Restore Points Not Created

B

Bruce

The machine is a Dell Dimension 4550 running WinXPHome. It is set to
create restore points. Today, I wanted to restore to three days ago, but
when I launched restore, the only restore point was from a few minutes ago,
when I installed a new printer drive. (The driver caused some system
problems, so I wanted to go back a few days.)

I did check to see that I had the restore funcition on, and I did.

Any ideas?
 
R

Ramesh, MS-MVP

System Restore requires the machine to be in an idle state to create system
check points. This is by design so that System Restore never intrudes when
the user is using the machine by taking processing power to create a system
checkpoint. Hence, if system restore never sees any idle time on the
machine, it will not be able to create System Checkpoints.

System Restore not creating automatic System Checkpoints?:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/checkpoints.htm

See also:

All the possibilities are covered at MVP Bert Kinney's site.

System Restore fails to create an automatic restore point:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/srauto.html

To automatically create System Restore points using scripts, see the links
below:

How to automatically create a System Restore point upon the first boot up of
the day?:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/createrp.htm

" The script provided in the above link will check if there are any System
Restore points already created for the current day. If no System Restore
point exists for the current day, the script creates a System Restore point.
"

Single Click Creation of a System Restore Point/Runs as a Scheduled Task
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_sysrestorepoint.htm

See: System Restore FAQ - "Why is system restore not creating automatic
System Checkpoints on my machine?"
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/newsgroups/faqsrwxp.mspx

System Restore Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/community/centers/management/sysrestore_faq.mspx

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


The machine is a Dell Dimension 4550 running WinXPHome. It is set to
create restore points. Today, I wanted to restore to three days ago, but
when I launched restore, the only restore point was from a few minutes ago,
when I installed a new printer drive. (The driver caused some system
problems, so I wanted to go back a few days.)

I did check to see that I had the restore funcition on, and I did.

Any ideas?
 
R

Ramesh, MS-MVP

You're welcome, Bruce. Keep us posted.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


http://windowsxp.mvps.org/checkpoints.htm
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yours and Kinney's sites are very good. I have the proper basics
for system restore to work:

Task Scheduler is automatic
System Restore is automatic
The boot hard drive has 55GB free.

I'll have to investigate further.

Thanks again.
Bruce
 
J

James Silverton

Hello, Bert!
You wrote on Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:24:04 -0400:

BK> Take a look at this page also.

BK> Troubleshooting missing restore points:
BK> http://bertk.mvps.org/html/missingrps.html

BK> --
BK> Regards,
BK> Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
BK> http://bertk.mvps.org
BK> Member: http://dts-l.org

BK> "Bruce" wrote

??>> http://windowsxp.mvps.org/checkpoints.htm
??>>
??>> Thanks. Yours and Kinney's sites are very good. I have
??>> the proper basics for system restore to work:
??>>
??>> Task Scheduler is automatic
??>> System Restore is automatic
??>> The boot hard drive has 55GB free.
??>>
??>> I'll have to investigate further.
??>>
??>> Thanks again.
??>> Bruce

I had a really weird loss of restore points yesterday. While
Microsoft was downloading the latest updates my connection to
Comcast died and the computer hung up. When I finally got back
again, all but one restore point had gone and the restore
process, unasked, had started to monitor my USB backup disc. I
have now fixed things and, AFAIK, no harm has been done. The
download was completed and the updates were installed but there
is now just one restore point.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not
 
B

Bert Kinney

Hello, Bert!
You wrote on Mon, 14 Aug 2006 13:24:04 -0400:

BK> Take a look at this page also.

BK> Troubleshooting missing restore points:
BK> http://bertk.mvps.org/html/missingrps.html

BK> --
BK> Regards,
BK> Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
BK> http://bertk.mvps.org
BK> Member: http://dts-l.org

BK> "Bruce" wrote

??>> http://windowsxp.mvps.org/checkpoints.htm
??>>
??>> Thanks. Yours and Kinney's sites are very good. I have
??>> the proper basics for system restore to work:
??>>
??>> Task Scheduler is automatic
??>> System Restore is automatic
??>> The boot hard drive has 55GB free.
??>>
??>> I'll have to investigate further.
??>>
??>> Thanks again.
??>> Bruce

I had a really weird loss of restore points yesterday. While Microsoft
was downloading the latest updates my connection to Comcast died and
the computer hung up. When I finally got back again, all but one
restore point had gone and the restore process, unasked, had started
to monitor my USB backup disc. I have now fixed things and, AFAIK, no
harm has been done. The download was completed and the updates were
installed but there is now just one restore point.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not
Click to expand...

I suspect the problem lies with the USB external disk. The external disk
should be connected and disconnected only with Windows is running. If
Windows starts and System Restore finds that there have disks added or
removed while Windows was not running, it will error and restore point
will become corrupt or be deleted. Event viewer may log this error. The
following page will step you through the process of finding any
available logs.

Event Viewer Help:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/source.html

Now should I let System Restore monitor my external hard drive?

It is a bad practice to let System Restore monitor an external hard
drive. By design most external drive are monitored by System Restore. If
any changes are made to the external drive while it is not connected to
the system, the next time it's connected System Restore will find an
inconsistency in the SR log and cause all existing restore points to
become corrupt and require there deletion. The same can be true if the
external drive is powered off while the system is running.

A possible work around is to assign a permanent drive letter (the higher
in the alphabet the better) to the external drive via Disk Management.
To access Disk Management, go to Start - Run and type diskmgmt.msc then
press enter.

Right-click a partition, logical drive, or volume, and then click Change
Drive Letter and Paths.

Do one of the following:

1. To assign a drive letter, click Add, click the drive letter you want
to use, and then click OK.

2. To modify a drive letter, click it, click Change, click the drive
letter you want to use, and then click OK.
 
J

James Silverton

Hello, Bert!
You wrote on Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:04:19 -0400:


BK> "James Silverton" wrote
??>> I had a really weird loss of restore points yesterday.
??>> While Microsoft was downloading the latest updates my
??>> connection to Comcast died and the computer hung up. When
??>> I finally got back again, all but one restore point had
??>> gone and the restore process, unasked, had started to
??>> monitor my USB backup disc. I have now fixed things and,
??>> AFAIK, no harm has been done. The download was completed
??>> and the updates were installed but there is now just one
??>> restore point.
BK> I suspect the problem lies with the USB external disk. The
BK> external disk should be connected and disconnected only
BK> with Windows is running. If Windows starts and System
BK> Restore finds that there have disks added or removed while
BK> Windows was not running, it will error and restore point
BK> will become corrupt or be deleted. Event viewer may log
BK> this error. The following page will step you through the
BK> process of finding any available logs.

BK> Event Viewer Help:
BK> http://bertk.mvps.org/html/source.html

BK> Now should I let System Restore monitor my external hard
BK> drive?

BK> It is a bad practice to let System Restore monitor an
BK> external hard drive. By design most external drive are

It has not been my practice to allow monitoring of the external
USB disc even if is permanently connected. What was strange was
that the monitoring status was changed without my intervention,
AFAIK.

I generally do not demount the USB disc except during updates
when Windows XP sometimes gets confused and writes temporary
files to this last named disc and then unsuccessfully tries to
use them during any completely automatic update. I always use
the "Safely Remove Hardware" button to disconnect the disc
before allowing the update. It is not necessary to physically
unplug the disc.

As I said, I think the problem arose during an inadvertent
interruption caused by the failure of the Comcast broadband
connection.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not
 
B

Bert Kinney

BK> "James Silverton" wrote
??>> I had a really weird loss of restore points yesterday.
??>> While Microsoft was downloading the latest updates my
??>> connection to Comcast died and the computer hung up. When
??>> I finally got back again, all but one restore point had
??>> gone and the restore process, unasked, had started to
??>> monitor my USB backup disc. I have now fixed things and,
??>> AFAIK, no harm has been done. The download was completed
??>> and the updates were installed but there is now just one
??>> restore point.
BK> I suspect the problem lies with the USB external disk. The
BK> external disk should be connected and disconnected only
BK> with Windows is running. If Windows starts and System
BK> Restore finds that there have disks added or removed while
BK> Windows was not running, it will error and restore point
BK> will become corrupt or be deleted. Event viewer may log
BK> this error. The following page will step you through the
BK> process of finding any available logs.

BK> Event Viewer Help:
BK> http://bertk.mvps.org/html/source.html

BK> Now should I let System Restore monitor my external hard
BK> drive?

BK> It is a bad practice to let System Restore monitor an
BK> external hard drive. By design most external drive are

It has not been my practice to allow monitoring of the external USB
disc even if is permanently connected. What was strange was that the
monitoring status was changed without my intervention, AFAIK.
Click to expand...

Yes, SR was designed to monitor every partition it sees, including
external and some flash drives.
I generally do not demount the USB disc except during updates when
Windows XP sometimes gets confused and writes temporary files to this
last named disc and then unsuccessfully tries to use them during any
completely automatic update. I always use the "Safely Remove Hardware"
button to disconnect the disc before allowing the update. It is not
necessary to physically unplug the disc.

As I said, I think the problem arose during an inadvertent
interruption caused by the failure of the Comcast broadband
connection.
Click to expand...

Did you check the event logs?
 
J

James Silverton

Hello, Bert!
You wrote on Tue, 15 Aug 2006 10:30:01 -0400:

BK> Event Log's please!!!

BK> --
BK> Regards,
BK> Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
BK> http://bertk.mvps.org
BK> Member: http://dts-l.org

BK> "Bruce" wrote
??>>> http://bertk.mvps.org/html/missingrps.html
??>>
??>> Thanks, I looked there last night.
??>>
??>> Funny thing, this morning, I checked for restore points
??>> and there was one there for 8/04/07, 6:14 am, so I thought
??>> everything was back to normal. Today, I checked and that
??>> restore point was gone. There were none for 8/14/07.
??>> Hmmm...

Here are the logs that I can find. The restore and
discontinuation of G: monitoring were my actions.

Event Type: Information
Event Source: SRService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 107
Date: 8/12/2006
Time: 10:01:15 PM
User: N/A
Computer: 8609HHL
Description:
The System Restore service has been suspended because there is
not enough disk space available on the drive
\\?\Volume{cff5b7f8-93b7-11d8-9fd1-0050bacc6602}\. System
Restore will automatically resume service once at least 200 MB
of free disk space is available on the system drive.
***********************************************************
I do not understand how this could be possible since D: is 50%
free and G: 75%
*************************************************************
Event Type: Information

Event Source: SRService

Event Category: None

Event ID: 114

Date: 8/14/2006

Time: 8:02:46 AM

User: N/A

Computer: 8609HHL

Description:

System Restore monitoring was disabled on drive G:\.

***********************************

This was my action and a reversion to the settings I normally
use and don't change.

************************************

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.



Event Type: Information

Event Source: SRService

Event Category: None

Event ID: 108

Date: 8/13/2006

Time: 8:20:32 AM

User: N/A

Computer: 8609HHL

Description:

The System Restore service has resumed monitoring due to space
freed on the system drive.



For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.



Event Type: Information

Event Source: SRService

Event Category: None

Event ID: 110

Date: 8/13/2006

Time: 4:00:19 PM

User: N/A

Computer: 8609HHL

Description:

A restoration to "System Checkpoint" restore point occurred
successfully.

***************************************

My action too after the computer locked up during the broadband
failure

***************************************

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not
 
B

Bert Kinney

Hello, Bert!

BK> Event Log's please!!!

BK> --
BK> Regards,
BK> Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
BK> http://bertk.mvps.org
BK> Member: http://dts-l.org

BK> "Bruce" wrote
??>>> http://bertk.mvps.org/html/missingrps.html
??>>
??>> Thanks, I looked there last night.
??>>
??>> Funny thing, this morning, I checked for restore points
??>> and there was one there for 8/04/07, 6:14 am, so I thought
??>> everything was back to normal. Today, I checked and that
??>> restore point was gone. There were none for 8/14/07.
??>> Hmmm...

Here are the logs that I can find. The restore and discontinuation of
G: monitoring were my actions.

Event Type: Information
Event Source: SRService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 107
Date: 8/12/2006
Time: 10:01:15 PM
User: N/A
Computer: 8609HHL
Description:
The System Restore service has been suspended because there is not
enough disk space available on the drive
\\?\Volume{cff5b7f8-93b7-11d8-9fd1-0050bacc6602}\. System Restore will
automatically resume service once at least 200 MB of free disk space
is available on the system drive.
***********************************************************
I do not understand how this could be possible since D: is 50% free
and G: 75%
*************************************************************
Click to expand...

If any drive/partition monitored by SR falls below 50mb's this will
happen.

Let's try to get to the bottom of it...

1. Click Start, click Run.
2. Type or paste the following: "%windir%\system32\restore\srdiag.exe"
(without the quotation marks) and either press Enter or click OK.
3. A CMD window will open while the Srdiag.exe runs. The CMD session
will automatically close when complete, and the .CAB file will be
created as desired in your 'Windows\system32\restore' directory. Please
be patient as this could take several minutes.
4. Open the CAB file just created and move the drivetable.txt to the
desktop. Open it and post the contents here.


On the following page download, and unzip FreeSpaceInfo2.zip then run
it. Post the log it creates here, also.

System Restore Scripts & Utilities:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/srscripts.html
 
B

Bruce

Event Log's please!!!
Click to expand...

My apologies.

Here's all three of the sr or srservice event logs that were
generated since I first noticed RPs were not being created:

1) Sunday morning
Event Type: Error
Event Source: sr
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1
Date: 8/13/2006
Time: 6:25:10 AM
User: N/A
Computer: XPMACHINE
Description:
The System Restore filter encountered the unexpected error
'0xC000000E' while processing the file '' on the volume
'HarddiskVolume5'. It has stopped monitoring the volume.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 06 00 00 00 04 00 4e 00 ......N.
0008: 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 c0 .......À
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

I don't know what HarddiskVolume5 is. Probably my OS disk,
C:, which has only one partition. I see it stopped
monitoring the volume. Does that mean that SR will stay off
until I do something to turn it back on? I ask because it
has always been enabled; I checked when I noticed there were
no RPs when I wanted to do a restore Sunday night, around 7
PM.

At 9:34 PM Sunday night, I made a manual RP

2) Monday night
Event Type: Information
Event Source: SRService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 110
Date: 8/14/2006
Time: 7:41:55 PM
User: N/A
Computer: XPMACHINE
Description:
A restoration to "Restore Operation" restore point occurred
successfully.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


3) Monday night
Event Type: Information
Event Source: SRService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 110
Date: 8/14/2006
Time: 7:37:20 PM
User: N/A
Computer: XPMACHINE
Description:
A restoration to "Manual - After noticing this morning's auto
RP vanished" restore point occurred successfully.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Monday morning, I noticed there was a RP created around 6:14
AM. When I got home from work, it was gone, so I created
another manual RP at 7:10 PM, named "Manual - After noticing
this morning's auto RP vanished".

At 7:34 PM I restored to that manual RP, but realized I
couldn't really tell if the restore worked, so I tested the
restore function. I created a desktop folder named TEST. I
then did another restore at 7:39 PM to the manual RP, and
voila, the TEST folder was gone.

My restore calendar looks like this:

Sunday, 8/13/06
9:34 PM No Restore Points Found
(I installed the drivers below, and decided to restore back,
that's when I saw "No Restore Points Found", above)
9:10 PM Installed MP Drivers
9:10 PM Installed Canon ScanGear Software

Monday, 8/14/06
7:39 PM Restore Operation
7:34 PM Restore Operation
7:10 PM Manual - After noticing this morning's auto RP
vanished

Tuesday, 8/15/06
7:44 PM System Checkpoint

Does this tell you anything?

Thanks,
Bruce
 
B

Bert Kinney

My apologies.

Here's all three of the sr or srservice event logs that were
generated since I first noticed RPs were not being created:

1) Sunday morning
Event Type: Error
Event Source: sr
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1
Date: 8/13/2006
Time: 6:25:10 AM
User: N/A
Computer: XPMACHINE
Description:
The System Restore filter encountered the unexpected error
'0xC000000E' while processing the file '' on the volume
'HarddiskVolume5'. It has stopped monitoring the volume.
Click to expand...

Normally the Windows is installed on C:\ which would be
HarddiskVolume1.

Go to Start - Run and type %SYSTEMROOT% then press enter. Does this
take you to C:\WINDOWS?

Open System Restore and click on "System Restore Settings" and make sure
it's only monitoring the partition Windows is installed on.
I don't know what HarddiskVolume5 is. Probably my OS disk,
C:, which has only one partition. I see it stopped
monitoring the volume. Does that mean that SR will stay off
until I do something to turn it back on? I ask because it
has always been enabled; I checked when I noticed there were
no RPs when I wanted to do a restore Sunday night, around 7 PM.
Click to expand...

Is it possible that HarddiskVolume5 could be a external drive or flash
drive?
At 9:34 PM Sunday night, I made a manual RP

2) Monday night
Event Type: Information
Event Source: SRService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 110
Date: 8/14/2006
Time: 7:41:55 PM
User: N/A
Computer: XPMACHINE
Description:
A restoration to "Restore Operation" restore point occurred
successfully.


3) Monday night
Event Type: Information
Event Source: SRService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 110
Date: 8/14/2006
Time: 7:37:20 PM
User: N/A
Computer: XPMACHINE
Description:
A restoration to "Manual - After noticing this morning's auto
RP vanished" restore point occurred successfully.


Monday morning, I noticed there was a RP created around 6:14
AM. When I got home from work, it was gone, so I created
another manual RP at 7:10 PM, named "Manual - After noticing
this morning's auto RP vanished".

At 7:34 PM I restored to that manual RP, but realized I
couldn't really tell if the restore worked, so I tested the
restore function. I created a desktop folder named TEST. I
then did another restore at 7:39 PM to the manual RP, and
voila, the TEST folder was gone.

My restore calendar looks like this:

Sunday, 8/13/06
9:34 PM No Restore Points Found
(I installed the drivers below, and decided to restore back,
that's when I saw "No Restore Points Found", above)
9:10 PM Installed MP Drivers
9:10 PM Installed Canon ScanGear Software

Monday, 8/14/06
7:39 PM Restore Operation
7:34 PM Restore Operation
7:10 PM Manual - After noticing this morning's auto RP
vanished

Tuesday, 8/15/06
7:44 PM System Checkpoint

Does this tell you anything?
Click to expand...

It appears SR is functioning, but restore points are being deleted.
Take a look at this page for a possible cause.

Troubleshooting missing restore points:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/missingrps.html
 

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