How to get rid of error codes 0x807800C5 and 0x8078004F?

Windows remains one of the best operating systems around, but some of its problems are not going away. The OS is known to spit out errors from time to time, some of which can result in data loss. This is why users take the tradition of creating backups seriously.

You can transfer your files to a different hard drive, create a Windows image backup file or do both in preparation for the worst. The second option allows you to take a snapshot of everything on your hard drive, including your operating system files, personal files, and program files. You’ll be able to return the system to that state if anything goes wrong in the future.

Windows has a built-in tool for creating system images (your hard drive or partition snapshots). It’s a legacy tool known as File History. The Backup and Recovery utility (another legacy app from Windows 7) can do the same job. The process is normally lengthy and smooth, but it isn’t immune to problems, and they crop up now and then.

You’re reading this article because your Windows 10 backup process keeps ending with error codes such as 0x807800C5 and 0x8078004F. The good news is, you’ve come to the right place, as we’ve provided detailed guides on how to fix the errors 0x8078004F and 0x807800C5 in Windows 10 below.

What Is the Error 0x807800C5?

This error typically shows up when Windows fails to prepare the backup image. The message reads, “There was a failure in preparing the backup image of one of the volumes in the backup set (0x807800C5)” and is often accompanied by another error that says, “The mounted backup volume is inaccessible, please retry the operation (0x8078004F).”

These errors essentially mean that Windows cannot create a system image backup because there’s difficulty accessing the drive or location where the backup is intended to be stored.

The cause of this particular issue varies from system to system. However, common underlying causes include antivirus interference, bad hard drive sectors, existing backup images, and broken system files.

How to Fix the Errors 0x8078004F and 0x807800C5 in Windows 10

The errors will go away once you’ve dealt with the underlying problem. You’ll have to start from the first method below, then work your way down, applying the fixes one by one until the errors stop happening. That’s your best chance of getting rid of them for good and resuming your system backup process.

Turn off your antivirus program

Your security program might be preventing the backup utility from accessing the partition because it considers the tool a threat. Many antivirus programs are notorious for this kind of behavior. Temporarily disable your antivirus program and check if the problem has been solved. If the backup process continues without the errors, you have to leave the program disabled until the process completes.

You can uninstall your antivirus program and go for another security application that doesn’t cause this kind of interference, as leaving your system defenceless is not recommended.

Here’s how to temporarily disable some of the known antivirus programs:

Windows Security

1. Open the Settings home page by pressing the Windows + I keyboard shortcut.
2. Once Settings appears, head to the bottom of the home page and select the Update & Security icon.
3. Go to the Windows Security tab of the Update & Security page (switch to the left pane and click on Windows Security).
4. After that, click on Virus & Threat Protection under the Windows Security tab.
5. When you see the Virus & Threat Protection interface, navigate to Virus & Threat Protection Settings, and then click on Manage Settings under it.
6. Turn off the Real-Time Protection toggle when the Virus & Threat Protection Settings interface opens.
7. Select Yes in the User Account Control confirmation dialog.
8. Now that you’ve switched off the antivirus program, try creating a system image backup.

McAfee

1. Go to the notification section of your taskbar and click on the “Show hidden icons” arrow to expand the system tray.
2. Once the hidden icons in the system tray show up, locate the McAfee icon and right-click it.
3. Hover your mouse cursor over Change Settings, and then click on Real-Time Protection in the options.
4. When the Real-Time Scanning interface opens, go to the bottom of the screen and click on the Turn Off button.
5. After the Turn Off dialog window pops up, head to the drop-down menu for “When do you want to resume real-time scanning?” and then choose how long you want to keep Real-Time Scanning turned off.
6. Click on Turn Off.
7. Try creating a system image.

AVG

1. Go to the notification section in the taskbar and right-click on AVG’s icon.
2. If you can’t see the icon, click on the “Show hidden icons” arrow.
3. Right-click on AVG’s icon once the hidden icons appear and turn off the Protection switch.
4. Click on the Yes button in the confirmation dialog window.

Kaspersky

1. Go to the far right of your taskbar.
2. Click on “Show hidden icons” if the Kaspersky icon is not on the taskbar, then right-click on the icon once the system tray expands.
3. Click on Pause Protection in the context menu.
4. After the Pause Protection dialog window opens, decide whether you want to pause protection for a specified duration, if you wish protection to resume once you start the application again, or if you want to turn off protection until you choose to restart it.
5. Click on the Pause Protection option once you make a choice.
6. You can now try performing a system backup.

Avast

1. Go to the notification section of your taskbar and right-click on Avast’s icon.
2. If you can’t see the icon, click on the “Show hidden icons” arrow. Now right-click on Avast’s icon.
3. Head to “Avast shields control.”
4. Select Disable for “Avast shields control” and choose a duration.
5. Try creating a system image backup.

Restart the Volume Shadow Copy Service

The Volume Shadow Copy Service is a service that allows you to use the Windows image backup utility to create an image file. At the same time, system and third-party applications can still read from and write to the volume or partition you’re backing up. The service is critical to the backup process, and if it isn’t working correctly, you’ll see the errors in question.

One way to make sure the service is up and running is by manually restarting it and setting its startup type to Automatic. If you don’t know how to do all that, the following steps will help:

1. Open the Run dialog window by tapping the Windows logo and I buttons on your keyboard simultaneously.
2. After Run shows up, type “services.msc” into the text box and click on the OK button.
3. You can also go to the Search box, type “services,” then click on the first result.
4. Once the Services application opens, tap the V button on your keyboard and double-click on the “Volume Shadow Copy” service.
5. Once the Volume Shadow Copy Properties dialog window opens, go to the Startup Type drop-down menu and select Automatic.
6. If the service is on, click on the Stop button, then click on Start once Windows turns it off.

Convert the drive to NTFS and make sure there’s enough space

The drive where you’ll save your backup image has to be using the New Technology File System. If it isn’t, you’ll have to convert it. Also, make sure there’s ample space, or Windows will produce an error, as image files tend to be large.

Move your files to another drive to create space. If you have to convert a drive or USB flash, you should transfer your files to a different storage device, as the conversion process involves formatting the hardware in question.

If you don’t know how to convert your drive to NTFS, follow these steps:

1. Open the File Explorer by pressing the Windows and E buttons on your keyboard.
2. Go to the left side of the File Explorer window and expand This PC.
3. Right-click on the drive you want to convert and select Format.
4. Choose NTFS in the File System drop-down menu.
5. Click on the Start button.
6. Try creating a backup once the process is complete.

Rename the backup folder

If you’ve created a backup image of your drive earlier, the Backup and Restore tool will produce an error once you try to create a new backup. This conflict is one of the leading causes of the problem. You can get rid of the folder, rename it, or transfer it to another drive.

The folder you’re looking for is WindowsImageBackup. It’s easy to find. Just open the drive or partition where you want to create a new backup, and you should see it in the root folder. You can rename the backup folder WindowsImageBackup.old; then try performing a backup. But you should only do that if you have enough space on the drive for the new backup.

Delete old system restore points

Existing system restore points might get in the way of the backup process. Some users reported that they could create a Windows image after deleting their old system restore points. These steps will show you how to do that:

1. Tap the Windows logo button on your keyboard to open the Start menu.
2. Click on the Settings gear icon above the Power icon in the Start menu.
3. Once the Settings application shows up, click on System.
4. Go to the left pane of the System page, scroll down, and click on About.
5. Now switch to the right side of the page and click on System Protection.
6. Once you see the System Properties window’s System Protection tab, click on Configure under Protection Settings.
7. Click on the Delete button to get rid of the restore points.
8. Click on OK to complete the process.
9. Check if the problem goes away.

Turn off System Protection

While the System Protection feature is important, it might be getting in the way of the backup process. Since it takes snapshots of your operating system and even personal files, it working when you want to create a backup might cause conflicts, resulting in backup errors.

Temporarily turn it off and run the backup job. You can always turn it back on when you finish creating a Windows image. The following steps will show you how to turn off System Protection:

1. Tap the Windows logo button on your keyboard to open the Start menu.
2. Click on the Settings gear icon above the Power icon in the Start menu.
3. Once the Settings application shows up, click on System.
4. Go to the left pane of the System page, scroll down, and click on About.
5. Now switch to the right side of the page and click on System Protection.
6. Once you see the System Properties window’s System Protection tab, click on Configure under Protection Settings.
7. Select the radio button for Disable System Protection under Restore Settings.
8. Click on the OK buttons in both dialog windows.

Create a backup image using Windows PowerShell

The Backup and Restore utility you’re trying to use could be the problem. It might be dealing with some conflicts that prevent it from completing the process or even accessing the required drive. This could be why you see the error codes in question whenever you try to back up your system. You can use Windows PowerShell to run the backup process instead.

The guide below will show you the process step by step:

1. Right-click on the Start button or press the Windows and X buttons on your keyboard together to open the Power User menu.
2. Once the menu appears, click on Windows PowerShell (Admin).
3. The User Account Control dialog will now pop up; click on the Yes option.
4. Once PowerShell opens, type the line below into the window and hit the Enter key:

wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:E: -include:C: -allCritical -quiet

The command instructs Windows to back up Drive C to Drive E. Replace E with your backup drive’s letter.

If you want, you can back up more than one drive to the backup drive. You have to type in the drives’ letters after a comma. The command will look like this:

wbAdmin start backup -backupTarget:E: -include:C:,D:,F: -allCritical -quiet

As we mentioned, backup images are large. You should expect the process to take some time, so allow the tool to do its job.

Check for corrupt system files and replace them

The Backup and Restore utility is baked into your operating system. This means it relies on certain system files to work. Naturally, you’ll experience issues if any of these system files becomes corrupt or goes missing.

There’s a remedy for deleted and damaged system files. The System File Checker is responsible for solving such issues. It is a command-line tool that searches protected folders on Windows for corrupt system files. Once it finds these files, it automatically replaces them. But before you run the System File Checker on Windows 10, you have to use the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool to provide the files required for the repair process.

If a bad system file is indeed responsible for the problem, you should be able to perform a backup after applying this solution.

Here are the steps you should follow:

1. Tap the Windows and S keyboard buttons simultaneously.
2. Once the Search text box pops up, type “cmd.”
3. Right-click on Command Prompt in the search results and click on Run as Administrator.
4. Click on Yes in the User Account Control confirmation box.
5. After the Command Prompt opens, type the line below and click on Enter:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

DISM will now fetch the repair files from Microsoft’s servers using Windows Update. That said, the Windows Update utility doesn’t always successfully fetch those files. In such a scenario, you’ll have to improvise using a Windows 10 installation DVD or bootable USB, as these media contain the repair files that SFC can use.

Once you insert or connect the installation media, type the following line and click on Enter afterward.

Note: Enter your drive letter and the path to the media you’re using after “Source”:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:\RepairSource\Windows /LimitAccess

6. After DISM completes its job, go to a new line in the Command Prompt, type “sfc /scannow” (don’t add the quotes), and then tap the Enter button on your keyboard.
7. Windows will now begin to check your protected folders for corrupt or missing system files.
8. If it finds and replaces such files, you’ll see a completion message saying, “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. Details are included in the CBS.Log C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.”

Run the CHKDSK utility

Suppose you’re trying to create a Windows image on another hard disk drive or a different partition of your primary hard drive. In that case, the “The mounted backup volume may be inaccessible, please retry the operation (0x8078004F)” error is occurring because some of the sectors on the drive are bad. You can use the CHKDSK tool to find these bad sectors and prevent Windows from ever using them.

You can go through the File Explorer or Command Prompt to run the tool. While the disk checker does a quick scan, the command-line tool carries out a more thorough check. We’ll show you how to use both methods.

Going through the File Explorer:

1. Press Windows + E to launch a File Explorer window. You can also double-click on any desktop folder or click on the folder icon in the taskbar to open the File Explorer.
2. Go to the left pane and expand This PC.
3. Locate the backup drive or partition under This PC, right-click it, and then click on Properties.
4. Go to the Tools tab once the Properties window appears.
5. Next, click on the Check button in the Error Checking section.
6. The “You don’t need to scan this drive” dialog message will now pop up.
7. Click on Scan Drive.
8. The CHKDSK utility will now scan the drive for errors.
9. Once the scan is complete, you’ll see a dialog box with the results of the scan.

Using the elevated Command Prompt:

1. Tap the Windows and S keyboard buttons simultaneously.
2. Once the Search text box pops up, type “cmd.”
3. Right-click on Command Prompt in the search results and click on Run as Administrator.
4. Click on Yes in the User Account Control confirmation box.
5. After the Command Prompt opens, type the line below and click on Enter:

chkdsk E: /f /r /x

Make sure you replace “E” with your drive’s letter.

Note: The “/x” switch allows CHKDSK to unmount the volume before scanning it, the “/r” parameter instructs the tool to check for bad sectors and recover any readable information, and the “/f” switch prompts the tool to fix any error that it detects during the scan.

6. Tap Y on your keyboard once the Command Prompt tells you that “Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N),” then restart your system.

Conclusion

You can now create your backup image without experiencing the 0x807800C5 and 0x8078004F error codes. If you’re confused about anything, please let us know in the comments section below.