{"id":51728,"date":"2023-09-30T20:52:59","date_gmt":"2023-09-30T16:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/?p=51728"},"modified":"2025-12-05T17:32:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T13:32:17","slug":"how-to-create-a-full-system-image-backup-for-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/how-to-create-a-full-system-image-backup-for-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create a System Image Backup for Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Backing up your data is essential, but this process doesn\u2019t only apply to files and folders. Even if you do not run servers or SQL databases, you still need to back up system images of all the computers you work with, as any of them might encounter a system crash, hard disk failure or malware attack. <!--more-->In this article, we\u2019ll explain what a system image backup is, relating to Windows 10, the most popular operating system, and how MSP360's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/backup\/windows-server-backup-software\/\">Windows backup software<\/a> can help you with your backups.<\/p>\n<h2>What Is a Windows Full System Image Backup?<\/h2>\n<p>A Windows full system image backup is a backup of your whole Windows system with all its disk partitions and their contents, applications, files and even preferences. This backup is based on a Windows system snapshot. The backup tool takes the snapshot and saves the data from it as a set of files that can later be used to recover your system if something goes wrong. It is necessary to create such backups regularly, even if you run a single machine, and especially if you support a large park of computers of a commercial company.<\/p>\n<p>There are two approaches to creating a system snapshot of Windows 10 and then backing up the system: the first is using the built-in tool, which is free but has limited functionality; and the second is buying a fully fledged <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/managed-backup\/windows-backup\/\">Windows backup solution<\/a> that does not have such limits.<\/p>\n<h2>Windows Native Backup and Its Limitations<\/h2>\n<p>The native backup tool is preinstalled in all versions of Windows, including Windows 10. To launch it, type \u201cbackup\u201d in the <strong>Start<\/strong> menu, then choose <strong>Backup settings<\/strong>, and proceed to the <strong>Backup <\/strong>section. You can also access this section from the control panel. Using the built-in tool is pretty easy, although it has a bunch of limitations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It only stores a single system version<\/li>\n<li>It doesn\u2019t work with any clouds<\/li>\n<li>You cannot restore a single file or folder<\/li>\n<li>The security level is low<\/li>\n<li>The data can't be compressed<\/li>\n<li>The schedule options are limited<\/li>\n<li>It works on a single computer only<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Windows native backup tool might be fine enough for home use. But for business purposes, it is worth choosing a feature-rich solution like MSP360 Managed Backup.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"further-reading \">Further reading<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/windows-native-backup-vs-msp360-managed-backup\/\">Windows Native Backup and MSP360 Managed Backup Comparison<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Creating a Full System Image Backup for Windows with MSP360<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/solutions\/image-based-backup\/\">MSP360 Managed Backup<\/a> is a fully fledged solution that helps you to manage all your backups on all the computers you work with in a convenient way. Using it, you can do a lot of things: save your data to local or cloud storage (or both at once), compress and protect it with additional passwords, customize reporting and notifications, use granular schedule and retention options, recover single files or folders, manage backup performance, work with lots of computers at once, and much more.<\/p>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<div class=\"call-to-action__left\">\n<div class=\"call-to-action__tag\">FREE WHITEPAPER<\/div>\n<div class=\"call-to-action__title\">Reliable Image-Based Backup with MSP360<\/div>\n<div class=\"call-to-action__text\">Get highly reliable, fast and easy-to-use backup images that can be deployed to virtually any type of recovery target.<\/div>\n<!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper hs-cta-deferred\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-e9d9cab3-f29a-47f5-b989-5643e6a1219f\" data-portal=\"5442029\" data-id=\"e9d9cab3-f29a-47f5-b989-5643e6a1219f\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-e9d9cab3-f29a-47f5-b989-5643e6a1219f\" id=\"hs-cta-e9d9cab3-f29a-47f5-b989-5643e6a1219f\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]--><a href=\"https:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/5442029\/e9d9cab3-f29a-47f5-b989-5643e6a1219f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-e9d9cab3-f29a-47f5-b989-5643e6a1219f\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/5442029\/e9d9cab3-f29a-47f5-b989-5643e6a1219f.png\" alt=\"CTA\"><\/a><\/span><\/span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"call-to-action__right\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"max-width: 200px;\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Reliable-Image-Based-Backup.png\" alt=\"WP icon\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The process of creating a full system <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/image-backup-and-recovery\/\">image backup<\/a> for Windows with MSP360 and then recovering it is very easy. Install the solution on the computers whose Windows systems you want to back up, and enter the MSP360 management console.<\/p>\n<h3>How to Create a Full System Image Backup<\/h3>\n<p>To create an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/solutions\/image-based-backup\/\">image-based backup with MSP360<\/a>, proceed to the <b>Backup <\/b>tab, <strong>Computers <\/strong>section.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55705 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screenshot_71.png\" alt=\"Backup tab\" width=\"195\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screenshot_71.png 195w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screenshot_71-180x300.png 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Here, you can see a list of all your computers. \u0421lick the endpoint name or select the icon with three dots in the <strong>Actions<\/strong> column and click the <strong>Show Plans<\/strong> button. Click the <strong>Add New Plan<\/strong> button, select <strong>Image-Based<\/strong> from the list and follow the wizard to create the plan.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-57771 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screenshot_34.png\" alt=\"image-based backup plan\" width=\"743\" height=\"313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screenshot_34.png 743w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screenshot_34-300x126.png 300w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Screenshot_34-624x263.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 743px) 100vw, 743px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"last\">The wizard will guide you through the creation process. You will be able to choose where to back up your system and what partitions to back up, specify the schedule for full and incremental backups, <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">enable consistency check and restore verification,<\/span> define the retention policy, enable immutability (object lock), restrict access to your datasets with passwords, add scripts to be executed before or after backups, create a chain of backups, and more.<\/p>\n<div id=\"slidebox\"><a class=\"close\">\u00a0<\/a><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper hs-cta-deferred\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\" data-portal=\"5442029\" data-id=\"aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\" id=\"hs-cta-aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]--><a href=\"https:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/5442029\/aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/5442029\/aa07fdb8-7776-46a5-9fa0-ec6e93f0f0a6.png\" alt=\"CTA\"><\/a><\/span><\/span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-57743\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot_2.png\" alt=\"IBB plan name\" width=\"1003\" height=\"584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot_2.png 1003w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot_2-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot_2-768x447.png 768w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot_2-624x363.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1003px) 100vw, 1003px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We recommend enabling GFS to create a flexible archival strategy and optimize the number of full backups to significantly reduce storage costs. We also recommend enabling immutability (object lock) to ensure that a backup dataset is locked safely away from any type of alteration and protected from ransomware.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span class=\"further-reading \">Further reading<\/span> <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/immutable-backups\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Immutable Backups Explained and How It Works in MSP360<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55068 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screenshot_125.png\" alt=\"Immutability\" width=\"1114\" height=\"815\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screenshot_125.png 1114w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screenshot_125-300x219.png 300w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screenshot_125-1024x749.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screenshot_125-768x562.png 768w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Screenshot_125-624x457.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1114px) 100vw, 1114px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When you create a backup plan, it will appear in the <strong>Show Plans<\/strong> list. Here you can view the details for each backup plan created, and if the <strong>Last Result<\/strong> section shows \u201cSuccess\u201d, it means that the backup plan was performed without issues.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>How to Restore from a System Image in Windows 10<\/h3>\n<p>The recovery process of a full system image backup with MSP360 is pretty much the same as that for backing up. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">C<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lick the endpoint name or select the icon with three dots in the <\/span><b>Actions <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">column and click <\/span><b>Show Plans<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> button. Navigate to the <strong>Restore Plans<\/strong> section in the slide-in and click the <strong>Add New Plan<\/strong> button.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-57748\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot_7.png\" alt=\"Restore plan\" width=\"743\" height=\"410\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot_7.png 743w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot_7-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot_7-624x344.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 743px) 100vw, 743px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Follow the wizard steps. Specify the location where you saved your system, type the password, if you set it up before, and define where to restore your system. After you execute the plan, MSP360 Managed Backup will start recovering your Windows system.<\/p>\n<h3>How to Create a Full System Image Backup for Many Machines<\/h3>\n<p>If you run a park of computers, of course, you need to back up all their systems, and doing this one by one takes too long. In MSP360 Managed Backup, you can create a single configuration with an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/file-level-vs-image-level-backup\/\">image-based backup<\/a> plan and apply it to all the machines you need. This can be done in the <strong>Remote Deploy<\/strong> section.<\/p>\n<p>Add the new configuration, fill in all the fields, and all your system images will be backed up according to the schedule you specify.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-55090 aligncenter\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screenshot_147.png\" alt=\"Remote Deploy\" width=\"852\" height=\"564\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screenshot_147.png 852w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screenshot_147-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screenshot_147-768x508.png 768w, https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Screenshot_147-624x413.png 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 852px) 100vw, 852px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Follow the link below to learn more about bulk backup plan deployment:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"further-reading \">Further reading<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/getting-started-with-remote-deploy-in-msp360-managed-backup\/\">Remote Deploy Feature in MSP360 Managed Backup: Overview<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/managed-backup\/windows-backup\/\">MSP360 Managed Backup<\/a>, you can be sure that your system images are safe and, in the event of an emergency, you\u2019ll get back to work quickly. Should you have any questions, please contact us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Backing up your data is essential, but this process doesn\u2019t only apply to files and folders. Even if you do not run servers or SQL databases, you still need to back up system images of all the computers you work with, as any of them might encounter a system crash, hard disk failure or malware [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":51746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[886,878,931],"tags":[986],"class_list":["post-51728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backup-and-dr-guides","category-msp-university","category-msp360-product-guides","tag-how-to-create-a-full-system-image-backup-for-windows-10"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51728"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61549,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51728\/revisions\/61549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}