System Restore doesn't work

[Guest]

I was playing with my registry in order to remove some
spyware that I found, and I deleted a key that i shouldn't
have. I tried to run the System Restore function to a
restore point made about a week ago, but it would not make
any changes to the system.

I ran the system restore utility, selected a date, and told
it to restore. It went through the motions and rebooted my
computer, but when i logged back in it gave a message
saying that the restore did not work and I should try
another date. I tried all of the dates. Two weeks worth,
and not a single one worked. What is wrong? What can i do?

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

I don't know what was changed in the Registry, but, one or more of the
System Restore files could have been corrupted - try turning SR off/on - but
you will lose any existing checkpoints:

Right click My Computer, select Properties and then the System Restore tab.
Enable 'Turn off System Restore on all drives' and reboot your PC. After
that 1st reboot go back into SR and disable 'Turn off System Restore on all
drives' and reboot your PC again. After that 2nd reboot you should have one
new SR checkpoint.

--

Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups


| I was playing with my registry in order to remove some
| spyware that I found, and I deleted a key that i shouldn't
| have. I tried to run the System Restore function to a
| restore point made about a week ago, but it would not make
| any changes to the system.
|
| I ran the system restore utility, selected a date, and told
| it to restore. It went through the motions and rebooted my
| computer, but when i logged back in it gave a message
| saying that the restore did not work and I should try
| another date. I tried all of the dates. Two weeks worth,
| and not a single one worked. What is wrong? What can i do?

 

[Guest]

I did exactly as you said. I rebooted, turned off System
Restore, rebooted, turned System Restore back on, rebooted,
waited a few minutes, then tried to go back to the old
restore point. I clicked on the only restore point that was
there, one that had been created about thirty minutes prior
to my attempt at restoring it. It went through the motions
like it was actually doing something, rebooted, then came
back up with the same error message. Why does this happen?
How can I fix it?

 

[D.]

I did exactly as you said. I rebooted, turned off System
Restore, rebooted, turned System Restore back on, rebooted,
waited a few minutes, then tried to go back to the old
restore point. I clicked on the only restore point that was
there, one that had been created about thirty minutes prior
to my attempt at restoring it. It went through the motions
like it was actually doing something, rebooted, then came
back up with the same error message. Why does this happen?
How can I fix it?

If System Restore was turned off, it would have erased all restore
points. You'd have to wait while it accessed your hard drive. So
when you turned it back on again there should have been no restore
points. So the restore point you selected must have been created
after you turned restore back on again.

I had the same problem you are having, but turning it off, rebooting,
turning it on, rebooting, got it working. & I was able to restore
when I needed to a few months later.

Also, & this goes for everyone, move the slider to select about 1 gig
for reserved space on the hard drive for system restore to use. You
might want to try it one more time, and lessening the hard drive
reserved space down to 1 gig in the process.

D.

 

[Alex Nichol]

I ran the system restore utility, selected a date, and told
it to restore. It went through the motions and rebooted my
computer, but when i logged back in it gave a message
saying that the restore did not work and I should try
another date. I tried all of the dates. Two weeks worth,
and not a single one worked. What is wrong? What can i do?

If it has got into trouble, clear it out and let it start clean. System
- System Restore. Check 'Disable System Restore, and OK, reboot. Now
have Folder Options - View set to show Hidden files, and *not* Hide
Protected mode ones and delete everything in the System Volume
Information folder on each drive to make sure it is really clean

In your case, at this point I would go to Windowws\Inf and right click
on sr.inf and take Install. That will refresh the registry values that
you have damaged; but it will not I fear allow you to use the points
that exist if you try it on its own as you would have to have SR
disabled - and that deletes the points

Start SR up again, and I suggest reviewing the settings for each drive.
There is not much point having it enabled on data drives, and on ones
with System or Programs I would reduce the space allotted if more than
say 1GB - I use 500MB, the minimum is 200 which will only handle maybe a
week of points. But the default of 12% of a drive seems too much for
its own good on modern large drives