I did not have a chance to thank Joe for excellent help in recovering one of my systems (\\archon) using recovery USB. Unfortunately this is not my month for Windows. Another system (\\karpov) will not boot into Windows GUI, though I was able to boot into safe mode. Even after I did a 11/5/22 Windows System Restore while in Safe Mode, I cold not boot into Windows GUI. I have tried various Windows Advanced recovery  options to no avail. 

Without Reflect Recovery USB connected, when I boot into "Windows Boot Manager", screen is black. When I boot into one of the internal SSDs, I get error message "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press key."

I can boot into Reflect Recovery USB (Windows PE), which sees the attached external SSD with the Reflect image file from 10/30/22  "G:\karpov_Reflect_Image... "

When I select that image file, and then click Restore immediately above "G:\karpov_Reflect_Image...", I get a new screen. On the top half: "Source GTP Disk 1" containing 4 partitions, including C: NTFS primary.
Bottom half of screen: Destination: Local Disk: GPT Disk 1 with 4 partitions as above in Source.
(D: internal drive is also GTP.)
But I forget what I do next.  Thanks in advance to the experts.
                                    cma

If you're restoring onto the same disk that the image was originally created from, then you should be able to simply click Next on that first step of the image restore wizard.  Scenarios where you might NOT want to do that would include:

• Restoring onto a different disk, especially one with a different capacity compared to the original source
• Restoring only specific partitions from the source image, preserving the current state of other partitions on the destination, rather than restoring all partitions from the source image onto the destination
  
• Restoring partitions in a different sequence and/or with different sizing on the target disk compared to the original source
  

If none of the above applies, then just click Next.

+x

 

jphughan - 7 November 2022 3:24 AM

If you're restoring onto the same disk that the image was originally created from, then you should be able to simply click Next on that first step of the image restore wizard.  Scenarios where you might NOT want to do that would include:

• Restoring onto a different disk, especially one with a different capacity compared to the original source
• Restoring only specific partitions from the source image, preserving the current state of other partitions on the destination, rather than restoring all partitions from the source image onto the destination
  
• Restoring partitions in a different sequence and/or with different sizing on the target disk compared to the original source
  

If none of the above applies, then just click Next.

Thanks, JP, the restore seemed to go smoothly but to no avail. I still get the same error message: "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key."  Any thoughts?

Did you try booting into your Rescue Media and running Fix Boot Problems?  Otherwise, maybe try restoring a different backup?

+x

 

jphughan - 7 November 2022 5:57 PM

Did you try booting into your Rescue Media and running Fix Boot Problems?  Otherwise, maybe try restoring a different backup?

I did try the first. When you say "different backup", do you mean a different one made with Reflect?

Yes, a backup from a different point in time.

+x

 

jphughan - 7 November 2022 6:02 PM

Yes, a backup from a different point in time.

I have the backups and image files on an external SSD, which is seen when I boot up into the Recovery USB. By "backup" I assume you mean the image file, not the File and Folder backups, which are also on the external SSD?
 I believe that as far as the F&F backups are concerned, there typically is a Full, then a more recent Differential, and often a most recent Incremental. That is how I do my F&F backups.
 But since we are talking about a Windows boot issue, would that only refer to the 1 image backup I have on the external SSD?

I meant image backup, yes. But you only have a single image backup? That’s really not ideal since it means that if there’s ever a problem with that backup, you have no image recovery path available to you. But if that’s all you have available and you’ve already tried Fix Boot Problems, the only other thing I can think to ask for that might give additional insight and therefore possible troubleshooting steps would be a screenshot of your disk after the restore. To capture that, go into Rescue and click over to Create Backups > Local Disks. Then click the camera icon in the taskbar to capture a screenshot, and use the Save As dialog box to save it somewhere convenient, such as on your flash drive. Then upload it here.

+x

 

jphughan - 8 November 2022 1:22 AM

I meant image backup, yes. But you only have a single image backup? That’s really not ideal since it means that if there’s ever a problem with that backup, you have no image recovery path available to you. But if that’s all you have available and you’ve already tried Fix Boot Problems, the only other thing I can think to ask for that might give additional insight and therefore possible troubleshooting steps would be a screenshot of your disk after the restore. To capture that, go into Rescue and click over to Create Backups > Local Disks. Then click the camera icon in the taskbar to capture a screenshot, and use the Save As dialog box to save it somewhere convenient, such as on your flash drive. Then upload it here.

That's a good trouble shooting fix. I'll try to get to it.

+x

 

jphughan - 8 November 2022 1:22 AM

I meant image backup, yes. But you only have a single image backup? That’s really not ideal since it means that if there’s ever a problem with that backup, you have no image recovery path available to you. But if that’s all you have available and you’ve already tried Fix Boot Problems, the only other thing I can think to ask for that might give additional insight and therefore possible troubleshooting steps would be a screenshot of your disk after the restore. To capture that, go into Rescue and click over to Create Backups > Local Disks. Then click the camera icon in the taskbar to capture a screenshot, and use the Save As dialog box to save it somewhere convenient, such as on your flash drive. Then upload it here.

J.P.: 
Here is the screenshot.