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Create a Full System Image Backup With wbadmin

A file backup cannot restore Windows itself. One command writes a complete image of the system drive to an external disk, and a recovery USB boots it back.

by@guidox updated:10/31/26 time:45 min level:Intermediate tested on:Windows 11 24H2 works on:Windows 10, Windows 11 tools:External drive, USB stick
TL;DR

Run **wbadmin start backup -backupTarget -include -allCritical** from an elevated terminal, then build a **recovery drive** once. The image restores a dead Windows; the recovery USB is what boots it.

Before you start

Requirements

  • An external drive with twice the used space
  • An elevated terminal
  • An 8 GB USB stick for the recovery drive
Step by step

Instructions

01

Find the drive letters first

Run the backup from an elevated prompt and check which letter the external disk holds. Windows hides the system and recovery partitions, and those are exactly the ones the image needs.

wbadmin get disks
02

Run the one-command image

The **-allCritical** switch includes the EFI and recovery partitions, which a plain C: backup leaves out. Without them the image restores files but not a bootable system.

wbadmin start backup -backupTarget:E: -include:C: -allCritical -quiet
⚠ warningThe target must be a local disk or a share, never the disk being imaged. A USB drive formatted as NTFS is the safe default.
03

Confirm what was written

List the versions on the target and note the version identifier. That string is what a restore needs if more than one image sits on the disk.

wbadmin get versions -backupTarget:E:
04

Build the recovery drive now, not later

Create a USB recovery drive from the running system and include the system files when asked. An image without matching recovery media is a file you can read but not boot.

recoverydrive.exe
tipThe recovery drive matches the Windows build. Rebuild it after a feature update, or the restore refuses to continue.
05

Test by mounting the image

Open Disk Management, choose **Attach VHD** and pick the .vhdx inside the WindowsImageBackup folder. If the volume mounts and shows your files, the image is intact.

06

Schedule it or keep it manual

A daily schedule works, but the image overwrites the previous one on the same target. For a monthly full image, run it by hand and keep two targets or rename the folder.

wbadmin enable backup -addtarget:E: -schedule:03:00 -include:C: -allCritical
Troubleshooting

Common issues

The command fails with a volume shadow copy error

Something holds the volume open. Close backup tools and virtual machines, then retry; a reboot clears stuck writers.

The image is much larger than the used space

Hibernation and the page file are included. They are recreated on restore, and both can be excluded with -exclude.

The recovery drive does not see the image

The USB was built on a different Windows build, or the disk uses a filesystem the recovery environment cannot read. Rebuild the drive and use NTFS.

Backup and Restore reports the tool is deprecated

The older control-panel wizard is, the wbadmin command still works on current Windows 11 and is the part that writes the image.

FAQ

Frequently asked

Image or file backup?

An image restores the machine, a file backup restores documents. A serious setup has one of each.

Can I restore to a smaller disk?

Only if the used space fits. Shrinking the partition during the restore is not supported.

How to undo this

Delete the WindowsImageBackup folder on the target disk and detach the mounted VHD. Nothing on the system drive is changed by creating an image.

Changelog · 1 entry
  1. 2026-10-31
    First version
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