Windows 10: Restore System Image From External Hard Drive

Ok, so here's the situation...


I'll start out with the fact that I'm somewhat tech savvy. I'm 36, and have been working on computers since I was 6. I taught myself BASIC at 10. I'm no expert, but I'm not your average user. I normally search for my solutions on the internet, and know which sites to avoid, and which to trust...that said, I'm getting irritated, and just want someone to hand me the answer, because I don't get what I'm doing wrong.



My ex sold my computer. It was an abusive relationship, I didn't really have a choice.


I have a system image I was able to make beforehand on an external hard drive. I am trying to install that on a computer my aunt had lying around and gave me.


The "new" computer is comparable to the old one in hardware, but better. Both Windows 10, both 64 bit. Old computer was an HP, had I think a 2.3 Gig processor or slightly under. New one is a Dell, has a 2.5 Gig processor. Old one had 6 Gigs of ram, new one has 8. Both 1 Tb hard drives.


I will add here, that I can see the external hard drive attached via usb.


I did a full system restore on the "new" computer to start from scratch, to get all my aunt's stuff off, so it wouldn't interfere with my restore.


I am able to log into my Microsoft user account, with the proper email and password.


I go to settings, update and security, recovery, restart now.


After restart, I go to troubleshoot, advanced options, system image recovery.


Here's where the problem is. I click on my user name, and enter my password, and I'm told it's incorrect. I'm able to log into the computer, and the website with it. It is an admin account, and always has been since the day it was created. It's the same account on the system image.


Thinking the issue may have been because I changed my password before the restore because he had all my passwords, and is an undesirable fellow that would try to use it I attempted the old password. This didn't work.


So off to research I go....turns out it's a common problem, not because I changed my password before the image recovery.


So then I read elsewhere that you have to do this from the hidden admin account. So I activated the hidden admin account by searching cmd in the search bar, then right clicking to run as admin.


I then type into the command prompt which specifies at the top that it is being run as administrator


net user administrator /activate:yes


I got the response The command completed successfully.


I then attempted to log into the admin account. I was prompted the password was incorrect.


I then go back to the cmd box still being run as admin and set my new password by typing net user "administrator" and "thepasswordIselected"


I then attempt to log into the new admin account with the new password that's been brute set. I am able to.


I reattempt settings, update and security, recovery, restart now. After restart, I go to troubleshoot, advanced options, system image recovery.


Again, I am prompted to click my username and enter the password. I tried the administrator, with the correct password to no avail. I tried my normal username with the correct password, again, to no avail.


What am I doing wrong, or skipping? I may not be a whiz, but if you explain it step by step, I can do it.


The system image on the external hard drive is under 400 gigs. 300 something or other The space available on the actual hard drive of the "new" computer is nearly 1 Tb, ,so that's not an issue either.


Please help.


Thank you!

:)

 

Capacity of external system image hard drive

In creating a system image, what capacity hard drive the backup must be saved on?
Should the capacity of the external hard drive equal or exceed that of the source drive?

In the event of a system crash, how is the operating system restored with the system image created?

 

Free hard drive backup/restore program?

I am looking for a free (freeware) program that will back up and restore a hard drive. I'm looking to clone a few external hard drives. If the program will backup the used space instead of the whole drive this will be awesome! Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Capacity of external system image hard drive

Keep in mind that an image only includes the occupied portion of your hard drive; the free space is not included in the image.

A system image is compressed, so it will be smaller than the occupied portion of your hard drive. It's impossible to predict how large an image will be. That depends on how much data you're imaging and the compression level you choose.

Considering how inexpensive external hard drives are, an external drive of 500 GB or more will let you store multiple system images, so you can configure your image software to make daily images and keep only the 10 most recent images, for example.

A system image is restored with the same software that was used to make the image in the first place. Your image software will show you how to create a recovery drive on a USB flash drive or (if you're old school) a DVD, so you can restore a known good image
even if your computer can't boot into Windows. Just boot your computer from the recovery drive and restore the image.

There's lots of great imaging software, free and paid, and the paid programs usually have a free trial period.