Loading MBR failed: Error reading image size from server

Hi,
as it’s my first post here: Martin thanks for great software!

And get to problem, i stuck in this situation trying to restore my home developer win2016 server, machine is untouched same disk/config(i restore it few times testing different environments in last year without any problem). All files restore to disk but boot loader fail:

Loading MBR and GTP data…
Loading MBR failed: Error reading image size from server
Error loading MBR of partition

Beside this UrBackup work fine as usually, I check on my notebook - backup restore without any problems.

Any ideas what is this problem with image size?

Hm… despite this error after machine reboot Windows Server boot up and work just fine :thinking:
Did I mention this is a hell of a good software? :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

Are you keeping in mind that MBR drive (total drive space, not the size of partition/volume) must be less than 2048 Gb? What kind of partitioning scheme do you have on source system: GPT or MBR?

P. S. When I trying to restore image backup on different system, I always use “physical 2 physical” arrangement. This feature you can find in Paragon Partition Manager for example. It will clean boot dependencies / HAL settings from old system and recovered system will load with default driver/system software set.

Thanks for reply.
In my case it’s much simpler, same machine without any changes. As I mention it ist my home test environment I mess in system config a lot :slight_smile:
And restore always work smooth, this was first time when i get this error so probably ghost in machine as system boot up without problem.
But as I’m testing container management on this system now, I will restore it next week once again so I let you know how it go. But my trust in urbackup is unshaken :slight_smile:

I’m running into the same error when trying to restore my backup. The image was created from a Windows 10 installation on a GPT-formatted disk. Could you please help me diagnose and fix this issue?

Let me know what additional information you need (e.g. specific error messages, log files, partition table details) and how to gather it. I’ll be happy to provide whatever you require.

Thank you!

gui_log.txt (813 Bytes)
restore_client_shrinked.log (126.4 KB)
restore_http.log (3.3 KB)

gui_log.txt

2025-05-05 13:45	Loading MBR and GPT data...
2025-05-05 13:45	Loading MBR finished
2025-05-05 13:45	Writing MBR and GPT to disk...
2025-05-05 13:45	Restoring 3 images of client FOO-BAR:
2025-05-05 13:45	Restoring C: at 2025-05-01 06:41
2025-05-05 13:45	Restoring sysvol at 2025-05-01 06:41
2025-05-05 13:45	Restoring sysvol at 2025-05-01 06:40
2025-05-05 13:45	Loading MBR and GPT data...
2025-05-05 13:45	Loading MBR finished
2025-05-05 13:45	Getting partition to restore to...
2025-05-05 13:45	Restoring image to /dev/sda3
2025-05-05 13:45	Starting image restore...
2025-05-05 13:45	Restore is running
2025-05-05 14:00	Restoring image finished
2025-05-05 14:00	Loading MBR and GPT data...
2025-05-05 14:01	Loading MBR failed: Error reading image size from server
2025-05-05 14:01	Error loading MBR of partition.

restore_client_shrinked.log

2025-05-05 14:00:47: In mutex...
2025-05-05 14:00:47: Downloading from channel 0
2025-05-05 14:00:49: ClientService cmd: STATUS DETAIL#pw=oArA3UIJo9EDY0MuEbMBP9eVvXuJ6Z
2025-05-05 14:01:47: Imagesize -1
2025-05-05 14:01:47: ERROR: Error reading size
2025-05-05 14:01:47: Downloading from channel 1
2025-05-05 14:01:47: ClientService cmd: #IrW2k9wROV0rtlKUpLwXw#1CHANNEL capa=0&token=PjhwqdJhFmA9NrFfLEoV&restore_version=1&startup=1&virtual_client=
2025-05-05 14:01:47: Imagesize 34401
2025-05-05 14:01:47: Downloading MBR...
2025-05-05 14:01:47: rc=0 hasError=true state=0
2025-05-05 14:01:47: ERROR: Could not write to pipe! downloadImage-5
2025-05-05 14:01:47: Removing running process (1) id 4 server_id 0 token  action 9
2025-05-05 14:01:47: Download done -2
2025-05-05 14:01:47: rc=0 hasError=true state=0

restore_http.log

2025-05-05 13:44:17: Login Response: ok
2025-05-05 13:45:10: Start_download: id = "156239449" time = "1746074489"
2025-05-05 13:45:10: Restoring to /tmp/cps.az9vNA
2025-05-05 13:45:11: Writing MBR data...
2025-05-05 13:45:11: done.
2025-05-05 13:45:11: Writing GPT header...
2025-05-05 13:45:11: Writing GPT table...
2025-05-05 13:45:11: Writing GPT backup header...
2025-05-05 13:45:11: Writing GPT backup table...
2025-05-05 13:45:11: Start_download: id = "156239449" time = "1746074489"
2025-05-05 13:45:11: Restoring to /tmp/cps.mkTJSA
2025-05-05 13:45:12: Selected device: /dev/sda Partition: 3
2025-05-05 13:45:13: Partition path: /dev/sda3
2025-05-05 13:45:13: Start_download: id = "156239449" time = "1746074489"
2025-05-05 13:45:13: Restoring to /dev/sda3
2025-05-05 14:00:45: Restore finished
2025-05-05 14:00:47: Start_download: id = "156239448" time = "1746074465"
2025-05-05 14:00:47: Restoring to /tmp/cps.HbPfDz
2025-05-05 14:01:47: ERROR: Error reading size
2025-05-05 14:13:41: Looking for old Sessions... 0 sessions

Hi,
is C: restore ok? Did you try to rebuild booting from recovery usb/cd?

Hi,

yes, I was able to restore the system successfully. Booting from the recovery USB and manually rebuilding the BCD using bootsect and bcdboot resolved the issue — the system now boots into Windows without any problems.

It would be helpful to understand what caused the problem in the first place. I used a backup image of one system and deployed it to multiple computers, so I’ll need to check whether the same issue appears on the other machines as well.

Thanks for checking!

Howto_Fix_Boot_Problem.txt (2.5 KB)