2000 Pro and ScanReg?

[Jess Fertudei]

Hello... I am considering upgrading a 98SE machine to 2000 Pro. This machine
is used by someone for whom ScanReg/Restore has saved the bacon on many
occasions.


Is ScanReg/Restore still available on 2000? If not, is there another simple
2 or 3 click method of undoing all the bad stuff he does to an OS?

 

[John John]

Make Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) and keep it in a safe place! Updated
the ERD when you make substantial changes to the workstation. An ERD is
the best and sometimes only thing that can get you going again.

John

 

[Jess Fertudei]

Make Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) and keep it in a safe place! Updated
the ERD when you make substantial changes to the workstation. An ERD is
the best and sometimes only thing that can get you going again.

John

So... is that to say that there is no ScanReg /Restore in 2000 Pro? No easy
way to turn your machine back a day or three? Isn't ERD just a boot disk? If
not... exactly what all does it restore?


Thanks again.

 

[Jim Byrd]

Hi Jess - Well, not quite what you've asked for, but . . .

Get Erunt here for all NT-based computers including XP:
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/ I've set it up to take a
scheduled backup each night at 12:01AM on a weekly round-robin basis, and a
Monthly on the 1st of each month. See here for how to set that up:
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/erunt.txt, and for some
useful information about this subject

This program is one of the best things around - saved my butt on many
occasions, and will also run very nicely from a DOS prompt (in case you've
done something that won't let you boot any more and need to revert to a
previous Registry) IF you're FAT32 OR have a DOS startup disk with NTFS
write drivers in an NTFS system. (There is also a way using the Recovery
Console to get back to being "bootable" even without separate DOS write NTFS
drivers, after which you can do a normal ERDNT restore. If you make your
backup into a folder inside your Windows or Winnt folder, you can restore at
a Recovery Console boot by copying the files from that ERDNT folder into the
system32\config one. After a good boot, then do another normal ERDNT
restore to also restore the user hives.) (BTW, it also includes a Registry
defragger program). Free, and very, very highly recommended.

FYI, quoting from the above document:

Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) to make a
complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole registry
(for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor can the
exported file be used later to replace the current registry with the old
one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is merged with the current
registry, leaving you with an absolute mess of old and new registry keys.

--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In

 

[John John]

So... is that to say that there is no ScanReg /Restore in 2000 Pro? No easy
way to turn your machine back a day or three? Isn't ERD just a boot disk? If
not... exactly what all does it restore?

There is no easy way (if any) to back up and restore an NT registry with
Windows OS utilities, and no there is no scanreg/restore in NT systems.
The Erunt suggestion by Jim Byrd is an excellent choice.

The suggestion from Dave Patrick is also an excellent one for restoring
damaged or mismatched System Files, but it doesn't restore the registry.
See here for what the tool does:

Description of the Windows 2000 System File Checker (Sfc.exe)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;222471

The Emergency Repair Disk isn't "just" a boot disk it is THE boot disk
that you will need if the user completely bugs up the workstation, it
can be used to restore the pc to a decent working condition when it
won't start, without an ERD you are up the creek. When you create the
ERD you will be asked if you want to back up the registry, the registry
will be backup on a folder on the HD and the ERD can use the information
in that folder when doing repairs.

To use emergency repair on a system that will not start
http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...windows2000/en/advanced/help/recovery_erd.htm

Using an Emergency Repair Disk to Repair Your System
http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp?url=/archive/en-us/dnarntpro00/html/ntp0063.asp

How to Create an Emergency Repair Disk in Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;231777

Repair overview
http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...ws2000/en/advanced/help/recovery_overview.htm

The ABCs of Win2K Recovery and Repair
When to use the ERD, Safe Mode, and the Recovery Console
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...us/dnw2kmag01/html/Win2KRecoveryandRepair.asp

John

 

[Jim Byrd]

Good post, John.

--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In

 

[John John]

Thanks Jim.

John

 

[Jess Fertudei]

Thanks Jim.

John

Thanks for the replies. I have two K62 & K63+ machines here running at 450
and 600 respectively that I would like to put XP on, but I don't think would
be fast enough for it. Both machines have stability issues on the users ends
as well as hardware, and I'd rather upgrade for stability... but need the
scanreg of 98 or the restore points of XP.

I have another license available on my XP home here and could buy the odd
one for $15 or use a copy of 2000pro that I've never used yet. Sure wish
2000 would have had the restore features of some sorts as I understand it
may be more stable than either 98 or XP.


That said... Murphy's law would say that today I would have stability issues
on this machine which runs XP, of course, but it really brings it home to me
how much I need a good restore function that doesn't take more than a few
clicks of my time.


I'll see if I can figure out what brought on this one's conniption tonight
and then look at what you're suggesting deeper to see if it is simple
enough.




Thanks again.

 

[Jim Byrd]

YW, Jess - Post back if you need further assistance.

--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In