System Restore deletes the registry.

[Eddy]

Using XP Pro, fully updated. Scanned for Viruses, etc, by several scanners.

If I use System Restore to restore to any restore point, it appears to
proceed normally until the PC reboots, at which point I get a Blue Screen
"Windows/System32/Config/System file missing or corrupt" error.

Booting to a "Recovery Console" shows that System is indeed missing from
the Windows/System32/Config/ folder (and also all the other registry hives
SOFTWARE, SAM, SECURITY, and DEFAULT)

It appears that System Restore has deleted the "old" registry but had
failed to restore its saved copy of the registry.

I can recover the situation by booting to a Recovery Console and following
the instructions from the MS KB Q307545 to manually restore the registry
from the Windows\repair\ backups. The PC then boots ok again.

I have tried turning System Restore off (to flush out all restore points),
rebooting, and then turning System Restore on again and making a new
restore point, but if I try to restore to the newly-created restore point
the same problem arises!

Anyone got any ideas what might be causing this?

Eddy.

 

[Guest]

No other types of restore utility installed correct? Is the PC part of a
domain? user logged in as Admin? have you tried using the admin signon? do
you have a registry repair utility, 30 day trial version tune-up utilities
2006, I was currious if it would see the registry when your problem occured.
create new user w/ admin rights, login as admin and copy (faulty) user
profile to newly created one, login as new user and try the process again.

I hope this helps,
Please post back with results, TY, this is interesting

 

[RScotti]

Hi,
Maybe you try to reinstall System Restore with:
C:\WINDOWS\inf\sr.inf?

Using XP Pro, fully updated. Scanned for Viruses, etc, by several scanners.

If I use System Restore to restore to any restore point, it appears to
proceed normally until the PC reboots, at which point I get a Blue Screen
"Windows/System32/Config/System file missing or corrupt" error.

Booting to a "Recovery Console" shows that System is indeed missing from
the Windows/System32/Config/ folder (and also all the other registry hives
SOFTWARE, SAM, SECURITY, and DEFAULT)

It appears that System Restore has deleted the "old" registry but had
failed to restore its saved copy of the registry.

I can recover the situation by booting to a Recovery Console and following
the instructions from the MS KB Q307545 to manually restore the registry
from the Windows\repair\ backups. The PC then boots ok again.

I have tried turning System Restore off (to flush out all restore points),
rebooting, and then turning System Restore on again and making a new
restore point, but if I try to restore to the newly-created restore point
the same problem arises!

Anyone got any ideas what might be causing this?

Eddy.

Have a good day,
RScotti

remove "nospam" in order to email me.

My Specifications:
HP Windows XP MCE 2005
PentiumD 820 (S) DC 2.8 GHz
Socket 775 Chipset Intel 945P
Asus Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 7200 rpm
Western Digital External HD 500 GB
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Nvidia Video Graphics GeForce 7300LE 256 MB
Sound/Audio Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset Supports up to 8 audio channels Dolby Pro Logic II compatible

 

[Eddy]

No other types of restore utility installed correct? No.

Is the PC part of a domain?

No, just a local workgroup (2 PCs)

user logged in as Admin? Yes.

have you tried using the admin signon? Yes.

do you have a registry repair utility, 30 day trial version
tune-up utilities 2006, I was currious if it would see the registry
when your problem occured. create new user w/ admin rights, login as
admin and copy (faulty) user profile to newly created one, login as new
user and try the process again.

Not tried that, but all the working registry files are definitely missing.
"C:\Windows/System32/Config/System" is just not there.

I am a bit reluctant to fiddle too much, as I am sure that sooner or later
it will all screw up totally and it will become impossible to restore the
registry at all. Backups only go so far...

I hope this helps,
Please post back with results, TY, this is interesting

Eddy.

 

[Eddy]

Hi,
Maybe you try to reinstall System Restore with:
C:\WINDOWS\inf\sr.inf?

I will give that a try. System Restore works ok in all other respects
though.

Eddy.

 

[RScotti]

Hi Eddy,
I just thought of something.
It might be better to uninstall SR first before reinstalling it but I don't know how to do that. Maybe someone here can
help?

I will give that a try. System Restore works ok in all other respects
though.

Eddy.

Have a good day,
RScotti

remove "nospam" in order to email me.

My Specifications:
HP Windows XP MCE 2005
PentiumD 820 (S) DC 2.8 GHz
Socket 775 Chipset Intel 945P
Asus Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 7200 rpm
Western Digital External HD 500 GB
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Nvidia Video Graphics GeForce 7300LE 256 MB
Sound/Audio Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset Supports up to 8 audio channels Dolby Pro Logic II compatible

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Eddy,

This is very odd, I have never heard of this happening before.

While troubleshooting this you may want to install Erunt to ease the pain of
restoring the registry.
ERUNT - Registry Backup and Restore for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

I would expect something like this to happen if there were a power failure
during the restore process. But this does not seem to be the case.

You will want to make sure the system malware free also.
Virus and Spyware removal and prevention steps:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/spyware.html

You may want to create a HiJackThis and examine it.
If you need help with this go to the following AumHa Forum and read the
Announcement before posting.
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30

Has there been any new hardware or software installed recently?

Are there any Norton applications installed?

Will System Restore complete in Safe Mode?

 

[Eddy]

This is very odd, I have never heard of this happening before.

It certainly is. The first time it happened I assumed it must have been a
corrupted restore point, so chose another restore point (several in fact)
and the same thing happened every time. Flushing all restore points and
starting again with a newly created restore point failed as well.

What I don't really know is, is System restore failing to restore the
registry when a restore point is chosen, or is it failing to back it up
when a restore point is created.

While troubleshooting this you may want to install Erunt to ease the
pain of restoring the registry.

I have done that now!

I would expect something like this to happen if there were a power
failure during the restore process. But this does not seem to be the
case.

No, no power failures, lockups, or anything like that. No programs that
might just interfere with SR were left running either.

You will want to make sure the system malware free also.

Done that with several different scanners (Ad-aware, Spybot, XoftSpy, AVG,
AntiVir and the MS offerings).

You may want to create a HiJackThis and examine it.

Tried that. Nothing untoward in the HiJackThis log.

Has there been any new hardware or software installed recently?

No, apart from MS Windows updates, and on HP update (see below).

Are there any Norton applications installed?

No, nothing, never!

Will System Restore complete in Safe Mode?

Don't think I tried Safe Mode. Tried so many it's hard to remember...

I originally used System Restore to get rid of an un-installable
(HP/Compaq) update that I did not like. This is when I first found SR was
not working. The PC is now working fine, and I am now a bit reluctant to
attempt an unnecessary SR in case it screws the PC completely.

Eddy.

 

[RScotti]

Hi Bert,
Can I leave System Restore on if I install ERUNT?

Hi Eddy,

This is very odd, I have never heard of this happening before.

While troubleshooting this you may want to install Erunt to ease the pain of
restoring the registry.
ERUNT - Registry Backup and Restore for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

I would expect something like this to happen if there were a power failure
during the restore process. But this does not seem to be the case.

You will want to make sure the system malware free also.
Virus and Spyware removal and prevention steps:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/spyware.html

You may want to create a HiJackThis and examine it.
If you need help with this go to the following AumHa Forum and read the
Announcement before posting.
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30

Has there been any new hardware or software installed recently?

Are there any Norton applications installed?

Will System Restore complete in Safe Mode?

Have a good day,
RScotti

remove "nospam" in order to email me.

My Specifications:
HP Windows XP MCE 2005
PentiumD 820 (S) DC 2.8 GHz
Socket 775 Chipset Intel 945P
Asus Motherboard Name: P5LP-LE
Memory Installed 2 GB (2 x 1 GB)
Hard drive 250 GB SATA 7200 rpm
Western Digital External HD 500 GB
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive
Nvidia Video Graphics GeForce 7300LE 256 MB
Sound/Audio Integrated High Definition audio
Realtek ALC 882 chipset Supports up to 8 audio channels Dolby Pro Logic II compatible

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Eddy,

The next troubleshooting steps would be to test in Safe Mode, or perform a Clean
Boot and test SR.

How to perform a clean boot in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353

How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=316434

How to troubleshoot by using the System Configuration utility in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310560

Or perform a repair install and test.
How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install by Michael Stevens MS-MVP:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

How to perform a repair installation of Windows XP if IE 7 is installed
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;917964

 

[Bert Kinney]

Yes!

 

[Eddy]

Hi Eddy,

The next troubleshooting steps would be to test in Safe Mode, or
perform a Clean Boot and test SR.

How to perform a clean boot in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353

How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=316434

How to troubleshoot by using the System Configuration utility in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310560

Or perform a repair install and test.
How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install by Michael Stevens MS-MVP:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

How to perform a repair installation of Windows XP if IE 7 is installed
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;917964

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

Thanks Bert, I will give those links next weekend when I have more time to
do some experimenting. Amazing just how long one can spend trying things
out, rebooting, trying something else, rebooting, etc...

Eddy.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Thanks Bert, I will give those links next weekend when I have more time to
do some experimenting. Amazing just how long one can spend trying things
out, rebooting, trying something else, rebooting, etc...

Eddy.

Yes it is. Please keep us informed.