Help with Restore point creation

[William Beard]

I have the Vista Home Premium. When I go to the "Control Panel...System and
Maintenance...System" and click on the "System protection" Task, at the
bottom of the System Protection window it says "Restore point creation
disabled by Group Policy."

What do I do to fix this? Vista recoveries seems to be based on
automatically creating Restore points...Thanks.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

Are you a home user with a single computer? Or are you working in a business
that has IT administration?

 

[William Beard]

Jill, as you say, I am a home user. I teach English overseas. I have a
stand alone Dual Core ACPl x86-based PC running the Vista Home Premium OS.
I am behind a router to a DSL or Broadband Internet connection (being
overseas I'm not sure which). If you need further clarification, I'll be
happy to reply.

The system restore function has never functioned correctly from the first
day I got the computer (it's new just like the OS). When attempting a
System Restore, it kept telling me that there must have been a power
interruption (or such). When I found the System Protection tab, everything
looked fine until the window stops searching for the computer's drives, then
the System Protection tab changes to say the "Group Policy" will not allow
me to create a System Backup and of course the HP version of Vista won't let
me look at the Group Policy even with a gpedit.msc file. Hope that helps
with your diagnostics, Jill. I need your help very much.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

I just wanted to make sure that your computer isn't part of a domain where
System Restore is disabled via group policy.

OK, can you give me the exact wording of the error you get about the power
interruption? Is there also an error code? Are you connected to a UPS
(uninterruptible power supply) by chance?

Finally, here is the registry location of the System Restore group policy
setting. Can you check whether this key is present? (Also, if you need
instructions on accessing the regsitry, let me know).


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
NT\SystemRestore\DisableSR

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[William Beard]

Jill,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
NT\SystemRestore\DisableSR

NO such listing. But, there is a ...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
NT\SystemRestore\DisableConfig REG_DWORD 0

There is also a ...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceInstall\Settings\DisableSystemRestore
REG_DWORD 0

If that helps.

No, on the UPS.

As for the exact wording, I'll have to get back to you on that.
I have my computer doing something now and I can't interrupt it and shutdown
to get you your exact wording in the System Restore.

 

[William Beard]

Jill,

The message details you wanted are these:

System Restore failed due to an unspecified error. Transaction support
within the specific file system resource manager is not started or was
shutdown due to an error (0x80071A91).

There was some other verbiage, but this is the meat of the error report.
This is not the same verbiage I got before, because I probably changed the
status of a service or something in the interim. I would have to remove and
reinstall Vista to put it back to where it was. I'm will to do that, if you
say so. That was what I would have done back in the days before Microsoft
started counting the number of times you reloaded Windows. It was real fun
back then. Feeding thirty for forty disks into the A: drive to get Windows
back up. What fun!

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

William, it sounds like you've got a number of problems going on here. I
could collect some logs from you and ask the System Restore team for
troubleshooting advice, but this could take some time. If doing a clean
install is an option, you might want to consider this. I've seen a couple
customers report some really obscure errors like this and reinstalling fixed
the problem for them. This of course wouldn't help us find the root cause,
but it sounds like you've done some uninstalling of AV tools and the like
and I wonder if your computer is just in an unstable state right now.


--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Want to learn more about Windows file and storage technologies? Visit our
team blog at http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/default.aspx.

 

[William Beard]

Jill,

Unstable is a good word for it. OK, on your advise, I'll start over. I
just hope Microsoft doesn't freak-out. They don't seem to understand about
users starting over. They tend to think you're trying to cheat them. I'll
see you on the flipside and let you know if it worked. This may take a
couple of days. Thanks for working with me. Later, later..

 

[William Beard]

OK Jill...

It's done. I reinstalled Vista. In fact, the drive had been partitioned
(by the seller) so I removed the partition to insure a new clean drive C:.
The problem with the Group Policy is GONE. I can and did do a system
restore from a CD boot.

One problem, though!
I created three restore points myself, not counting the points the system
created. They all reported as successful completion. When the Window
opened to select the point to restore from, there were only four (4) points
listed. Both, from the selection from the System properties window, and
from the CD (reboot), only four choices were available.

I just now created a new point then checked the System properties and it
showed the new point in the queue and the count was five. I think that upon
rebooting (or shutting down), the system only keeps four of the latest
points and at least does not SHOW any others (I don't know if the system
actually deletes them or just doesn't show them.) even though there is room
in the window listing for maybe a dozen point to be displayed. I do not
know what the criteria is, but I have Vista a 232 (usable) GB Hard Drive.
I'm sure there is room for more than four or five restore points. In fact,
if nothing else, the system should have kept my original system point. So,
if need be, I could have returned the system files to their original
condition. Thereby, eliminating the need to reinstall in order to get the
system files back to their starting point.

Firstly, there should be space reserved for system backups just as the MFT
has non-movable continuous reserved disk space, so to should the system
backups have the same consideration. As for the size, it can be a
percentage of the disk space available (even user adjustable).

Secondly, if the queue for the points are restricted to four (for whatever
reason), then it would be a relatively simple programming job to keep the
first point and cycle the next three points.

Jill, I think this is an important point for all users who doesn't want to,
at some point, have to buy a new copy of Vista just because Microsoft put a
cap on reinstalls.

Lastly, if you would like me to post any of the Event Logs error that are
reoccurring, let me know. Oh, and by the way, I have NAV reinstalled and it
does not affect the system restore point function at all.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

William, glad to hear the reinstall worked for you. I hate to recommend
that, but in your case that's what I would've done myself.

You ask good questions about restore points. We've written up how this works
in our blog at
http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/ar...used-for-restore-points-in-windows-vista.aspx
(sorry for the long URL). This will tell you how to see how many restore
points you have, how much space they use, etc.

Are you using Ultimate version? If so, you could take a Complete PC Backup
of your newly configured computer and save it on DVD. This is a kind of
"point in time" image of your computer. Note that you could also save this
to hard disk, but we use incrementals for all but the newest image, so
eventually your very first Complete PC Backup will be purged as the restore
points age. See the above article for more info.

 

[William Beard]

No, Jill. I have Home Premium. But I'll checkout your blogs.
Thanks again for the advise.

 

[William Beard]

For anyone reading this chain and went to the referenced blog
http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/ar...used-for-restore-points-in-windows-vista.aspx,
you found a reference to an "elevated command prompt". If this phrase was
new to you as it was to me, this is not accessed from the "Run..." Start
menu link. If you are running in the Classic mode, then, from the Start
button, the path is Programs...Accessories...Command Prompt. With the
cursor over the Command Prompt link, press the right mouse button and use
the "Run as administrator" function or else the command you enter will tell
you that you do not have permission (Yea, Microsoft). -----Has anyone
noticed that the Help and Support function is more of a "What is" rather
than a "How to"!

Jill, if your still with me, I ran your "vssadmin list shadowstorage".
Mine basically said, Used 5 GB, Allocated space 6 GB, and Max space 35 GB.
I can see that the 35 GB is the 15% you mentioned. But, only 6 GB is
Allocated? Microsoft keeps the system backup a "Microsoft thing", but only
allocates 6 GB for it?

A funny anecdote: Long, long ago, in a land far, far away...back in the
days when hard drives were 10 and 20 MB (YES, Mega), I had bought a 60 MB
and everyone told me, "You'll never use all THAT space!"

I don't suppose the "shadowstorage" area is Administrator adjustable (I mean
on the HP model). I know, dumb question. I'm just a stupid user.

By-the-by, thanks for the feedback on the "good questions". But, as a
former boss of mine used to tell me, "That will never happen, because it
makes to much sense".

Keep smiling...it makes them worry!

 

[Rock]

William, I'm glad you hung in there and got things resolved.

 

[William Beard]

Hi Jill, Rock...
I found a Vista supported BeLarc Advisor online.
http://belarc.com/free_download.html
It told me a lot about my computer and the software in it.
It even told my about thirteen patches from MS that I was missing.
When I shutdown, the patches were there to be installed during the shutdown
process.
I found that a little odd, but neither NAV, the Defender, or the Vista
security complained.
Check it out...it's FREE.

 

[Jill Zoeller [MSFT]]

William,

We only allocate as much space as is needed, up to the maximum. The
allocation is done in chunks, so it's always a bit more than what is
actually used. By doing this allocation on demand, you don't have to
permanently give up that 35 GB.

The shadow storage space is adjustable using the vssadmin resize
shadowstorage command. I've seen cases where the new setting doesn't stick,
though. You could give this a try if you'd like, but there is probably no
need since you are well under the maximum.

Sorry about the elevated command prompt confusion--I should've been more
explicit about that in the article.

 

[Rock]

I found a Vista supported BeLarc Advisor online.
http://belarc.com/free_download.html
It told me a lot about my computer and the software in it.
It even told my about thirteen patches from MS that I was missing.
When I shutdown, the patches were there to be installed during the
shutdown process.
I found that a little odd, but neither NAV, the Defender, or the Vista
security complained.
Check it out...it's FREE.

Thanks, I have used Belarc in XP, just haven't gotten around to it in Vista
yet. I will give it a go. Interesting what you pointed out about updates.

 

[Guest]

This 'Restore point creation disabled by Group Policy' issue has only just
been noticed on my computer. I've had no problem in the past doing a manual
Restore Point (usually prior to any new software installation - and nothing
much recently) but today I discovered I don't have access to highlighting the
C: Drive and the above quote is next to 'Create'.

Before coming to this site I tried rolling back my computer a week and still
nothing - so either its firmly embedded or was an issue earlier. Can't help
feel its something in a Windows Update (or, perhaps, a Firefox update) that
has buggered things up.

As above with William, I am sole user, the Administrator, on a stand alone
computer - and again, until not too long ago, manual System Restore Points
were not a problem.

Bigger concern is that if Group Policy is set on this (without my input)
what other programs are going to fail to work as I've been 'locked out' of
control? No way MS can advise home Administrators on how to control Group
Policy?

A complete reinstall (First Refuge of Confused Techs Everywhere) is hardly a
solution.....

Real solution anyone?