Restore Won't Find Backup Set!

[victorcamp]

On Windows Vista Ultimate I made a complete backup using the Backup and
Restore Center ("Back up computer") to a USB 100Gb portable drive. It went
fine, and the drive shows a WindowsImageBackup folder on its root. It totals
about 65Gb. 2 days later that laptop crashed and I got another laptop with
the same Windows Vista Ultimate. I want to restore some selected files
(client work, not system or application) to the new laptop.

When I choose Advanced Restore -> Advanced Restore -> Files from a backup
made on a different computer -> Hard disk, CD, or DVD -> PHOTON F: (the name
of the USB 100Gb drive with the backup), it says:
Windows was not able to find any backup sets on F:\.
Please select a different location.

I searched for other posts, but didn't find one dealing with a selective
restore.

The drive and its subfolders are all visible with Explorer, so it's
definately there. What can I do to make it recognize it? I need those
files!!!

 

[victorcamp]

I did some deeper searching on other newsgroups and found the solution!

The .VHD file is clearly accessible on the portable drive, so using the help
found in the links below, I managed to get full access to it so that I could
copy selected files to my real hard drive just using Explorer.

1. This very helpful article let me know that I needed Microsoft Virtual
Server -- a Vista compatible product.
http://community.bartdesmet.net/blogs/bart/archive/2006/09/02/4385.aspx

2. I downloaded and installed the "Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Beta" from
Microsoft Connect at this link:
https://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/Downloads.aspx?SiteID=151

3. It required me to have activated the Windows Vista components for
Internet Information Services (IIS), which I did via Programs and Features
off the Control Panel. (That is, the first time I tried the install, it
didn't quite complete. After activating everything, I tried it again and it
completed successfully.)

4. I then used the vhdmount utility, described in the article, to
successfully mount that .VHD file as a virtual drive. The drive's root
directory then appeared in Explorer under the drive letter I assigned it: my
entire old C: drive.

5. After a time-consuming assortment of administrative permission
adjustments so I that could look at, access, and copy, I got my files!

6. I also followed the instructions in this help article for future ease of
mounting the drive:
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2006/09/01/734435.aspx

Thanks to the previous posters for their help.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Looks like you are using two different programs here. You made a backup
using Complete PC Backup, but you were trying to restore using the File
Backup tool. Complete PC Backup does not include support for restoring
individual files, although from your other post you did find a workaround to
this.