0x80042414: System image restore failed, Windows did not find any disk

What the error means

You’ll see it in the Windows Recovery Environment, under Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System Image Recovery, when restoring an image made with Backup and Restore (Windows 7) or Windows Server Backup. The full message reads:

The system image restore failed. Error Details: Windows did not find any disk which it can use for recreating volumes present in backup. Offline disks, cluster shared disks or disks explicitly excluded by user will not be used by Windows. Ensure that disks are online and no disks are excluded by mistake (0x80042414).

In Microsoft’s headers the code is named VSS_E_ASRERROR_FIXED_PHYSICAL_DISK_AVAILABLE_AFTER_DISK_EXCLUSION. The ASR part stands for Automated System Recovery, the restore engine behind system images. In plain terms: after leaving out disks it can’t or shouldn’t use, Windows had nothing left to restore onto. So the job is to make the right disk visible, online and big enough.

If you were using System Restore points rather than a full image, this guide isn’t the one you need; see System Restore: you must enable system protection instead.

Fix 1: Disconnect disks you don’t need

Unplug every external drive except the one that holds the backup, then start the restore again. Extra USB disks give the wizard more disks to choose from and exclude, and some users report this simple step clearing the error. On the restore screens, check the Exclude disks option and make sure the PC’s internal disk isn’t ticked there.

Fix 2: Load the storage driver in the restore wizard

The cause reported most often is that the recovery environment can’t see the internal disk at all, because it lacks the driver for the PC’s storage controller. That’s common on laptops using Intel Rapid Storage Technology or VMD, on some NVMe drives and on RAID controllers. To check and fix it:

1. On another PC, download the storage or RST/VMD driver for your exact model from the PC maker’s support page and extract it to a USB stick. You need the extracted .inf files, not just an installer.
2. Boot into the recovery environment and start System Image Recovery.
3. On the wizard’s options page, choose Install drivers, browse to the USB stick and load the driver.
4. Continue the restore. The internal disk should now be listed.

If you can reach a Command Prompt in the recovery environment, run diskpart and then list disk to see what Windows can find before and after loading the driver. Our guide to WinRE explains how to get into the recovery environment and its tools.

Fix 3: Check the target disk is big enough

A system image recreates the original partitions at their original sizes, so the target disk generally needs to be at least as large as the disk that was backed up, not just big enough for the data on it. Restoring a 1 TB disk’s image to a 512 GB SSD can fail with this error even if only 200 GB was in use. Use a disk the same size or larger, or shrink the original volumes and take a new image before moving to a smaller disk.

On a server, the same applies to the RAID volume. In the Microsoft Q&A thread behind the full error text above, the advice given was to make sure the server has enough free, unpartitioned storage to hold the entire restored system.

Fix 4: Prepare the target disk

The error text itself says offline disks won’t be used. A brand-new disk may be uninitialized, and a disk taken from another PC may carry partitions that get in the way. From the Command Prompt in the recovery environment:

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
online disk
attributes disk clear readonly

Replace 0 with your target disk’s number from list disk. If the disk still isn’t accepted, clean removes every partition on the selected disk so the restore can recreate them. It wipes all data on that disk, so run it only when you’re sure you’ve selected the disk you’re restoring onto and that nothing on it is needed.

If the PC boots in UEFI mode, the restored disk normally needs to be GPT, as it was on the original PC. Restoring an image from a BIOS-mode PC to a UEFI-only PC, or the other way round, can cause problems at this stage or later at boot. Our explainer on Secure Boot and UEFI covers how to check the mode.

Fix 5: Restore with wbadmin

The command-line tool gives you more control over which disks are used. Microsoft says wbadmin start sysrecovery must be run from the recovery environment. First list the backups and disks:

wbadmin get versions -backupTarget:E:
wbadmin get disks

Then start the restore, replacing the version and drive letter with yours:

wbadmin start sysrecovery -version:11/01/2026-09:00 -backupTarget:E: -recreateDisks

Microsoft documents that -recreateDisks restores the disk layout as it was when the backup was made and deletes all data on volumes that host operating system components, and that -excludeDisks (only valid with -recreateDisks) leaves the listed disks untouched. Exclude the disk holding the backup and any data disks you want to keep. If the restore succeeds but Windows then reports a boot problem, see Windows could not update the computer’s boot configuration.

Microsoft lists the System Image Backup feature as deprecated and points users to full-disk backup tools from other vendors. If restores keep failing on new hardware, a current imaging tool with its own recovery media may cope better with modern storage controllers.

Similar error codes

Code	Meaning
0x80042412	No disk that can be used for recovering the system disk can be found.
0x80042413	Windows did not find any fixed disk that can be used to recreate volumes present in the backup.
0x80042415	The restore failed because a disk that was critical at backup time is excluded.

All three are handled the same way as 0x80042414: make the internal disk visible with the right driver, keep it included, and use a disk large enough for the original layout.

Related guides

• WinRE: what the Windows Recovery Environment is and how to open it
• System Restore “You must enable system protection on this drive”: how to fix it
• Windows could not update the computer’s boot configuration: how to fix it
• Secure Boot state: how to check it and what On, Off and Unsupported mean

Official sources

• wbadmin start sysrecovery (Microsoft Learn)
• wbadmin get disks (Microsoft Learn)
• Facing issue to restore system image, 0x80042414 (Microsoft Q&A)