REQ: What is c:\windows\lastgood?

[young]

Let me try my question another way -

What is the subdirectory c:\windows\lastgood used for anyhow?
I never noticed it before.

Thanks

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earlier Post:

When I installed my XP Pro some time ago, it created a games folder
containing a few games (such as Minesweeper, Solitaire, Hearts, etc).
I never looked at them much until yesterday. I discovered all (yes,
all) the icons were changed because the programs they expect to point
to had been moved from c:\windows\system32 to c:\windows\lastgood.
I was able to use WExplorer to move them back, correcting the problem,
but I have to ask - Why were they moved? And, what is this 'lastgood'
folder - I never spotted it before.

Thanks

 

[Ramesh [MVP]]

The folder is used by "Last Known Good" Option.

The Last Known Good recovery option, with which you access through the boot
menu, allows you to revert the system to the last copy of the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet subkey with which the system
successfully booted and a user logged on. It has been integrated with the
HIW to make recovery even more likely. One of the most common uses for Last
Known Good is to return a system to a bootable state after you've installed
a driver that prevents the system from booting successfully-the previous
copy of the CurrentControlSet won't have the Registry settings that enable
the new driver. However, if you update an existing driver, Last Known Good
wouldn't have helped you-prior to Windows XP, that is. Now, when you update
a driver the HIW saves the previous version used to boot successfully in
\Windows\LastGood\System32\Drivers, and when you select the Last Known Good
boot option the updated driver is replaced with the old version.

Windows XP: Kernel Improvements Create a More Robust, Powerful, and Scalable
OS -- MSDN Magazine:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/01/12/XPKernel/default.aspx


--
Ramesh - Microsoft MVP
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

~ Please reply to newsgroup ~


Let me try my question another way -

What is the subdirectory c:\windows\lastgood used for anyhow?
I never noticed it before.

Thanks

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------
Earlier Post:

When I installed my XP Pro some time ago, it created a games folder
containing a few games (such as Minesweeper, Solitaire, Hearts, etc).
I never looked at them much until yesterday. I discovered all (yes,
all) the icons were changed because the programs they expect to point
to had been moved from c:\windows\system32 to c:\windows\lastgood.
I was able to use WExplorer to move them back, correcting the problem,
but I have to ask - Why were they moved? And, what is this 'lastgood'
folder - I never spotted it before.

Thanks