Hi,I have run into aglitch (or maybe a feature) in Win7 (Ultimate 64 bit RTM):- there are several logical drives (win7 system partition, page file partition, data archive partition, XP partition, etc.) on a PC- when I try to create a system image all these drives (except page file drive) are selected and I canot deselect them (check box is checked and greyed out).All guides I found so far tell that I should be able to select which drives to backup, but it's not what I see.What is the solution? Is it driven by some drive-specific settings? Or is it a glitch?Thanks in advance for any help on this matter.

In the Create a system image window, we are showed that "A system image is a copy of the drives required for Windows to run, it can also included additional drivers." As you have installed Win7 on another partition after XP was installed, the boot information of Win7 may be stored on the XP partition. If this is the case, the XP partition will be included in a system image. Similarly, if some of your profile files have been move or stored to the data archive partition, the data archive partition will be included as well. You can check it. Good Luck! Nina

Please follow the steps below.1. Open Backup and Restore Control Panel and choose Change Settings.2. Select correct destination, and click Next.3. Select "Let me choose".4. Uncheck the volumes you would not like to backup.Arthur Xie - MSFT

When making a system image you will be given the choice of which drive to store it on depending on what the system image program finds. If there are Windows 7 system files on any particular partition it will automatically be selected for the image backup and be excluded as a destination for the backup. It may also be that if a non system partition with no system filesis marked as "active" the system imagingprogram may mistakenly take it for a system partition and include it in the backup so it can't be used as a destination device.

Thanks for your advice. I understand this how it should work. The point of my post is when I get to step 4, all drives except page file drive are selected and cannot be deselected. It includes a partition with XP and a data archive partitions (i.e. not associated with any programs or settings in win 7) Any ideas why?

Nina, Horshack - yes, this looks like the reason. I wonder if there's any way to somehow exclude the XP and archive drives from image? It really does not make sense to image them. Thanks in advance!

You may be able to exclude XP as a mandantory selection if you move the boot store to another partition but don't take my word for it.

I assume that you are trying to create an image backup directly via Control Panel\Backup and Restore\Create a system image. In this case, critical drives should be selected by default and cannot be unselected. The BCD store and boot sector should be on the two partitions you mentioned so they are selected. By the way, in this step we cannot specify components to backup. It is different with the settings of the scheduled backup.Arthur Xie - MSFT