I just discovered this recently as I had to reimage a PC from the wim file on the computer's recovery partition from a non booting pc-
Hirens Boot cd has Gimagex (gui) tool/utlity to capture as well as restores wim's, you boot from hirens, go to tools , and select "Capture" it pretty user friendly, as I have never used imagex before- hope it helps Jean-Paul Natola > From: [email protected] > Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 23:57:37 -0400 > Subject: [NTSysADM] Win 8, System Image Backup, USB flash > To: [email protected] > > SUMMARY > > Windows 8 home edition. Can one create a "System Image" backup to a > USB flash drive? > > STEPS TO REPRODUCE > > Control Panel. Search for "recovery". Click "Windows 7 File > Recovery". In the resulting Control Panel page, at upper left, click > "Create a system image". In the resulting "Where do you want to save > the backup?" window, in the "On a hard disk" drop down list, my flash > drive appears, and I can select it. But once selected, under the drop > down list, a tiny yellow-bang icon appears, with the message "The > drive is not a valid backup location.". The "Next" button is grayed > out and I cannot continue. > > Also tried (from an elevated command prompt) "WBADMIN START BACKUP > -backupTarget:K: -include:C:", and got the error message "The > specified backup location could not be found or is not a supported > backup storage location." > > INVESTIGATION > > Nothing in Event Viewer -> Administrative Events, nor the Windows > Backup Operational log. > > I am using a Lexar 128 GB USB 3.0 flash drive, formatted with NTFS, on > the laptop. I've tried a DISKPART CLEAN to reinitialize the drive; no > help. Tried zeroing the drive on a Linux system and reinit on > Windows; no help. Tried with both MBR and GPT partition tables. > > I've also tried a 32 GB flash drive, and the message changes to "There > might not be enough free space on this drive to save a backup. Delete > unnecessary files or select another drive." So it appears the > software is seeing the USB flash drives generally, and can tell how > much space is available. > > If I create a VHD on the flash drive, mount the VHD, partition it, > format the partition as NTFS, mount that with a drive letter -- *that* > will accept the system image backup from the GUI. So it doesn't > appear to be a hardware problem. > > RESEARCH > > The following page states that one can store a system image on a USB > flash drive. However, the article is tagged as "Windows 7". However, > so are Windows 8's backup features. Seriously -- the names still say > "Windows 7" in the UI. > > http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/back-up-programs-system-settings-files > > The following page states that System Image Backup *should* still be > available, in Windows 8, and should work like it did before. > > http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/what-happened-to-backup-restore > > I find lots of people on the web yammering about this problem, but not > a lot of clear solutions. > > I found a suggestion to share the USB flash drive, and then point > WBAdmin at the network share. Tried that -- it came back with > something like "This edition of Windows will not backup to a network > location." > > I found suggestions of third-party products. Yah, OK, duh, but for > some home users, I'd prefer to use what's built-in, if that's an > option. > > ENVIRONMENT > > Windows 8 home/consumer/standard/whatever. Not Pro nor Enterprise. > 64-bit. Not Windows 8.1 (yet -- one reason I want to make a system > image is to have a way back in case the Win 8.1 upgrade process goes > bad.) > > Toshiba Satellite C855-S5350 laptop. > > -- Ben > >
