Are excluded directories included in image backups?

Server
1

I have a simple question. If I exclude directories from backup are they still included in an image backup?

For example, I really don’t need my c:\windows directory included in a file backup but it would be critical to have in an image backup to restore my boot drive in case of failure.

2

Yes.
Very little gets excluded from images.
In regedit navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshot
If you want to see what Microsoft don’t include in VSS snapshots, principally it’s .ost files which get regenerated anyway though.

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