Windows Server: "The network path was not found" error when trying to restore a system image from a network location
Summary: When attempting to locate a Windows system image stored in a network share, you may receive the error "The network path was not found." This occurs if the network stack has not properly initialized. ...
Symptoms
When attempting to restore a system image from a network location in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), you receive an error: "The network path was not found." This error can occur after you have supplied credentials to access the network location.
Cause
The network stack may fail to initialize properly during the system image recovery process, causing the target machine to have no valid IP address. The error does not make this clear.
Resolution
To initialize the network stack in WinRE, boot to the recovery command prompt and run the startnet command. Once the command finishes, run ipconfig /all and confirm that the system has a valid IP address.
It may be necessary to install the correct network driver in order for the system to obtain a valid IP address.
It may also be necessary to configure a static IP address by using the following command:
netsh interface ip set address "conn_name" static ip_addr submask gateway
In the command above, replace conn_name with the name of the network adapter. The quotes are required if the name contains spaces ("Local Area Connection," for example). Also replace ip_addr with the desired IP address, submask with the subnet mask, and gateway with the default gateway address. Everything else in the command is literal.
System images should now be accessible from the network location.