WinPE Recovery USB drive won't boot when external HDD connected : blank screen

weltering · January 2023

Hi,
System is win7 sp1 64 bit Dell Vostro 3750.
I used backupper to create a system image and save it external usb HDD.
My boot partition is mangled while trying to upgrade to win 10.
I am trying to recover the system from image.
If I try to boot with external HDD connected it proceeds until 'windows is loading files' and then I get a blank screen and does not proceed further.
If I boot up without external HDD connected then ubackup starts fine but if I connect HDD at that point to choose system image to restore, it does not see the drive.
Only the internal hard drive partitions and x: win pe boot drive are visible.
Any help would be appreciated.
I just want the external hard drive to show up in explorer so I can select system image and restore it.
Thanks.

SIW2 · February 2023

First try doing this

"If I boot up without external HDD connected then ubackup starts fine but if I connect HDD at that point to choose system image to restore, it does not see the drive. "

did you try clicking reload after attaching the external HD ?

or if your winpe is using pecmd and windows explorer, you could type pecmd kill explorer.exe in the run box and then press enter.

if still not seen, then

open cmd prompt and type

diskpart

lis vol

( find the volume number of the volume containing the backup image and replace ? below with that number )

sel vol ?

ass

exi

if that doesnt work:

do you have a way to copy the backup image onto a spare partition on the internal HD ?

or onto the usb stick if it is large enough.

aiArtisan · February 2023

SIW2 I agree, the reload button is likely the solution. However copying his Backupper .ADI image file to the internal HDD I don't think is the best solution because then it is more difficult for him to restore his backup on to that disk, he would have to take steps to make sure the restored System Partitions have enough space, and if he is a novice that can create extra steps or risks. Simpler for him to keep the Backupper system backup .ADI image file on an external drive, and restore it from there.

Weltering, in the future, you could try doing this operation on Aomei PE Builder 2.0, it has much more tools. What methods did you try to repair your Windows installation after there was the update error? If it was a Windows bootup issue, did you try using Lazesoft USB utility? Did you try Hirens PE USB utility > EasyBCD?

Aomei WinPE Builder 2.0 USB, includes: Partition Assistant, Backupper, Recuva, OSF Mount, CPU-Z, Bootice. Does not support internal NVMe.

Create your own personal Windows To Go, with
Partition Assistant:

—————————————————-
Other great free tools not from Aomei:

Hirens Boot PE - live USB tool suite
to add custom drivers such as NVMe, simply put them into the “CustomDrivers” folder

LazeSoft - live USB boot repair

EasyBCD - application

Ventoy - Bootable USB Creator

WinPE Recovery USB drive won't boot when external HDD connected : blank screen

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