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Laptop purchased with W11 and created W11 updated backup image to internal and external drives. Downgraded from W11 to W10 and created W10 updated backup image to internal and external drives.So I have both W10 and W11 updated system backup images on my internal and external drives.

My laptop is presently running on W10 operating system.

  • I have no problems restoring a W10 system backup image from an internal or external drive to my laptop running on W10 using the Windows Recovery Function or with a Windows Recovery thumb-drive.

  • I have no problems restoring a W11 system backup image from an internal or external drive to my laptop running on W11 using the Windows Recovery Function or with a Windows Recovery thumb-drive.

  • I also have no problems restoring a W10 system backup image from an internal or external drive to the laptop running on W11 using the Windows Recovery Function or with a Windows Recovery thumb-drive.

  • I cannot restore a W11 system backup image from an internal or external drive to the laptop running on W10 using the Windows Recovery Function or with a Windows Recovery thumb-drive.

I wish to upgrade the laptop operating system from W10 to W11 using the W11 updated system backup image from the internal and external drives but I have problems in doing so. It keeps telling me

To restore this computer, Windows needs to format the drive that the Windows recovery environment is currently running on. To continue the restore, shut down this computer and boot it from a Windows Installation Disk or a System Repair disk and try the restore again.

As my laptop does not have a CD/DVD-Rom drive to use a Windows System Repair Disk, I used a W10 & W11 Recovery thumb-drive but the same problem still occurs - To restore this computer, Windows……..

Internet research found How to Create and Use a Recovery Drive or System Repair Disc in Windows 8 or 10:

While you can use both tools to access the Windows advanced boot options for troubleshooting startup, we recommend using a USB-based recovery drive when possible, since it contains all the same tools as the system repair disc.

  • I also have no problems restoring a W11 system from the W11 factory restore partition on the laptop running W10 using the Windows Recovery Function or with a Windows Recovery thumb-drive.

  • But I also cannot restore the W11 updated system backup image from the internal and external drives to the laptop after the factory W11 restore. It keeps telling me

To restore this computer, Windows needs to format the drive that the Windows recovery environment is currently running on. To continue the restore, shut down this computer and boot it from a Windows Installation Disk or a System Repair disk and try the restore again.

One other thing that I did also find very strange is that when running the laptop on W11, I created a backup image in the Windows Image Backup Folder on the E: drive partition. When running the laptop on W10, I also created a backup image in the Windows Image Backup Folder on the E: drive partition.

BUT post W11 system restore from the W11 factory restore partition, the Windows Image Backup Folder appears on the D: drive?

All other folders on the D: and E: drive partitions remain in their original locations, ONLY the Windows Image Backup Folder changes drive partition locations when changing from running W10 to W11 system? The laptop Disk 1 contains both C: and D: drive partitions and Disk 2 is the E: drive partition.

I could not quite believe what I was seeing so I do have screenshots of the above…..

Anyway, all I want to achieve is to restore my laptop running W10 with my W11 updated system backup image….

I hope someone out there has a few answers for me.

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  • "System restore" and "Recovery" in this context refer to restoring the currently-installed OS version after a catastrophic failure. Unlikely to succeed if attempted from a different OS version. Please clarify, is your actual problem now that after you've upgraded back to Win11, you can't restore the previously-created up-to-date Win11 system backup? Please don't answer in comments, instead edit your question so the relevant info is readily available.
    – Peregrino69
    Commented Mar 12, 2023 at 9:51

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If you have used Windows built-in backup tools for doing the imaging, they have many gotchas like the one you found, and will not restore in a Windows installation that isn't the same as when the backup was generated.

For a reliable image backup of the entire disk, and to be able to boot from boot media to restore the backup, you should use third-party tools. Windows built-in tools are deficient in this regard.

An example product that I like is AOMEI Backupper Freeware (but others exist). It will by default only backup used sectors from the disk, therefore speeding the backup process and reducing the size of the backup image.

If using AOMEI, you will also need to Create AOMEI Bootable CD/DVD/USB Based on Windows PE for restoring an image on top of any other that is currently installed.

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  • Not the answers I was looking and hoping for but thank you for your time help and input.
    – gary bradley
    Commented Mar 16, 2023 at 22:30

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