Win 10 create a system image. Ways to create an ISO image on Windows. Video: how to burn a system image to disk using DAEMON Tools

We have already talked about the built-in recovery tools that allow you to quickly return Windows 10 to a working state if software problems occur. Let's take a closer look at backup, which allows you to save settings, programs and files.

Creating a system image

You can create an image of Windows 10 using standard tools that were first implemented in Windows Vista. A backup copy of Windows 10 will be a snapshot of the system with its settings, installed programs and user files, which are stored on the system partition (usually drive C).

The image can be saved on another (non-system) partition of the hard drive, a second connected hard drive, several optical media or network resources. It is preferable to select a second connected hard drive (if there is one) or a non-system hard drive partition.

By default, disks containing the boot sector and system partition of Windows 10 will be added to the archive.

You can archive other partitions, but the built-in imaging tool is not the best way to do this. When restoring, there is a possibility that the archived partitions with user files will be erased.

Therefore, leave the standard configuration - a system-reserved partition and a volume with Windows files.

After selecting the composition of the image, click the “Archive” button. Once the image is prepared, the system will prompt you to create a recovery disk that you can use if Windows 10 stops booting.

If you have an empty “blank” at hand, use this opportunity - returning Windows to a working state from a recovery disk is easier than using the F8 key or installation media. Insert the optical media into the drive and click Create Disc.

You can create a recovery disk later - we talked about this in more detail in the article about

You don’t need to do anything else: the backup copy will be stored in the location you specify until it becomes necessary to use it to restore Windows.

Restoring from a backup

The backup copy is stored on disk, all that remains is to perform a restore to return Windows 10 to a working state. If the system is unstable but boots:

If there is no such button in the Windows settings, or the system stops starting, then use a previously created recovery disk or installation media with the Windows 10 distribution.

The image recovery wizard will appear on the screen. By default, the latest system snapshot by creation date is selected, but you can manually specify the path to an earlier copy if available. Click Next.

There is no need to change anything in the second window of the wizard - click “Next”. Check the information provided and click “Finish” to start the process of restoring Windows 10 from the previously created system snapshot.

Confirm the data replacement and wait while the system is restored from the image. Once this process is complete, restart your computer. When you launch, you will see that Windows 10 has been returned to the state it was in when the system snapshot was taken.

AOMEI Backupper Standard

If the standard backup tool does not suit you, use the free AOMEI Backupper Standard program. This utility offers a simple and effective way to create a copy and then restore the system.

If the system boots, you can restore it from the created image in the program interface in the “Restore” section. The location of the copy is determined automatically, but if this does not happen, specify the path manually. Make sure the restore is to the correct locations and click “Start Restore.”

The ideal option in which you can get into the system was described above. In practice, users resort to restoring from a backup only if Windows 10 completely refuses to start. In this case, you will need a bootable USB flash drive previously created in AOMEI Backupper Standard.

Connect the flash drive to your computer.
Launch the program and go to the "Utilities" tab.
Select "Create Bootable Media".

After loading from this flash drive, the main program window will open, through which you can start restoring from the image using the instructions above.

There is another free way to create an image of Windows 10 - use the Macrium Reflect Free utility. It works on the same principle as AOMEI Backupper, offering to record a backup copy and create a bootable USB flash drive, which is useful if the system does not start.

There are other options, for example, backup tools from Acronis. They provide more features than the standard Windows tool and the programs listed above. In particular, Acronis True Image creates a system impression that takes up 2 times less space than an image created using Windows. But you have to pay for Acronis products, so this option is not a viable option for most users.

The newly installed Windows operating system cannot but please the eye. Pristinely clean, without any processes slowing down the computer, unnecessary software and a bunch of games. Experts recommend routinely reinstalling the OS every 6–10 months for preventive purposes and to clean up excess information. And for a successful reinstallation you need a high-quality disk image of the system.

In what cases may you need a Windows 10 system image?

The main reasons for the urgent need for an OS image are, of course, reinstalling or restoring the system after damage.

Damage may be caused by broken files on hard drive sectors, viruses and/or incorrectly installed updates. Often the system can recover on its own if none of the critical libraries were damaged. But once the damage affects the bootloader files or other important and executable files, the OS may well stop functioning. In such cases, it is simply impossible to do without external media (installation disk or flash drive).

It is recommended to have several permanent media with a Windows image at once. Anything can happen: disk drives often scratch disks, and flash drives themselves are fragile devices. In the end, everything falls into disrepair. And the image should be updated periodically in order to save time downloading updates from Microsoft servers and immediately have the latest drivers for the equipment in your arsenal. This mainly concerns a clean OS installation, of course.

Burning an image to a disk or flash drive

Let's say you have a Windows 10 disk image, assembled or downloaded from the official Microsoft website, but it is of little use as long as it just sits on the hard drive. It needs to be written correctly using a standard or third-party program, because the image file itself is of no value to the bootloader's attempt to read it.

It is important to consider the choice of media. Usually a standard DVD blank with a stated 4.7 GB of memory or a USB flash drive with a capacity of 8 GB is sufficient, since the weight of the image often exceeds 4 GB.

It is also advisable to clear the flash drive of all contents in advance, or even better, format it. Although almost all recording programs format removable media before recording an image on it.

Creating an image using the installer

Nowadays, special services have been created to obtain operating system images. The license is no longer tied to a separate disk, which can become unusable for various reasons, or its box. Everything goes into electronic form, which is much safer than the physical possibility of storing information. With the release of Windows 10, the license has become safer and more mobile. It can be used on several computers or phones at once.

You can download a Windows image from various torrent resources or using the Media Creation Tool program, recommended by Microsoft developers. This small utility for burning a Windows image to a flash drive can be found on the company’s official website.

Download the installer.
Launch the program, select “Create installation media for another computer” and click “Next”.
Select to create installation media for another computer
Select the system language, edition (choose between Pro and Home versions), as well as 32 or 64 bits, again “Next”.
Define boot image options
Specify the media where you want to save the Windows boot. Either directly to a flash drive, creating a bootable USB drive, or as an ISO image to a computer and then use it:
Wait until the process you have chosen finishes, after which you can use the downloaded product at your discretion.
After the process is complete, the image or bootable USB flash drive will be ready for use

While the program is running, Internet traffic of 3 to 7 GB is used.

Video: How to Create a Windows 10 ISO Using the Media Creation Tool

Creating an image using third-party programs

Oddly enough, OS users still opt for additional programs for working with disk images. Often, due to a more convenient interface or functionality, such applications outperform standard utilities offered by Windows.

Daemon Tools

Daemon Tools is a well-deserved leader in the software market. According to statistics, about 80% of all users who work with disk images use it. To create a disk image using Daemon Tools, do the following:

Daemon Tools also allows you to create a bootable USB drive:

Video: how to burn a system image to disk using Daemon Tools

Alcohol 120%

The Alcohol 120% program is an old-timer in the field of creating and burning disk images, but still has minor shortcomings. For example, it does not write images to a flash drive.

Video: how to burn a system image to disk using Alcohol 120%

Nero Express

Almost all Nero products are designed to work with disks in general. Unfortunately, not much attention is paid to images, but simple disc burning from an image is present.

Open Nero Express, hover your mouse over “Image, Project, Copier.” and select “Disk image or saved project” from the drop-down menu.
Click on the item “Disk image or saved project”
Select the disk image by clicking on the desired file and click the “Open” button.
Open the Windows 10 image file
Click “Burn” and wait until the disc is burned. Don't forget to check if your boot DVD is working properly.
The “Burn” button starts the process of burning the installation disc

Unfortunately, Nero still does not write images to flash drives.

Video: How to Burn a System Image Using Nero Express

Ultra ISO

UltraISO is an old, small, but very powerful tool for working with disk images. Can record to both disks and flash drives.

Open the UltraISO program.
To burn an image to a flash drive, select the required disk image file at the bottom of the program and double-click on it to mount it into the program’s virtual drive.
In the directories at the bottom of the program, select and mount the image
At the top of the program, click on “Boot” and select the “Burn hard disk image” item.
The item “Burn hard disk image” is located in the “Boot” tab
Select the required USB storage device that is suitable in size and change the recording method to USB-HDD+ if necessary. Click the "Burn" button and confirm formatting the flash drive if the program prompts you to do so.
The “Burn” button will start the process of formatting the flash drive and then creating an installation flash drive
Wait for the recording to finish and check the flash drive for compliance and functionality.

Burning boot disks with UltraISO follows a similar pattern:

Video: how to burn an image to a flash drive using the UltraISO program

What problems may arise while creating an ISO disk image?

By and large, problems should not arise during image recording. Only cosmetic problems are possible if the media itself is of poor quality or damaged. Or perhaps there are power problems during recording, such as a power outage. In this case, the flash drive will have to be formatted anew and the recording chain will be repeated, and the disk will, alas, become unusable: it will have to be replaced with a new one.

As for creating an image through the Media Creation Tool utility, problems may well arise: the developers did not particularly care about deciphering errors if they arise. Therefore, we have to navigate the problem at random.

If the download does not start and freezes at 0%

If the download does not even start and the process freezes at the very beginning, the problems can be both external and internal:

Microsoft servers are blocked by antivirus programs or ISPs. There may be a simple lack of connection to the Internet. In this case, check which connections are blocked by your antivirus and the connection to Microsoft servers;
there is not enough space to save the image, or you have downloaded a fake duplicate program. In this case, the utility must be downloaded from another source, and disk space must be freed up. Moreover, it is worth considering that the program first downloads the data and then creates the image, so the space needed is approximately twice as much as stated in the image.

If the download freezes at the percentage, or the image file is not created after downloading

When the download freezes while downloading an image, or the image file is not created, the problem is (most likely) related to the operation of your hard drive.

If a program tries to write information to a bad sector of the hard drive, the OS itself can reset the entire installation or boot process. In this case, you need to determine the reason why the hard drive sectors have become unusable by the Windows system.

First of all, check the system for viruses with two or three anti-virus programs. Then check and disinfect the hard drive.

Video: how to check your hard drive for errors and fix them

Creating an installation disk from an image is very simple. Every Windows user should have this kind of media on a permanent basis.

Hello everyone, today I want to tell you how to create a Windows 10 recovery image and how to restore Windows 10. Windows 10 offers many system recovery functions, including returning the computer to its original state and restore points, creating a full system image on an external hard drive or DVD, as well as burning a USB recovery disk (which is better than previous systems).

This article describes exactly how Windows 10 recovery features are implemented, how they work, and how you can access each of the described features. In my opinion, understanding and using these features is very useful and can greatly help in solving computer problems that may arise in the future.

Restore your computer to its original state

The first recovery function that you should pay attention to is resetting Windows 10 to its original state, which can be accessed by clicking on the notification icon, selecting “All settings” - “Update and security” - “Recovery” (there is another way to get in this section, without logging into Windows 10, described below).

If you click “Start” in the “Reset to original state” item, you will be asked to either completely clean the computer and reinstall Windows 10 (in this case, a bootable flash drive or disk is not required, the files on the computer will be used), or save your personal files (installed programs and settings will, however, be deleted).

Another easy way to access this feature, even without logging in, is at the login screen (where you enter the password), press the power button and, while holding down the Shift key, click Restart. On the screen that opens, select “Diagnostics”, and then “Reset”.

At the moment, I have not come across laptops or computers with Windows 10 pre-installed, but I can assume that when restored using this method, all drivers and applications from the manufacturer will also be automatically reinstalled.

The advantages of this recovery method are that you do not need to have a system distribution; reinstalling Windows 10 occurs automatically and thereby minimizes the likelihood of some mistakes made by novice users.

The main disadvantage is that in the event of a hard drive failure or serious damage to OS files, it will not be possible to restore the system in this way, but the following two options may come in handy - a recovery disk or creating a full backup of Windows 10 using the system’s built-in tools on a separate hard drive (including external) or DVD drives.

How to create a Windows 10 recovery disk

Note: by disk here we mean a USB drive, for example, a regular flash drive, and the name has been preserved since the time when it was possible to burn recovery CDs and DVDs.

In previous versions of the OS, the recovery disk contained only utilities for attempting to automatically and manually restore the installed system (very useful), while the Windows 10 recovery disk, in addition to them, may also contain an OS image for recovery, that is, you can start a reset from it state, as described in the previous section, automatically reinstalling the system on the computer.

To burn such a flash drive, go to the control panel and select “Recovery". Already there you will find the necessary item - “Create a recovery disk”.

If, when creating a disk, you check the “Back up system files to a recovery disk” option, then the resulting drive can be used not only to manually correct problems that have arisen, but also to quickly reinstall Windows 10 on your computer.

After booting from the recovery disk (you will need to boot from a flash drive or use the boot menu), you will see an action selection menu, where in the “Diagnostics” section (and in the “Advanced options” inside this item) you can:

Restore your computer to its original state using the files on the flash drive.
Go to BIOS (UEFI Firmware Settings).
Try restoring the system using a restore point.
Run automatic startup repair.
Use the Command Prompt to repair Windows 10 bootloader and more.
Restore the system from a full system image (described later in the article).

In some ways, having such a drive may be even more convenient than just a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive (although you can also start recovery from it by clicking the corresponding link at the bottom left in the window with the “Install” button after selecting the language).

How to create a full system image to restore Windows 10

Windows 10 retains the ability to create a full system recovery image on a separate hard drive (including an external one) or multiple DVDs.

The difference from the previous option is that in this way a kind of “snapshot” of the system is created, with all the programs, files, drivers and settings that are available at the time the image was created (and in the previous option we get a clean system with only personal data saved and files).

The optimal time to create such an image is immediately after a clean installation of the OS and all drivers on the computer, i.e. after Windows 10 has been brought to a fully functional state, but not yet cluttered.

To create such an image, go to Control Panel - File History, and then at the bottom left select “System image backup” - “Create a system image”. Another way is to go to “All Settings” - “Update and Security” - “Backup Service” - “Go to the “Backup and Restore” section - “Creating a System Image”.

In the following steps, you can choose where the system image will be saved, as well as which disk partitions you want to add to the backup copy (usually a system-reserved partition and a system disk partition).

In the future, you can use the created image to quickly return the system to the state that you require. You can start recovery from an image from a recovery disk or by selecting “Recovery” in the Windows 10 setup program (Diagnostics - Advanced options - System image recovery).

Restore points

Restore points in Windows 10 work the same way as in the previous two versions of the operating system and can often help you roll back recent changes to your computer that were causing problems.

In order to check whether automatic creation of restore points is enabled, you can go to “Control Panel” - “Recovery” and click “System Restore Settings”.

By default, protection for the system drive is enabled, and you can also configure the creation of recovery points for the drive by selecting it and clicking the “Configure” button.

Creating a Windows 10 OS image

Creating an installation image and burning it to a flash drive or disk is not that difficult. Moreover, this can be done (in some cases) even using standard operating system capabilities. Of course, you can use third-party software, but Windows will cope with this task much better, since the OS itself knows how to correctly record the image so that there are no installation problems in the future. There are several ways to create a Windows 10 image. Some of them are even approved by Microsoft itself. However, to install the OS in the official way, you will need a license key.

Ways to create an image

Read also:

The vast majority of users are accustomed to downloading various OS builds from torrent trackers and writing them to a drive or disk using third-party programs.

But this method is by no means the only one. Using Windows 10 Installation Media Creation Tool.
This is an official utility from Microsoft that helps you create bootable media with “ten” on board. The company's specialists recommend using this method. Simple copying (if there is UEFI mode in the BIOS).
This option is suitable for new PCs and laptops. If there is UEFI mode and the partition table is of GPT type, then the user will not need any special utilities to create the installation image Use of third party programs.
Today, many utilities can create the “correct” flash drives or disks with Windows installation images. As a rule, this option is much simpler than all previous ones Creating an image using the Archive Wizard.

This utility helps to create an image of an already running operating system and write it to media. A sort of “life preserver” in case the OS suddenly refuses to boot You can also simply update your version of Windows to the latest one.

But it is worth considering that in this case system failures are possible. They can be so severe that the user may lose all of their data. Therefore, it is better to perform the installation from scratch.

Read also:1. Use a utility from Microsoft

How to speed up Windows 10? TOP 6 Main ways to overclock an operating system This is the “official” method approved by Microsoft.

It is worth noting that the download speed from the company’s servers is quite decent, so the whole process happens quite quickly.

To complete the process, the user will need a USB drive with 8 or 10 gigabytes of free space. It's impossible to do less.

DOWNLOAD After the download process is complete, open"Windows Explorer" , go to the downloads directory and run the file

"MediaCreationToolexe". The installation wizard will immediately launch and ask you to accept the terms of the license agreement. Click on the button

"Accept". At the next stage, check the box"Create installation media" and press the button

"Further". Now we select the OS language, edition and architecture (32 bit or 64). After this, click on the button

"Further". At the next stage, it is proposed to create a bootable drive immediately or create an ISO image for subsequent recording onflash driveor. DVD It is better to choose the first option, since the installation image will require at least 8 gigabytes of space. And this is already a two-layer DVD. So select the first option and click"Further"

. But before that, you need to insert the USB flash drive into the appropriate port. The recording process will begin immediately.

It is worth considering that the wizard downloads the necessary files from Microsoft servers and writes them to the drive. Therefore, the operation can take quite a long time. Will have to wait. Progress will be displayed as a percentage. After the media creation process completes, the wizard will run an image integrity check.

You must wait for it to complete. As soon as the check is completed, the program will display a corresponding message indicating that image creation is complete. All you have to do is press the button

"Ready". This method allows you to be sure that the installation process will go as expected.

Creating a Windows 10 image using the official Microsoft utility is the most preferable option.

Before starting the image creation process using the official utility, you need to close all programs. Otherwise, recording may be interrupted due to an unknown error. Some utilities may block the Image Creation Wizard. So it's better not to take risks.

Read also:2. Copy the necessary data to the flash drive

3 ways to install Windows XP from a USB flash drive As mentioned above, this method is available to owners of new PCs and laptops that have UEFI mode enabled and the partition table on the hard drive is GPT.

Other users should not even try this method. There you can simply unpack the image and copy all the files to the flash drive, having previously made it bootable in the partition editor. However, on Windows the latter is not required.

Let's assume that the official Windows 10 image has already been downloaded from Microsoft servers. Now you need to mount the image using some program. Utilities such as Daemon Tools or Alcohol 120% are capable of this. But even regular Total Commander can open ISO. We will use it. Let's open the program, find the desired image and simply click on it 2 times.

Now in the second panel we will switch to the flash drive.

Now select all the files located in the Windows 10 image and press the copy button (or press "F5").

The copying process will begin immediately. Once it is completed, you can restart your computer or laptop and select bootable media in UEFI. Everything should work. But only in UEFI on a GPT table.

3. We use third-party programs

Read also:9 Easy Ways to Open Command Prompt in Windows 7-10

There are now many utilities that allow you to efficiently burn a Windows 10 image to a USB drive or DVD. As a rule, these programs are easy to use and have a Russian language in the interface. Let's look at the most popular ones.

Rufus

A small utility from independent developers. It is completely free and does not require installation. You can download it on the official website. And it's very easy to use. The program easily copes with recording Windows and Linux distributions.

To complete the process, the user will need a USB drive with 8 or 10 gigabytes of free space. It's impossible to do less.

We go to the directory with the downloaded program and run the executable file with EXE permission.

The main program window will open immediately. If a USB drive is already inserted into the port, the utility will detect it. Next, you need to select the desired image to record by clicking on the button "Choose".

Now select the previously downloaded Windows 10 image and click "Open".

The next step is to select recording options. You must set the UEFI or BIOS options, and also select the partition table type (MBR or GPT).

All is ready. All you have to do is press the button "Start" and wait for the operation to complete.

The image is now written to the USB drive. You can restart your PC or laptop and begin installing the operating system on your hard drive. It is worth noting that for correct recording "tens" Requires the latest version of Rufus.

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

Another very popular program for burning an image to a USB drive. Initially, it was created for recording on a Windows 7 flash drive. But also with "ten" The utility does a great job. And you can download it on the official Microsoft website.

To complete the process, the user will need a USB drive with 8 or 10 gigabytes of free space. It's impossible to do less.

Download and install the application. Then we launch it using the appropriate shortcut and get to the main window. First you need to select an image using the button "Browse"

Select the desired ISO image and click "Open".

Now press the button "Next".

Now the wizard will ask you to choose where to write the image. If you planned to record to a flash drive, then click "USB device". If you need to write to disk, then select "DVD".

Select the desired flash drive and press the button "Begin copying".