Windows 8.1 Applying System Image Backup Errors, UEFI , Computer Architecture, etc

Question

The struggle has been real since trying to update to Windows 10.

Summary leading up to where I'm at now:

July 29th, download Win 10. July 30th, create system image backup of Win 8.1 (thinking this would be a life saver incase of trouble). Later on July 30th try to install/upgrade Win10 to try and keep all of the apps I had installed on Win 8.1. Win 10 install was a success in all categories except one.....I didn't realize this, but if you leave a Cisco VPN client installed on Win 8.1, but try to upgrade to Win 10, guess what....No Internet! No Network drivers, No network adapters, No success installing network drivers from motherboard driver CD, and No success in uninstalling Cisco VPN client.

So, I decided to look to see if the device manager had any network devices and indeed it did, but why no network adapters or connections to get LAN or internet? Well as I researched I found that there was a Reddit article and a few others of people reporting the same problems with the Cisco VPN client, and most of them warned/mentioned that the VPN client needed to be uninstalled in Win 8.1 before ever considering Win 10. Royally frustrated that the Win 10 reserve software didn't mention this program to be a compatibility problem as I did check the program compatibility check before installing to make sure there weren't going to be any problems. (Some good that was).

At this point, I was frustrated, and most definitely I was too hasty with my actions but I quickly thought about my System Image I created. (The thing I thought could save me) So, I booted into the recovery/refresh/restore menu and it first said I wouldn't be able to use a system image because I was using the drive the OS was running on to do the action, so it requested I either use a recovery drive or a Windows boot install disc. I still had my Win 8 install disc, so I decided to try this one.

Now for where I am stuck and would like to fix the problems:

I didn't know much about UEFI. I did know about BIOS however. Well my error for not knowing is this:

"The system image restore failed. Windows cannot restore a system a system image to a computer that has different firmware. The system image was created on a computer using EFI and the computer is using BIOS."

So researching this, people just recommended that my win 8 install disk/recovery drive just needed to be booted using EFI. So I did this, and at least the error changed once I tried to apply the system image again, but this time it changes to this error:

"The system image restore failed. Error details: The processor architecture or OS version of Windows Recovery Environment is not the same as that of the computer that was backed up. For example, a backup of an Vista x64-based computer can be recovered only by using an Vista x64 based version of Windows Recovery".

And this error pops up almost immediately after I begin to try to use my System image. This is different as unlike some people that say this pops up after 45min of waiting for the image process to finish and it fails right at the end of the applying process. (just to keep in mind)

So now for the specs of my computer, and resources I've tried to use. OS: Win 8.1 Pro 64bit CPU: i7 4770k Mobo: ASRock Z87 Ram: 32GB G.Skill SSD: Samsung Evo 840 1TB (where OS is installed and every single program; C: drive) HDD: Western Digital 1TB (used as a storage drive for just regular files eg. pics, movies etc. Not for programs; Z: drive)

Win 7 install disc; Win 8 install disc; Win 10 recovery drive creation (to my usb) (all of these options have failed with one of the two above errors) personally I can't figure out why that second error is saying that as I haven't changed any hardware components since making the system image backup just the day before. for reference on the error I'm speaking about:

"The system image restore failed. Error details: The processor architecture or OS version of Windows Recovery Environment is not the same as that of the computer that was backed up. For example, a backup of an Vista x64-based computer can be recovered only by using an Vista x64 based version of Windows Recovery".

So now for the question: What am I doing wrong? Why does it give these errors? Is there anything I can try to get this system image to successfully apply to my 2 drives just like the way it was before I tried to install Win 10, so that I can then retry uninstalling just a simple cisco vpn that caused the problem in the first place. Then reinstall the Win 10 update?

Thank you for any help that can be provided

Answer 1

Okay, so this is a bit embarrassing. I figured out my problem was my fault, and after many trials and errors, so before I did enough research I just tried one windows install disc after another hoping one would work.

Different install discs tried: Win 7 Home, Win 7 Pro, WIn 7 Enterprise, Win 8 Pro, Win 8.1 Pro, Win 10 pro, Win 10 Enterprise

None of them worked. Soooo, I started to research some more, absolutely baffled none of those worked. Everything I found kept pointing to that you had to have the exact version of windows your system image was. Well to make a long story short; come to find out, my Win 8.1 Pro install disc was mislabeled and sadly was a 32bit version of Win 8 Pro. But I didn't realize this as the windows recovery looks almost identical. So my main problem was that I didn't realize this disc WASN'T a Win 8.1 install disc. So what solved my problem was downloading the media creation tool for Win 8.1 Pro and Selecting the appropriate bit version, (my case it was a x64bit) and installed this to my flash drive. From there I booted it in UEFI mode as I have learned from my previous first mistake. And From there it successfully worked and reapplied the image I was so desperately trying to get Working again.

Solution: Be VERY CAREFUL which windows install disc you are using to use Windows Recovery on, as it will make all the difference in the world for the 2nd error I got mentioned in original post. SECONDLY: Make sure you are booting into either UEFI mode or BIOS mode depending upon how you installed Windows, and what the #1 error I got mentioned in original post above will state how Windows was installed and what it will need the Install disc booted into in order to apply images. I don't think this will help anyone with any "weird" "abnormal" problems, but hopefully it may help to do these things as a check list to make sure these errors are not being caused by something as simple as a mislabeled install disc :/

Good luck everyone!

p.s. just in case people wanted the link to the media creation tool for windows 8.1 here is the link, and be sure to download the EXACT version of Windows your system image was created on!!!!!!!!! Don't be dumb like me and mislabel things either! lol Hard to admit it, but this was a pure dumb moment.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media