Problem migrating the system drive from my source NVMe to a new target NVMe: “The external backing provider is not recognized.”

BothHands said:

I've had problems in the past with backups that don't restore(!!!).

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This is exactly why I went to duplicators.

sdowney717 said:

[...] first do the DISM commands from elevated command prompt for check health etc, and SFC /scannow afterwards

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

How to use DISM command tool to repair Windows 10 image

When there's a missing or corrupted file on Windows 10, you can fix the problem using the DISM and SFC command tools, and here's how.

www.windowscentral.com

Download Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - MajorGeeks

With Macrium Reflect Free Edition you'll be able to easily make an accurate and reliable image of your HDD or individual partitions. Using this image you can restore the entire disk, partition or...

www.majorgeeks.com

Click to expand...

Got a fresh start this morning. Followed the links you provided, learned about DISM and ran the three checks per your advice. 1. No problems found. 2. THANK YOU for cluing me into to these. After decades of Windows use, I had absolutely no awareness of these capabilities. I truly appreciate your help.

sdowney717 said:

Other idea, is clone the drives on a different PC

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Ah, Logic! =D

Thank you. Not to steal your thunder, but I considered that same prospect at some point last week, but General Confusion washed it away before I could act on it. Thank you for bringing it back to the fore. If I cannot resolve this problem by the means already suggested by the (excellent) contributors to this thread, I will indeed try your suggestion.

Flashorn said:

No, they are tools for your Windows from MS.
Same as SFC /Scannow but, will repair / replace if possible any damaged files.

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Things are a little more clear this morning, so I looked into SFC /Scannow. Wow. The contributions you all are making to this thread are just fantastic. After decades of mostly just keeping my fingers crossed with regard to Windows Troubleshooting, you folks have doubled my knowledge.

I ran the three DISM checks. They reported no problems.
Then I ran SCF /Scannow. It found and repaired three corrupted driver files. See image below.



I've never seriously tried to read a log file in my life! Ha, wutta dope! =D But thanks to the assistance you guys (and gals?) are giving me, I felt confident enough to follow the path to the log file mentioned in the CMD window above. Sure enough, the SFC /Scannow details indicate detection and repair of three driver files. See image below.



BthA2dp.sys supports BlueTooth devices and headset devices
BthHfEnum.sys refers to hands-free BlueTooth audio
bthmodem.sys refers to Windows BlueTooth communication system

Assuming the corrupt files are repaired, I shut down the computer and rebooted. Unfortunately, the problem remains. Computer Management still refuses to open, reporting "The external backing provider is not recognized."

I don't use BlueTooth at all. Do you think disabling BlueTooth altogether might solve/avoid this problem?
And if so, would you suggest I disable it in Windows 11, or in BIOS, or by some other means?

Winuser said:

I have three Beelink computers and the Windows 11 is just Windows 11.

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@Winuser Glad to hear that from someone who is familiar with Beelink products specifically.

Winuser said:

Have you looked in Device Manager to see if you have any problems with drivers. If not give Macrium a try. I prefer images instead of cloning because I've had trouble getting a cloned drive to boot.

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Unfortunately, Device Manager is another one of the "Windows Tools" that I cannot access. But in my recent reply to @Flashorn above, I detailed how SFC /Scannow did find and repair three BlueTooth-related drivers. I guess those would have appeared as issues in Device Manager...

I note that your failures related to cloned drives is the counterpoint to my failures related to backup images. Seems there's really NO reliable approach. =O It's a mad world. =D

Thanks to the contributors to this thread, I was able to download a free version of Macrium, and will try that next.

sdowney717 said:

if xcopy worked people would do that, but you dont read they use that.
If it did copy, it wont do it right as the drive likely wont boot missing something else

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I appreciate that insight, but want to be sure I'm reading you correctly.
Are you recommending I NOT bother with xcopy?

Frankly, I'll be glad if you are warning me away from it.
I'm going in so many directions; it'd be helpful to rule something out before I spend half a day researching it.

Good, you found a new way to fix some issues.
As for BTH (bluetooth) , I doubt that disabling it will make a difference.
You can try by accessing the Device Manager in Control Panel,
right clicking on the entry and Disable device.

RD Mercer said:

This is exactly why I went to duplicators.

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Could you provide a link to what you're using as a duplicator? And also "the card" you mention in relation to your NVMe M.2 drive.

I have a SATA-to-USB swappable enclosure that I intend to use for cloning 2.5 and 3.5" SDDs and HDDs. If there's a better way that isn't too expensive, such as a duplicator, I would consider it. And I'd love to find some method of working with NVMe M.2 sticks without constantly swapping them back-and-forth between motherboard and external enclosure. It's only a matter of time before something breaks...

BothHands said:

Thanks to the contributors to this thread, I was able to download a free version of Macrium, and will try that next.

Click to expand...

OK so, Macrium will image the OS or the partition you want But,
since the OS is already compromised , you would be re-installing a
broken image.
The purpose of Macrium is to image a Good OS so that in the event
of a failure , you can go back to a working image. This would not be the case.
A member on this thread (sorry for not knowing who without reading the whole thread again)
gave you a link to a .iso for your PC. I think it's about time you consider the fact that this OS is pretty
broken since you say that you cannot even access device Manager.

Flashorn said:

Good, you found a new way to fix some issues.
As for BTH (bluetooth) , I doubt that disabling it will make a difference.
You can try by accessing the Device Manager in Control Panel,
right clicking on the entry and Disable device.
View attachment 89329

Click to expand...

Thanks, but on the troublesome target drive (that received the migration that is buggy) I cannot access Device Manager. It's one of the affected "Windows Tools" that reports "The external backing provider is not recognized."

Catch 22 and Murphy's Law.
My constant companions! HA!

Can you access This PC?
If so, in the search box at the top (where This PC is)
highlight This PC and press on the backspace.
Now, type Control Panel and hit the little arrow on the right
of that search box. Control Panel should come up.
Now, click on Device manager and see if this opens it up.

Flashorn said:

OK so, Macrium will image the OS or the partition you want But,
since the OS is already compromised , you would be re-installing a
broken image.
The purpose of Macrium is to image a Good OS so that in the event
of a failure , you can go back to a working image. This would not be the case.
A member on this thread (sorry for not knowing who without reading the whole thread again)
gave you a link to a .iso for your PC. I think it's about time you consider the fact that this OS is pretty
broken since you say that you cannot even access device Manager.

Click to expand...

The OS on my original/source drive (500GB Phisen NVMe M.2) is fully functional, without any known problems. The OS on the new/target 1TB drive is buggy. So attempting to clone/migrate from the original/source drive to the new/target drive should work. Right?

If a Macrium migration does resolve this problem, that would suggest that DiskGenius cloning software is the problem. As others here have stated, DiskGenius is reliable product, so I doubt that's the case.

To rule out the possibility of a bad installation, I will uninstall then reinstall DiskGenius FREE, and try one more time, cloning from that fresh install. If that results in yet another buggy system, I'll install Macrium Reflect FREE and try cloning from that. I would prefer to stick with DiskGenius FREE because Macrium no longer offers a free version (yeah, budget is always a factor).

Flashorn said:

Can you access This PC?
If so, in the search box at the top (where This PC is)
highlight This PC and press on the backspace.
Now, type Control Panel and hit the little arrow on the right
of that search box. Control Panel should come up.
Now, click on Device manager and see if this opens it up.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the workaround (another new insight for me) but it didn't help.
I can access 'This PC' and 'Control Panel', but cannot access the actual Tools.

BothHands said:

So attempting to clone/migrate from the original/source drive to the new/target drive should work. Right?

Click to expand...

It will if you first format the new drive to erase it. I have been using Macrium to clone since
2018 and have not been disappointed so far. I have replaced / upgraded 2 drives in two
notebooks and both have been without problems so far. I would trust that Macrium would
be a better choice.

This is for a Dell notebook but, the process of cloning is the same

BothHands said:

Thanks for the workaround (another new insight for me) but it didn't help.
I can access 'This PC' and 'Control Panel', but cannot access the actual Tools.

Click to expand...

From Control Panel you cannot see Device Manager to be able to click on it?
If this is the Control Panel you see then click on the :

This is what you get and now click on Device Manager:

Another thought, when you're ready to clone, just make sure that the security programs
(not Windows Defender) are all disabled. Also, remove any USB devices from your PC
excluding mouse and keyboard.

Flashorn said:

From Control Panel you cannot see Device Manager to be able to click on it?

Click to expand...

I can see Control Panel, and can see Device Manager listed in the Control Panel window. But I cannot access/use Device Manager, just as I cannot access Computer Management or Disk Management and others. See image below.

Flashorn said:

Another thought, when you're ready to clone, just make sure that the security programs
(not Windows Defender) are all disabled.

Click to expand...

Tried that with DiskGenius. Did not help, but maybe it would with Macrium. Thanks.

Flashorn said:

Also, remove any USB devices from your PC
excluding mouse and keyboard.

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The target NVMe M.2 is in a USB enclosure. Can't remove that. Other than the enclosure, only mouse and keyboard have been connected throughout this process. Thanks.

BothHands said:

The target NVMe M.2 is in a USB enclosure. Can't remove that. Other than the enclosure, only mouse and keyboard have been connected throughout this process. Thanks.

Click to expand...

No that's fine. I forgot to mention it. Other devices such as external drives or headphones...
let us know how it goes. Did you watch the video?
That's how I learned to clone.

BothHands said:

I appreciate that insight, but want to be sure I'm reading you correctly.
Are you recommending I NOT bother with xcopy?

Frankly, I'll be glad if you are warning me away from it.
I'm going in so many directions; it'd be helpful to rule something out before I spend half a day researching it.

Click to expand...

yeah, dont bother with xcopy