Backup Wizard, you must complete the following steps:

1. Open Control Panel.

1. Select the “Category” view type and open the “Backup and Restore” subsection.

1. Here you need to select the “Create a system image” option.

1. Now you need to specify the location of the future backup. You can select the current hard drive (if the hard drive is completely damaged, in addition to personal data, the backup will also be lost), a separate DVD drive, or a network folder (saving a backup on the network will not be 100% secure). After selecting a location, click Next.

1. On the new screen you will see a list of those sections that will be archived. To start the procedure, click on the “Archive” button.

You can configure backup settings in detail, enable or disable saving archives as follows:

1. You must be in the same “Backup and Restore” window. In it, click on the “Configure” button backup».

1. At the first stage, select the location where all backups will be stored.

1. By checking the second box, you can independently determine which files will be used for the backup.

1. Select data files and local disk to archive all available information.

1. On the next screen, click on the “Change Schedule” button to configure the time and date for creating the archive.

1. Finally, click on the marked button to start the automatic archiving process.

You can manually delete archived files from the WindowsImageBackup folder using an administrator account.

You can do all the described actions through DISM.exe on the command line. This method is less convenient, but it may be useful to you.

Creating a backup via DISM

You can launch the standard utility through the mode Windows recovery 10. To open the recovery environment, follow the described algorithm:

1. Open Settings.

1. Next, go to “Update and Security”.

1. In a new window, open the “Recovery” section. Click on the “Reboot Now” button.

You can also go to the OS recovery environment using the Windows 10 lock screen. Click on the power icon while holding down the Shift key.

After the reboot, you will see a menu in front of you. In it you need to go to “Troubleshooting” - “ Additional options" - "Command line".

The usual cmd window will appear in front of you. You must enter the following:

1. Commands "diskpart", "list volume". By the name label, determine which of the disks is the system one and which one is for saving the backup. For example, system disk marked with the letter E, and for backup – with the letter D.

1. Now use the "exit" command to exit the previous menu. Next, enter “dism /Capture-Image /ImageFile:D:\Win10Image.wim /CaptureDir:E:\ /Name:”Windows 10” and perform the action with the Enter key.

1. After some time has passed, you will see a message indicating that the operation was completed successfully.

Restoring the OS from a backup

You can also use the created restore point via GUI or DISM. Let's look at the first option first:

1. First of all, you need to open the Windows Recovery Environment. Read above about how to do this. Then open the "System Image Restore" section, which is located in the advanced options. In this case, a backup drive must be connected to the computer.

1. You will see the presented window on the screen. You can entrust the procedure to the recovery wizard (1) or select the OS image manually (2).

1. Select the partitions to overwrite and wait until the installation is complete, then restart your computer.

Consider the same operation via command line in a recovery environment. Open DISM again using the above method. If your hard drive is working properly and the entire partition structure is preserved, then use the following method:

1. Enter the commands “diskpart” and “list volume” in turn. After the second command, remember the section numbers from the list (take a photo or write it down).

1. Now enter “select volume N”. Instead of the letter “N”, you must substitute the number of the system partition (the “Volume” column). Next, use “format fs=ntfs quick” to format the volume with the operating system. Exit the menu with "exit".
2. Now enter the line “dism /apply-mage /imagefile:D:\Win10Image.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:E:\” if the saved OS image is called “Win10Image.wim” and is located on drive D, and the recovery partition marked with the letter E. Modify the line using this analogy to suit your situation and run the process with the Enter key.

1. Restart your PC after the “Operation completed successfully” message appears.

Third party programs

Let's move on to the description of the functionality third party applications. The following popular options for creating and restoring backups will be discussed below:

• Macrium Reflect Free;
• Aomei Backupper Standard.

Similar software is used to restore the OS on mobile devices With using Windows Device Recovery Tool.

Macrium Reflect Free

This utility is free and can be downloaded from the creator's website. To create a backup, use the following guide:

1. On the main screen of the program, select the required sections and click on the “Actions” button. In the menu, select “Image this partition only”.

1. To restore files, go to the “Restore” tab. Click on the “Path” button and specify the path to the directory with the image. To start the operation, click on “Start Restore”.

You can start the system image recovery process using the presented programs. But if your OS is damaged and does not start, you will have to use Windows 10 LiveCD (an operating system that can be loaded via external media without installation). Through it you can connect a drive with an OS image and restore your PC using one of the presented programs.

Bottom line

Carefully choose where to save your Windows 10 backups. It is not recommended to leave backups on the main hard drive, as you risk losing everything beyond recovery if the hardware fails.

Video

Using the video, you can learn more about the procedure for creating backup copies of Windows 10 and understand those points that remained unclear while reading the article.

The vast majority of users (perhaps you are one of them too) disdain the function that allows you to backup Windows 10. By the way, it’s in vain.

It also provides a system backup feature. Moreover, by default, an image is created for all media files, documents and SMS, calls and bookmarks in the system browser or application.

To do this, you will need to go to the “Settings” application in the “Update and Security” section.

There you need to find an archiving service. You need to put the toggle switch in the “on” position under the line where it is suggested to create a backup copy of the content.

Interestingly, the user can independently choose which parameters will be backed up and which will not. This can be done using the “Other parameters” section.

True, while on a PC you could independently determine where the system image would be saved, on mobile devices everything is automatically saved to your OneDrive account.

Normal system recovery

If the backup was performed using the first method, then in the event of a critical error and incorrect operation system, you need to go to the “Shutdown” section in the “Start” menu, select the restart item and click on it while holding the Shift button.

When you reboot, the advanced options screen will open, where you need to click on “System image recovery.” After selecting this item, the system will search for a backup copy and try to install it, so you need to take into account that the media must be inserted into the PC (if we are talking about a flash drive, CD or external hard drive).

via DISM

If the Windows image was recorded using DISM, you need to open an administrator command prompt (as was done above), where you will need to enter:

1. diskpart.
2. list volume.
3. We remember on which disk the backup is stored (in the “Name” column) + the disk that will contain the system.
4. select volume 5.
5. select volume 6.
6. format fs-FS quick.
7. assign the latter=V.
8. exit.
9. dism /apply-mage /imagefile:*disk where the backup is stored*:\*name of the backup*.wim /index:1 /ApplyDir:6:\.
10. bcdboot:6:\Windows /s V:.
11. diskpart.
12. select volume 5.
13. remove letter=V.

5 - number of the disk with the system.

6 is the number of the disk where the system will be installed.

V is a Latin letter that will be assigned to the system partition.

Then you will need to restart your PC and the system will be restored.

System recovery via LiveCD Aomei Backupper Standard

To restore the operating system using this utility, you need to open this program and go to the Restore section, which is located in side menu. The program itself will find where the system image is stored and offer to install it. This is only possible if the media with the image is connected to the PC or if it is some kind of disk inside the system.

In any case, you can specify the path to the backup yourself.

After all the settings (if any have been made), click on Start Restore, which will be highlighted in orange.

As it turns out, creating a Windows system image is not at all difficult. The main thing you need to understand is that you should not neglect the backup function and, whenever necessary, it is better to use it.

Who knows what data you'll need in the future. It’s better to make an image of them so as not to lose them without a trace in the future.

All these actions apply to mobile version operating system from Microsoft, because now users store a huge amount important information specifically on smartphones and tablets - mobile devices, which are always at hand. Yes, cloud services in Russia and the CIS are not so popular yet.

The backup function includes a bit by bit copy of the entire system. A Windows backup includes the complete installation of the operating system, application settings, personal data, even the desktop background. You can transfer all information from hard drive to another computer. Its main function is that you can restore the system after critical errors, hardware or software failure. The downside is that you won't be able to recover separate files, but it is quite possible to extract some photographs and documents. Remember! Backups should be done periodically so that if Windows crashes, you don’t lose important files. For example, I had a problem when I was converting partition styles from MBR to GPT and in my case everything went wrong. I connected a flash drive with a Windows 10 backup and everything remained as it was.

How to Backup a Windows 10 Image

• Go to Control Panel and press System and security.

• Select.

• Click bottom left.

• Left side.

• Choose where exactly you want to save your copy. This can be a local drive, a network computer, a flash drive, or a CD.

• I do everything copy of hard disk, but you can only use a separate local disk on which the system is located. Then you can go about your business at the computer and wait for the process to complete. After finishing, you will also be asked to create one from which you can boot and run the process from the backup copy, but it is better to create it manually.

Restoring your computer from a Windows 10 backup

Connect the device on which a copy of your system is located, and restart the computer from the installation windows disk. Look, . During windows installations, press the button Next, then select Restore your computer, which is located in the lower left corner of the screen. Next click on Troubleshooting, click Additional options and select System Recovery Image. Select the system you want to restore, click Next and Finish.