Restore xp

When I go to Restore windows xp home edition. Every date I pick to restore
Window's xp tell's me Cannot be restored what can I do to restore xp at a earylyer date?

Thank you

 

System Restore is very flakey, and lots of people, me amongst them, disable it. It let me down several times so I changed to True Image.
If it won't restore, in my experience, there is nothing you can do.

 

First, make sure SR is enabled. (Control Panel> System) You only need to enable it on the OS partition, because it only rolls back Windows System Files- no data or program files are affected.

Start>All Programs> Accessories>System Tools> SR

If you run SR, and get a message telling you that it could not be restored to an earier valid restore point, that usually means there have been no changes detected to roll back to.

Maybe we could be of some additional help if you would say WHY you want to do a System Restore?

Johanna

 

Sorry Johanna, but when I have really needed SR to work, because XP has been playing up, several times it has gone through the procedure, and reported failure.

 

If Windows doesn't find anything to change, it will give you an error message that an SR couldn't be performed. If you are SURE that you still have an XP problem, the next step is an SFC (System File Check) with the XP cd.

My experience with System Restore has been very good. My system makes an automatic checkpoint every day, and before most program installs.

Some people have suggested turning SR off (which deletes any old Restore Points) rebooting, and then turning SR back on seems to "fix" it. (The "Toggle" Trick)

Many people like the convenience of GoBack and Ghost, too, for Imaging programs. They are more thorough than XP's native tools, because they handle installed software programs, too.

System Restore will not recover lost email, or data, correct other software issues, fix a hardware problem or make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and should not be expected to, either.

r.leale- if you have XP Pro, have you given ASR a try?


Johanna

 

Hi Johanna,
I must have been just unlucky I guess. It has worked a couple of times for me, but I have been an inveterate tweaker, (Not any more, I go to Tweakers Anonymous now!) but several times it let me down. In fact I run SFC first if I see any unstability. I can't see how the 'toggle' trick works 'cos it deletes all the restore points so there is nothing to restore it to!
I have XP Home, but since I changed my mobo, from a K7S5A to my present Asus A7N8X-X, I've had no problems at all.

Roger

 

SFC not working

I tried typing in SFC.exe in the "RUN" command but nothing happens. I checked that I have a file in system32 called sfc.exe.

 

Roger,
I did have problems with system restore that was only fixed through a reformat. This may be the case for you as well? I reign in the default 10% of the hard drive designated for SR as on large drives this is a rediculous amount of space set aside.
When it's working it works well and I wouldn't be without it. Those who disable it are asking for trouble. I've never heard of 1 valid reason for disabling it. I have even enabled it on W2K3 via copying a SR file from the XP CD.

I suggest to Bobm735 that he try deleting all SR points via the more options tab in disk cleanup on the designated drive. Then try creating a SR point.
For what it's worth try disabling SR, reboot and re enable it again. Clutching at straws I know but worth trying, as a reformat may be needed?

 

For System File Check
Start > Run > cmd
sfc /scannow
and have your XP cd

sfc - system file checker, retrieves the correct version of the file from %Systemroot%\System32\Dllcache or the Windows installation source files, and then replaces the incorrect file.

If you want to see what was replaced, right click My Computer > manage, expand event viewer > system.

Johanna

 

It works sometimes to get system restore working again. It won't help you restore with one of your current restore points though, because as you said, it deletes the restore points. If you turn off system restore and turn it back on and it works again, the reason is because one of your restore points is corrupt. If you try to restore your computer to 3 days ago and if one of the restore points made between now and three days ago happens to be corrupted, the restore will fail. It needs to have all restore points between today and the day you're trying to restore to. This is because each time system restore makes a restore point it only backs up the changes that were made since the last restore point was made.

Another possibility that could be causing it to not work is not enough free space on the drive or one of the drives it's monitoring. If any of the drives it's monitoring get's below a certain amount of free space (I believe it's 15%) SR will fail. The answer is too either free up some space on the drive or to turn off system retore for that particular drive. If you have more than one drive and SR is monitoring all of them, check the free space left on all of them. If one is short of space you could try turning off SR for that drive and then see if you use it. I can't say for sure what will happen. I've never had to try it. It may be that it will work for you or it may be that you have to toggle the whole works off to get it working again which wouldn't be much help to you if you're trying to use one of your current restore points. Obviously, it won't work if you turn it off on the drive that your system is on. It may work though to free up some space on it. I doubt it, but it would be worth a try.

 

There is a time to and a time not to disable SR. If you have done a lot of cleanup, adding/removing software I do not believe you want an older RP hanging around. ( at least I don't ) Disable it. and the re-enable it and you then have a RP with things the way they are. Not what they used to be.

Yesterday alone I disabled and re-enabled SR at the least 3 times. I remove several pieces of software. As I got each one done I made a new RP because WHY ? would I still want references to the removed stuff hanging around and slowdown Windows boot up by having to look for something that ain't there. Or I have also had the bootup hangup when looking for something that was not there.

Not really if used properly and with some thought. And the USER does his/her job properly and checks to see if Windows has done its' job.

I NEVER do anything ( about changes anyway ) before I check to see that I have the proper restore files to use if needed. And I do not mean one made yesterday or the day before. Lord knows what has changed ( by me or Windows ) since yesterday.

I myself may have unknowingly done something to mess things up. Like the time I stopped SCANREGISTRY from loading at boot up in 98. I had all kinds of nasty words for Windows untill I found that it was my fault.

Johanna

That tells me that you check things out. Aren't you a lucky one. I have yet to have SR make a RP on its' own everyday. It does however make one when I install something. ( Most of the time anyway. ) That is why I manually check before doing anything.

Even as reliable as 98SE is about making the RB00x.cab files I still check to make sure it has. And a few times ( very rare ) I have found it did not make them. I also found out why. I had not restarted Windows for a day or two.

So the bottom line is. ( for me anyway ) there are things that we must do ( or check on ) in order to have Windows do ( or to see that it has done ) its job.

BillyBob

 

A good way to start understanding System Restore - search for System Restore in the Help and Support Center applet in the control panel.

Johanna:
*it only rolls back Windows System Files- no data or program files are affected.*

SR affects more than Windows - for example, if an executable (a program) was installed after the last SR point, that will be gone if a restore done to a point prior to the install. Some exceptions are - any files residing in My Documents (any type), or cookies - emails - .txt files - .jpg and others.

Regards - Charles

 

EXACTLY my point.

Not only and executable installed but one un-installed will be put back.

BillyBob

 

Zander
That was an excellent explanation of SR
CharlesVar
You are correct.

You would have to reinstall those programs, and the curious thing is, they are STILL THERE, but Windows can't see them, or remove (uninstall them) You may be prompted that certain files already exist when you reinstall. I ignore the prompts and rewrite it all, not knowing what is corrupt, and what is not. Programs installed before the SR point will be unaffected.
BillyBob
If you keep deleting SR points, and creating your own, how do you know the system wouldn't do it automatically?

I do not use SR on my data and programs file, just my OS drive. XP will start giving you errors about "not enough free space" on the OS partition if it falls below 25%. Because, as Zander pointed out, the Points are cumulative, rather than successive complete sets, SR really doesn't require a lot of space. The space you allocate depends on how far back you want to preserve valid points. As needed, XP will dump older for newer, once the space you have given SR is full.

Johanna

 

Johanna is quite correct. Been there done that any cursed myself out for not THINKING before doing.

It was three days ago when I installed Tweaking Tool Box for XP. I just checked and that is that last RP showing up. And this is not the first time.

BillyBob

 

Hi BB,

Just remembered that in order for SR to create auto points on a regular basis - I changed mine to do so every 3 days - that XP's Task Schedular service has to be enabled. Do you have the TS service running?

Regards - Charles

 

According to Services Task Schedular service Is started and on Auto.

Am I looking at the right thing ?

BillyBob

 

AFAIK, that's it.

If you ever find out why no auto RP's on your system, be sure to let us know - dying to find out!!!

Regards - Charles

 

SFC runs silently unless it has to ask you for a CD to fix problems.

The only way to tell if any fixing/repair happened is to check your event logs. There should be a record there of any files that were replaced.

But unless you tell it to do something (SCANNOW, SCANONCE, etc.) it isn't likely to do much. To see the various options and how to use them, start~run~cmd and at the cmd prompt, sfc /?

 

Newt- explained that in Post #9
Johanna