Win 11 25H2 - bare metal restore of larger to smaller drive succeeds, but not bootable (6.3.2.1302, Case #07852591)

[tinkererguy]

I have a fresh install of Windows 11 Pro (25H2) on a Framework Desktop PC (AMD Ryzen AI Max) at factory BIOS 3.02 settings (so UEFI is on).

I followed Framework's recommended Windows 11 Installation procedure exactly of my Windows 11 Pro 25H2 install media, which resulted in a straight-forward installation onto my 8TB WD M.2 NVMe SSD with Bitlocker automatically on. Windows was automatically partitioned by the installer like this, as expected:
200 MB Healthy (EFI System Partition)
7451 GB NTFS (BitLocker Encrypted) C: drive
735 MB Health (Recovery Partition)

Before doing ANY customizations or software installs, and without applying my Windows 11 Pro license, I installed Veaam Agent Veeam 6.3.2.1302, then did my first full backup of "Entire computer (recommended)" with encryption turned on. That completed without any issues, taking up a mere 36GB of space on a network share. The creation of bare metal bootable 32GB USB drive went smoothly from 6.3.2.1302. I then shut down and swapped out the 8TB SSD for an empty, spare 0.5TB SSD (512GB) SSD, as a bare-metal-restore test. NO other SSDs or HDDs were present during any of my tests, keeping things simpler.

The 32GB USB drive booted Veeam Recovery environment just fine, and since Automatic restore wasn't an option, I chose Manual then chose "Apply Backup Layout," then the restore completed without error in under minutes. I then removed the USB drive, and rebooted, and the BIOS found no bootable operation systems.

I then powered the system back on, but no bootable drives are found by the BIOS (latest 3.02), therefore, Windows doesn't start from my 512GB SSD. So I put the original 8TB drive back in, it boots fine, then opened this ticket from the problematic Framework Desktop, with the log file auto-uploaded to Case #07852591.

Poking around Veeam forums yielded similar but not identical posts, spanning over a decade.

Doing some deeper also didn't result in any successful bcbd-based workarounds (using Veeam Recovery, Command Prompt), most of which I tried after opening this case #, and making sure to do a fresh bare metal restore before each one.

For Disk Mapping, in manual restore mode, I tried removing all 512GB drive's partitions, then "Apply Backup Layout" and "Apply Disk Layout" and that finished restore without error, but wasn't bootable. Later fresh restores, then trying "Apply Disk Layout" of a Volume (instead of Full Computer) also succeeded, but weren't bootable either.

Does anybody have any other suggestions I may want to consider, even "creative" workarounds like commands to try in the Veeam Recovery Command Prompt, or perhaps even more "creative" post-restore work-around fixes by 3rd party products (Aomei, EaseUS, etc.) to successfully get bare-metal restores to boot?

I want to be sure I can restore my system for when my 8TB drive has a bad day sometime in the future, and nothing like doing a test restore to be much more confident I'll succeed. I sometimes even do such crazy things if I want to back out of something I regret doing, and revert to the previous day's backup.

Let me know if you have any questions, and note that I have an out of band KVM solution (GLKVM), so I can screenshot from the bare metal Veeam restore environment, if needed/helpful for root cause/problem determination.

References:

https://frame.work/desktop?tab=specs
https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Windows ... MCRsMCRoMA

site-search?q=agent+restore+to+smaller+ ... t+bootable

search.php?keywords=Windows+Bootable+Re ... mit=Search

https://www.perplexity.ai/search/veeam- ... LlK2AQ.w#8

[Gostev]

Windows 11 25H2 is simply not supported with the current version of the product so you may run in all sorts of issues if you try to use it despite system requirements.

[tinkererguy]

I’m so sorry Gostev/Veeam, I honestly hadn’t realized 25H2 was released so very recently (October 16) and I certainly should have read Veeam’s Release Notes before embarrassing myself with this premature post:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/rn/veeam_a ... sion-,24H2
“Microsoft Windows 11 (from versions 21H2 to version 24H2”.

The last thing I wanted to do is waste anybody’s time. I hope Microsoft Windows 11 25H2’s changes don’t cause Veeam too much pain, and It’s good to know from experience that once Veeam announces Agent is supported for 25H2, I can count on Bare Metal Restore to work, and work well.

[tinkererguy]

Limiting options for early adopters, here an Interesting challenge with Microsoft’s WinRE at the moment, oops:
“After installing the Windows security update released on October 14, 2025 (KB5066835), USB devices, such as keyboards and mice, do not function in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). This issue prevents navigation of any of the recovery options within WinRE.”
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windo ... %20(WinRE)

[Gostev]

I hope Microsoft Windows 11 25H2’s changes don’t cause Veeam too much pain

Unfortunately initial research shows this is not the case: apparently Microsoft has introduced some regression in this update which I understand can only be fixed on their end (just like the previous most recent issue). So just a heads up not to expect a quick solution in this case. If there are significant updates to this situation we will share them here immediately.

[tinkererguy]

Thank you Gostev, for setting expectations appropriately, and for providing insight. I'm glad to see you haven't changed your ways in the many years since our last interaction, and I mean that in the very best way.

It's exactly this sort of transparency (and straight-shooting) that I greatly appreciate from Veeam even at the executive level, largely thanks to one executive .

It's an experience unlike any other software vendor I've ever worked with (or for), and it's one of the many reasons I've been relying on reliable Veeam software products ever since Veeam FastSCP came out way back in 2007.

I can only hope that Microsoft will see the value of such transparency, inspiring them to make it easier (and less costly) for your development team to address such challenges through close collaboration and openness. One can always dream!

[robnicholsonmalt]

There are quite a few reports of problems installing the October updates on 24H2 and the solution is to install 25H2. My own PC upgraded itself to 25H2. I'm sure we've had this situation before?

[robnicholsonmalt]

Windows 11 25H2 is simply not supported with the current version of the product so you may run in all sorts of issues if you try to use it despite system requirements.

We've been here before - okay to hold back server upgrades but user's PCs will now be updating to 25H2 as part of the usual Tuesday update cycle.

[azpets]

I've started testing 25H2 on two systems the very same day of release, others are held back (as I possibily can) due to lack of bare metal restore.

In my experience, unless tweaked from default settings, newer version of Windows 11 are proposed but not enforced yet; I'll wait the 25H2-compatible-release of Veeam (and some tests) before applying this Windows version as default.

[robnicholsonmalt]

Several of my clients follow Cyber Essentials and one of the key tenants is installing *all* updates within 14 days of release. These are small clients so the update process is manual so they're told to open Windows Updates and install whatever is there. It's a minor problem as Veeam appears to be working fine except we're getting warnings for each job.

[Gostev]

In my experience, unless tweaked from default settings, newer version of Windows 11 are proposed but not enforced yet

That is correct, it is optional. I also had it "proposed" to me on my home PC last night, right when I was reading all the articles about Microsoft issuing emergency patches to fix the things they broke by 25H2... so I politely declined

[azpets]

We've been here before - okay to hold back server upgrades but user's PCs will now be updating to 25H2 as part of the usual Tuesday update cycle.

As you explained in a followup, that's what they are instructed to. Might be possibile to instruct them to be less automated

Anyway: I prefere a working backup strategy rather the latest windows version, but it's only my point of view.