Windows 10: Should I temporarily disable antivirus when making system image backup

I plan on making dual system image backups of the main C drive on my computer (which is running Windows 10) with the Windows Backup and Restore Center and Macrium Reflect Free.

It was only after (seemingly successfully) making my first system image backup with the Windows Backup and Restore Center today that the thought struck me that maybe my antivirus program (Bitdefender Total Security) might in some way cause the system image file to be defective. I do not know if this is the case or not.

Should I temporarily disable my antivirus while making system images (with either Windows or Macrium)?

:)

 

Windows Backup and Testore (Windows7) does not work after Jan

Hi,

Thank you for the update.

If you have installed any third party security software on your computer, then try disabling it temporarily and then try to perform System Image Backup and check if it helps.

Disclaimer: If you have to temporarily disable security software, you should re-enable it as soon as you're done. If you're connected to the Internet or a network while your antivirus
software is disabled, your computer is vulnerable to attacks.

Please revert if you face any issues with Windows in future.

 

Conflicting messages with Win 10 system image backup

Hi,

I realize that you are getting conflicting messages with Windows 10 system image backup. I will try to help you with this issue.

Please answer these questions to get more clarity on this issue:

• 
  Did you make any changes to the PC prior to this issue?
  
• 
  What is the free space available on the external HDD?
  

Unplug the external HDD, restart the computer and then plug in the external HDD to check if that helps with the system image backup.

You may temporarily disable the security software and check if this helps.

Disclaimer: If you have to temporarily disable the antivirus to install other software; you should enable the antivirus as soon as you're done. If you're connected to the Internet or a network while your antivirus software
is disabled, your computer is vulnerable to virus attacks.

Suggest you to boot the PC in a clean boot state to check if that helps. A clean boot step will help us determine if any 3rd party service or application is causing this issue.

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Note: After you have finished troubleshooting, follow the steps under “How to reset the computer to start as usual after troubleshooting with clean boot” in the article to boot to normal startup.

Keep us informed to help you further.

 

First time I have seen this question asked.......

I have never experienced any problems either during the creation or restoration of images and have never disabled my security software.....

Good to see you are using Macrium; I find it has served me perfectly, never used the native windows software......

 

I just thought it might interfere in some way. Thank you for the information.

By the way, I created a system image backup with Macrium Reflect Free, and then went to verify the image. It's been over an hour, and the "Verify Image" tab is still stuck on "Not Responding" with 0% completed. Is this normal?

 

No, this is not normal.....

Do you Auto Verify selected in the default settings?

 

I don't think so.

 

Open Other Tasks on the toolbar and select Edit Defaults..........there you will check Auto Verify Image

For now try to close Macrium and reboot your system....

Then open macrium and select Restore and a window will open with your image or images and you will see the Verify Image link.....click on it and see if it will verify the image for you now.....

 

I wound up having to manually turn off the external hard drive I put the backup on be able to shut my computer down. Shutting down Macrium didn't work, and my computer wouldn't shut down until I flipped the switch on the external drive. Afterwards, I started the computer (and the external drive) back up, opened Macrium, and went to verify it again. This time, it worked without a hitch, and said that it successfully verified the image.

Does the fact that I forcibly turned off the external drive with the images (1 from Windows and 1 from Macrium) on it mean that the images are now suspect, or should they be trustworthy, especially considering that Macrium verified the image?

 

Not sure why you had the problem with the external drive.....

If Macrium verified and said it was good, then I personally would trust it....

For you own peace of mind......I would actually do the restore with the macrium image and ensure that it works for you.....

 

I have Paragon HDM Suite and Norton Internet Security.

Norton didn't cause the Paragon backups to be defective. Rather, it just stopped Paragon from backing up system files, and Paragon froze. Norton must have thought Paragon was a virus or malware or something.

All I had to do was go to Norton and whitelist the entire Paragon software folder, and everything worked fine after that.

So just tell your virus scanner to trust or ignore all of your backup program's folders and files.

 

I think the problem may be due to the fact that this was the first time I ever ran that drive.

I created another Macrium image to be safe.

As Macrium didn't freeze up, it probably worked fine. I might set Bitdefender to ignore it, though.

Thanks to both of you for your help.