Windows 10: How to Verify Windows Image Backup Restore in a Dual Boot PC?

I am dual booting Win 8.1 Pro (original) with Win 10 Pro (Added) on a single Samsung SSD on my desktop PC. The default OS for boot up is Win 10 Pro, however I usually work in Win 8.1 Pro by manually switching to it at the blue boot menu at startup. As the rule, Windows always boots to the C: drive so when I am in Win 8.1 pro, the Win 10 Pro is shown under D: drive and when I am in Win 10 pro, the Win 8.1 Pro is shown under D: drive. I have created separate image backup of each OS on a USB-attached HDD using Windows. The image backups are in separate partition and labeled according to their corresponding OS names.

I recently had a glitch updating the Win 10 pro to the latest feature update and after reboot I got an error that Desktop contents (icons) not loadable. I managed to retrieved them back again. Now, Win 10 Pro boots with icons shown on a black background but the start menu icon does not work and most of my apps do not open! I have tried the Repair Your Computer and unloading the latest feature update or performance update to no avail. I also used the recovery to the latest version restore point and that didn't work either. Now I like to restore the Win 10 Pro image file from the USB HDD. When I choose Image Restore from the blue menu, the machine restarts asking for my login and after that it correctly find the Win 10 Pro system image file with date, time and computer name. When I choose Select a System Image the following appears under Drives in Backup column: EFI System Partition C: , \\?\volume{..............}
The volume belongs to a recovery partition on the Samsung SSD

Now, how can I make sure when I choose this image it restore it to the Windows 10 Pro folder and not to the Win 8.1 Pro folder?! I don't want to wipe out my Win 8.1 pro!

When I reboot to the blue recovery screens and use the command prompt and Diskpart, it shows Win 8.1 Pro under C: drive and this has made me in doubt!

:)

 

Restoring Windows 10 Image using Macrium Reflect


In addition to the above. Here's my suggestion in step by step.
I assume you have Macrium Installed in your current HD and already made a backup copy.

1. Connect your new HD via USB port and boot up.
2. Run Macrium, click on Restore tab then select the Backup Image that you made to restore
3. click on "select a different target disk" then select your new HD as destination
   
   
   
4. Proceed to restore then Shutdown and disconnect the old HD and replace with the new HD
5. Boot up with your new HD.

 

Dual Boot Setup 10 and 8.1 and 10 and 7 using image backup / restore


I have multiple computers with Dual Boot setups and have questions about the correct way to do system image backups to be able to restore only one OS in event of issues. After cloning hard drive that already had dual boot with 10 and 7 working successfully, the new hard drive would not boot Win 7, only Win 10. Both OS versions were visible, from both 10 and 7 dual boot menus. I had taken image backups from within each of the OS software, and tried to do a restore of the win 7 from the win 10 recovery media ( i did not want to risk doing a restore from Win 7 recovery media that would not be aware of the newer OS.). It found the Win 7 OS and the backup image when I selected the win 7 OS from the restore option, but it wanted to delete all other partitions on the drive (only one hard drive on system), which would have wiped out the working Win 10 partition.

Is it possible to restore only one OS partition from System Image Restore for dual boot setups using one hard drive, and, if so what is the image creation scenario and image restore scenario to follow.

I had a system image that I created in Win 7 (system and OS partition option) before I did a clean install of Windows 10 to a new Partition. I created a system image of Windows 10 after the successful install. I set up dual boot and was able to access both version of the OS successfully multiple times. I cloned to a new, larger hard drive and was able to access the Win 10 partition, but got an error ( unable to boot from partition) and wanted to restore only the Win 7 partition from win 10 recovery media. It found the OS and the image restore set, but wanted to delete all other partitions on the hard drive. I wound up re-cloning the hard drive.

Is there a known process for being able to use the existing windows tools to create system images for each OS in a dual boot system and be able to restore one or the other

Do you have to do a system image backup from Win 10, and include all partitions on the drive and then restore everything if you have a problem with either?

Any thoughts or suggestions how to be able to use system image backups to maintain a dual boot system with maximum flexibility on the restore side of things?

 

Restoring Image Backup to an identical PC

I have created an system image backup of my Windows 10 using "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)" tool in order to give my laptop for service. In case the laptop is replaced with a similar one (having also preinstalled the same Windows 10 version), is it possible
to restore the backup image without any problem with the activation? Is there some specific steps I should follow to activate it?