This article will tell you how to backup Window 10 to an external media (USB drive, additional HDD/SSD or shared network folder) using built-in system image backup tools, and how to properly restore the system from this image. Windows System Image Backup includes a complete OS image, system and user partitions with all installed programs, settings and personal user data.

How to Create a Windows 10 System Image Using Wbadmin?

To make a system image backup, you can use the command prompt tool wbadmin.exe. Connect an external disk or USB flash drive to your computer, to which we will save the Windows 10 image.

Start the PowerShell console as an administrator.

In our case, Windows 10 is installed on the C:\ drive, and we’ll save the system image to the U:\ flash drive (there must be enough free space on the flash drive). In this case, a command to create the system image will be as follows:

wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:U: -include:C: -allCritical -quiet

If you need to include in the backup not only the system partition on which Windows 10 is installed, but also other partitions, use the following command:

wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:U: -include:C:,D:,E:,F: -allCritical -quiet

In case, you have to save the system image to a shared network folder, you need to specify the UNC path (your account must have NTFS write permissions on this folder):

wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:\\mun-srvbk1\backup\userimages -include:C: -allCritical –quiet

If you want to add specific directories to the backup, specify them like this:

-include:E:\Docs

It will take some time to create a Windows image backup, depending on how much data is on the source drives.

The backup operation successfully completed.
The backup of volume (EFI System Partition) (100.00 MB) completed successfully.
The backup of volume (C:) completed successfully.
The backup of volume (542.00 MB) completed successfully.

As you can see, not only the system partition was included in the image backup, but also the EFI and System Reserved partitions.

When wbAdmin utility completes its task, WindowsImageBackup directory containing the system image will appear in the root of the target drive. It contains your system and data partitions in the VHDX file format. If necessary, you can manually mount these VHDX disks and access their contents.

Performing an Image Backup using the Windows GUI

You can also backup your Windows 10 image from the Windows 10 GUI. This feature is available through the Control Panel (Control Panel\System and Security\File History). Click on the System Image Backup button in the bottom left corner.

Alternatively, just run the Sdclt.exe command.

In the next window, click Setup backup and specify the drive where you want to save the Windows image.

Select the drives you want to back up. Make sure that the “Include a system image of drives: EFI System Partition, C:, Windows Recovery Environment” option is checked.

Backup time: 4/28/2021 9:55 AM
Backup target: 1394/USB Disk labeled JetFlash(U:)
Version identifier:04/28/2021-17:45
Can recover: Volume(s), File(s), Application(s), Bare Metal Recovery, System State
Snapshot ID: {02036e21-cda2-1012-2bf1-d22401212344}