How to complete restore using just a VHDX file?

Question

Let me please explain the scenario what I went through.

I have a Transcend SSD which I use to boot my PC which I upgraded from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1.

I have two other hard disk drives (one tera byte and other is 320 GB). Yesterday I received a notification from the SSD utility that there is a firmware update available. I read the instructions which came along it which stated that the drive will be completely erased if I update it. Naturally I had to backup the entire drive. I used the command :

wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:F: -include:C: -allCritical -quiet

The F drive was my other hard drive of 320 GB (Single partition).

It took a while and came the message that the backup has been done successfully.

I made a system restore disk using the utility from the control panel.

I then made the firmware update usb drive by the utility provided and then booted from the USB and successfully updated the firmware.

Then I booted from the system restore disk I created earlier to restore my old image. However when I tried to restore it, it tried to restore it on my other hard drive instead. I then went to command prompt, used the diskpart command and accidentally selected the wrong drive (the one which contained my backup) and used the clean command.

And there my whole backup was gone!

I then installed a fresh OS using my original DVD (of Windows 8) on the SSD. I tried the recovery tools and all I was able to recover is my VHDX file (which is usually inside the folders created by the wbAdmin command). I tried mounting the image and thankfully it is safe and I can mount it.

Now the thing is that I want to write the complete VHDX file to my SSD so that I can get back my old and working OS.

Can anyone please help me with the things I have? I just have my VHDX file.

Answer 1

I realize this is two years too late but having just gone through a similar experience with Windows 10, I finally came across this post which helped me resolve my problem. I needed to convert the VHD/VHDX from my Windows Backup to a Windows Imaging Format (WIM) disk file and restore that to my C: drive.

Before starting, you'll need the exact path to the VHDX for the Mount command.

Assuming the system image backup or other VHDX resides on an external drive D: (change the D: drive letter to match the location of your backup VHD/VHDX):

1. Connect the backup drive containing the backup to another Windows PC.
2. Open a PowerShell command window as Administrator.
3. Create a "Mount" and "Capture" folder on D:.

md D:\Mount, D:\Capture

4. Mount the VHDX at D:\Mount.

Mount-WindowsImage -ImagePath "D:\full_path_to.vhdx" -Path D:\Mount -Index 1

5. Write the "Mount" folder to a new WIM file.

New-WindowsImage -CapturePath D:\Mount -Name Win10Backup -ImagePath D:\Capture\Backup.wim -Description "Windows 10 Backup" -Verify

6. Once completed, unmount the VHDX and safely disconnect the backup drive.

Dismount-WindowsImage -Path D:\Mount -Discard

On the computer to restore, connect the drive containing the WIM file, boot up the Windows 10 setup media and from the install screen select "Repair Computer" > "Troubleshoot" > "Advanced Options" > "Command Prompt".

(You may need to use DiskPart from the command line to make sure C: refers to your desired C: partition.)

From the command line, format and then restore the C: drive from the WIM:

format c: /q

Dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:D:\Capture\Backup.wim /Index:1 /ApplyDir:C:\

Once completed, cross your fingers and reboot.

Answer 2

After finding this question I want to add how I did a restore. I maintain a friend's computer who lives down the street. When machines are new I always clone the system drive to a second OS on the same hard disk, and when issues occur I boot to the second OS. This only requires a small amount of space. Over a year ago I made VHDX images of both drives, the main and second OS, which is my normal backup procedure. She had not been using the laptop much, so not much was changed, but her grandson was there playing with it. Both operating systems became unusable due to partial windows updates.

To resolve this I performed the following steps:
- removed the hard disk and plugged into a dock on another machine
- created a VHDX file for the main partition
- with EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition I wrote down the partition sizes
- with EaseUS I deleted both partitions
- with Disk Management I mounted the VHDX backup file of the main partition
- with EaseUs I cloned the mounted drive to unallocated space
- I reinstalled the hard disk in the laptop
- I booted to a windows DVD and repaired the boot up
- I removed the disk and placed in the dock again
- with Disk Management I mounted the VHDX backup file of the second partition
- with EaseUs I cloned the mounted drive to unallocated space
- I reinstalled the hard disk in the laptop
- after booting I used EasyBCD by NeoSmart to edit the boot menu for the second OS
- in the second partition I mounted the system hive and edited MountedDevices, leaving the header but removing all drive letters
- I booted to each OS and updated windows
- on the other machine I mounted the VHDX file made of the corrupt drive and copied out everything new since the previous backup

The entire process went very fast due to the clone feature of EaseUS.

Answer 3

you need to do a block copy from PhysicalDriveX to PhysicalDriveY .

x is the disk number which you get after mounting your VHDx and Y is the disk number of your SSD

mount the VHDx in read-only mode and open a handle to PhysicalDriveX -- H1

open a handle to PhysicalDriveY, lock the target SSD's PhysicalDriveY file -- H2

Read from H1

write to H2

Unlock H2 and you are done !