System Restore no longer working

[Brian Tillman]

I can no longer set a system restore point nor resetore to an existing
restore point. I'm using XP Home SP2. When I try to restore, I select an
existing restore point and click next. I'm told that the system will shut
down my computer when it restores to the restore point. I click Next. The
hourglass appears for about ten to 15 seconds, then disappears. The Next
button becomes unselected. Subsequent pressings of Next do nothing.

When trying to create a restore point, I get a pop-up that says a restore
point could not be created and to reboot and try again. Rebooting and
trying again just produce the same message.

I attempted to run a repair using the O/S CD that came with the computer,
but ir says that I'm running a later version and can't repair.

Any suggestions?

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

It possible the SR file store is corrupted. This can be corrected as
follows, go to Control Panel, open System, go to the System Restore tab,
select, "Turn off System Restore on all drives and click apply and ok.
NOTE: this will wipe out all restore points but if none of the current
restore points are working, they are useless to you anyway.

Reboot the system as directed, return to the System Restore tab as outlined
above, remove the check from "Turn off System Restore on all drives," click
apply and ok and reboot. Then try System Restore again.

If that fails to resolve it, try the following link:
Troubleshooting System Restore in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q302796

As to the message you received when trying to run the Repair Install, this
is often the result of having the SP1 or SP2 updates installed on your
system but your original install CD didn't include them. They way around
this is to first remove the SP update then run the repair install. Of
course, you will need to reinstall the update once the repair is finished.

 

[Brian Tillman]

It possible the SR file store is corrupted. This can be corrected as
follows, go to Control Panel, open System, go to the System Restore
tab, select, "Turn off System Restore on all drives and click apply
and ok. NOTE: this will wipe out all restore points but if none of
the current restore points are working, they are useless to you
anyway.

Reboot the system as directed, return to the System Restore tab as
outlined above, remove the check from "Turn off System Restore on all
drives," click apply and ok and reboot. Then try System Restore
again.

Thanks. I'll give it a shot.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks. I'll give it a shot.

Well, it didn't work. When I tried to disable the System Restore function,
I got a message saying that it couldn't be done, that I should reboot and
try again, which doesn't change anything. I'll try the troubleshooting
techniques when I get a chance.

 

[Brian Tillman]

As to the message you received when trying to run the Repair Install,
this is often the result of having the SP1 or SP2 updates installed
on your system but your original install CD didn't include them.
They way around this is to first remove the SP update then run the
repair install. Of course, you will need to reinstall the update
once the repair is finished.

Do you know if the SP2 CD has a repair function on it?

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

As long as you have your original install CD, assuming it is a retail
version or an equivalent OEM version you can do a repair install. The CD
containing only the SP2 update is not a CD of the OS and does not contain
the repair functions found on an operating system CD. There are retail
version of XP which include SP2 and as such have these features.

Nonetheless, try the steps below before moving to a repair install,
instructions for which I've included below as well:
First, be sure your antivirus software has the latest definitions and run a
virus scan.

Second, download, install and run Ad Aware:
www.lavasoftusa.com

If this is a relatively recent issue, you might try using System Restore to
take you back to a time when this worked properly. Start\All
Programs\Accessories\System Tools\System Restore. If that doesn't resolve
it, try the information below.

The following assumes you have an actual XP CD as opposed to a restore CD or
restore partition supplied by your PC manufacturer.

Go to Start, type sfc /scannow in the run box and press enter. Note, there
is a space between sfc and the forward slash. You will be asked for your XP
CD. Be aware, upon inserting the CD the XP setup screen may appear, this is
not a part of sfc /scannow, rather it is being invoked by autorun. Simply
minimize the screen and allow sfc to continue.

If the above fails to resolve the issue, try a repair install as follows:

Be sure you are well backed up in case there is a problem from which you are
unable to recover. NOTE, while a repair install should leave your data
files intact, if something goes wrong during the repair install, you may be
forced to start over and do a clean install of XP. If you don't have your
data backed up, you would lose your data should that eventuality occur.

Assuming your system is set to boot from the CD-ROM drive, boot with the XP
CD in the drive. If it isn't or you are not sure, you need to enter the
system's BIOS. When you boot the system, the first screen usually has
instructions that if you wish to enter setup press a specific key, when you
see that, do so. Then you will have to navigate to the boot sequence, if
the CD-ROM drive is not first line, set it first in the boot sequence. Save
your settings and exit with the XP CD in the drive. The system will reboot.

Boot from the CD. If your system is set to be able to boot from the CD, it
should detect the disk and give a brief message, during the boot up, if you
wish to boot from the CD press any key.

Once you have pressed a key, setup should begin. You will see a reference
asking if you need to load special drivers and another notice that if you
wish to begin the ASR (Automatic Recovery Console) depress F2. Just let
setup run past all of that. It will continue to load files and drivers.

Then it will bring you to a screen. Eventually, you will come to a screen
with the option to (1) setup Windows or (2) Repair Windows Installation
using the Recovery console.

The first option, to setup Windows is the one you want and requires you to
press enter. When asked, press F8 to accept the end user agreement. Setup
will then search for previous versions of Windows. Upon finding your
version, it will ask if you wish to Repair your current installation or
install fresh. Press R, that will run a repair installation. From there
on, follow the screens.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Nonetheless, try the steps below before moving to a repair install,
instructions for which I've included below as well:

Thanks. I'll try that after trying a couple of other things. The first
thing I'll try is removing and reinstalling SP2. Perhaps that will replace
the broken files.

Also, I just recently upgraded from a 20 GB disk to a 60 GB disk for my
system. The software that came with the new disk was supposed to have make
a disk image of the old disk to the new one. At first I though it did and
Windows and all apps seemed to work, but I found that it didn't copy the
folder C:\Windows\Installer, which caused problems when I had to repair an
application. Perhaps there's another folder it didn't copy. I'm going
hunting when I have some free time and see.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Nonetheless, try the steps below before moving to a repair install,
instructions for which I've included below as well:
First, be sure your antivirus software has the latest definitions and
run a virus scan.

Well, my system restore function is working again and I didn't have to
repair anything.

I went back into the System Restore settings wizard and examined each disk's
settings (I have the current C drive and the old drive set up as H). In the
Settings window for the H drive, it said that it was the system disk and
that I could stop monitoring it unless I stopped monitoring all disks. Huh?
I boot from C. So, I allowed the machine to stop monitoring that drive and
it stopped monitoring both (in spite of the fact that I couldn't check the
"Turn off System Restore" box without the error I previously described.
After rebooting, I went back into the System Restore Settings wizard and was
then able to start monitoring both drives again, with the Settings dialog
telling me that C was my system disk now. I was successful in creating a
system restore point after that.

While I'd be grateful to learn why System Restore tagged H as my system
disk, it's not important enough to pursue. Thanks for the help.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP\)]

It's hard to say why it might have happened. If you had a dual boot system,
that might explain it but likely it was just some glitch. Is there
something you might have moved to that drive that might have resulted in
this? Also, if you are using any third party disk utilities, they might
have made a change that resulted in this problem.