Community Newsletter: Q&A: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray
- 5/26/05 3:37 PM
System Restore fix
by caesar8 - 5/27/05 2:48 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You need to run it with the machine in Safe Mode. I would be willing to bet that you have a lot of spyware issues and/or viruses and they can corrupt the System Restore from working right. First thing you want to do is boot into Safe Mode and run Sys. Rest. then all your virus scan and spyware scanning tools.
This has worked for me. If and when it does work for you what I did after that was a reboot then tested my system. Then shut down and tested a few times. Then I shut off the system restore to let the system purge any corrupted restore points and re-ran the virus and spyware tools and let them delete or clean all infected files. Rebooted one more time then turned Sytem Restore back on and created my first good restore point.
restore point
by maxizth1 - 5/27/05 3:48 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
to start with you are surrounded by a magnetic field since windows became the shell it is totally different from the old windows when it was riding on dos. It may sound strange but it creates copys of programs you install and when you close out of the program the shadow program is still running watch you mouse arrow sometime how it jumps around when you click on a program,its being pulled in another direction it usually happens when it needs a reboot now when you go to restore run it one time and go through the process then go back and restoreagain only this time go back as far as you before you installed any new [programs it should come out ok then.another thing sp2 gives me fits
Norton One Button Checkup Deletes Restore Points
by sgavery - 5/27/05 4:10 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
While One Button Checkup in Norton System Works performs efficiently it does have the tendency to wipe out the restore points Windows creates in System Restore. There is not much that can be done about this other than turning off the One Button Checkup or disabling System Restore and using Norton's "Go Back".
Windows system resotre
by kermidge - 5/27/05 4:15 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I've stopped using system restore altogether. It can be unwieldy and is incomplete.
Although it's manual (unless one writes a script....) I use EruNT and its companion NTRegOpt. They work, they're free, and they are controllable. Your mileage may vary. <g>
System Restore
by WmCohen - 5/27/05 5:04 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The method finally has made my system restore work. Thank you.
Frances P...Win XP system restore problem
by jonjon1946 - 5/27/05 5:11 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Frances.
I have some experience with this problem that may help. First, I go to START>RUN>SFC /SCANNOW. This a a repair/maintenence tool that is built into the OS and you will need the system install disk to execute it. It inspects and repairs/restores critical windows files to their original condition. It should continue from start to finish. If file corruption is the problem this should fix it. It is a good idea to run SFC at least once a week, along with CHKDSK ON START-UP, for maintenence. This will help keep your critical files reliable.
Next. I've found that SYSTEM RESTORE cannot restore the system if there have been any changes, adding or deleting, of applications or new hardware, because the system has been altered between restore points. To correct this always create a restore point immediately preceeding and following making any changes to the system. You may fine it helpful to create a restore point at least twice a week, again for maintenence, to be sure. I hope that you find this information helpful.
You call this a solution?
by Kurt Sanger - 5/27/05 5:46 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I don't get it. How is deleting all previous restore points, and creating a new one that works, fixing the problem of not being able to restore to a previous restore point?
System Restore
by newact45 - 5/27/05 6:00 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Next times you get that the restore did nothing try starting in Safe mode and then go to System Restore,
I have used System Restore and never had that problem, and on about once a month create a new restore point so if you need to restore you will be able to do this without any errors.
Frances P. Windows Ssystem Restore Problem.
by cooky - 5/27/05 6:55 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I am Murray C. and I have worked with computers since 1972. I have had the same problem as you Frances with Windows corrupted System Restore. This has happened to three of my computer now.I have tried all the tricks and ideas other experts have suggested. This included reinstalling Windows XP several times. I have SP1 and SP2 installed.This problem keeps coming back to haunt me. I have found System restore works ok till after I installed SP2. I even Bought a new Computer system and got a new up to date SP2 disk and had it installed. System restore still will not work. I have taken the computer back to the computer store and no one can solve the problem. I do not use or trust Windows Restore System. I keep making good backups of my hard drive. I have talked to many others with the same problem. I hope someone can solve this problem. Good Luck
Right you are
by mondello - 5/31/05 5:32 PM In reply to: Frances P. Windows Ssystem Restore Problem. by cookyYou are 100% right Service pack 2 0n some computer causes the restore problem Larry Mondello www.larry-mondello.com
system restore
by leapline - 5/27/05 9:34 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Just wanted to say Thanks for this article. This happened to me. I never did no what to do about it. I
thought it had something to do with sp2.
MS can't debug Windows XP System Restore
by cdbob - 5/27/05 10:26 PM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If none of the CNET suggestions (which match what Microsoft tech support provides) work to kill those familiar ''can't restore'' error messages, welcome to the club.
I have had repeated problems with XP System Restore for the last two years. It seemed to work fine -- until I installed Norton Systems Works (NSW).
I've worked with several MS support techs via email and after we've gone through all the steps and tests you've listed, and many more besides, they all come to the same conclusions:
a) System Restore will present an error message if it fails to roll back even one registry entry despite being capable of restoring 99.9% of them to match a given restore point. It's all of nothing -- a built-in System Restore fail-safe to avoid further destabilizing your PC environment.
b) All the MS support techs I've worked with unofficially recommend I use GO BACK instead of Sytem Restore since I'm already using a Norton/Symantec product (Systems Works) that impacts registry entries.
c) The next generation of MS Operating System will be dropping the System Restore feature all together.
Personally, I think MS has given up trying to tweak their XP System Restore innovation because Norton/Symantec who owns a competitve product, GO BACK, won't cooperate with MS, or vice versa to iron out their incompatibilities.
My advice, officially since I don't work for MS, is to indeed use GO BACK or another similar product that's created and maintained its niche market because it has improved on the shaky XP System Restore feature.
If you don't use NSW, but use software that similarly speeds performance by changing registry entries, I'd inquire if the same software vendor offers a GO BACK like product. Compatibility becomes less of a problem if your ''restore'' program and your ''registry changing'' software come from the same developer --because the developer of both would have to make sure the two are compatible.
rroberto18
A note about system restore and windows xp sp2:
by joetom - 5/28/05 12:18 AM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi there:
One thing that I do know that could be cause for the error message of "Can't restore and/or can;t create restore point" is that when I was first upgrading to xp sp2 from xp sp1 I had went the support site for the maker of my computer here. Now I have a Compaq Presairo and since Compaq is now owned by HP I had went to support.hp.com and after I went through the steps to tell what kind of computer that I have here along with what operating system that I am running.
Anywway there is a link on the help site that says like "what you need to know before you upgrade to windows xp sp2". I had clisked on that and there was some upgrades listed on there that I needed to download and install on my PC here before I would upgrade to XP XP2.
Anyway one of those upgrades was a system restore upgrade that had to be done before you upgrade to XP SP2. This is because at it says that after you upgrade to XP SP2 from XP1 if you do not have this system restore upgrade you cannot undo a retore point that you may have restored your computer too.
SO if you do have windows xp sp2 and have never done a system restore upgrade that should be available from the maker of your computer. I would say that you should be able to find out if there is system restore upgrade that you may need from the help/support site of the maker of your computer.
And yes I do believe that I have gotten a error message like before too myself here. But I do believe that I had did a system restore to restore my PC here back to like a time before I had upgraded and install xp sp2. Anyway what I had did had messed up my PC here to some degree and if I remember right here now I had to do a standard recovery, but I don't believe that that had really help but made more of a mess and then I did a complete recovery where you would reformat your harddrive and reinstall windows and all of the apps and programs that cmae with your PC, you know to put the pC back just like it had came from the factory when you had first got it.
But these other suggestions here about the system restore being corrupted I guess could also be the cause too. So I guess anything could go wrong and happen to cause you to get a error like this when using the system restore.
So my advice to anyone out there that might be wanting to upgrade to XP SP2 ia DO make sure that you are running windows xp sp1 first and also be sure to goto the help and support site of the maker of your computer to check and see if they have any news on there about things that you might need to know before you upgrade to XP SP2 from XP SP1.
Oh well, hope this is found helpful to someout out there. And now I have thrown in my teo cents worth here. 
LOL
That's it for now. Take care till later.
B4N Joel (aka joetom57 or joetom)
system restore
by tontoe - 5/28/05 3:38 AM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
This is all very well James I've done what you said quite a few times the trouble with it is you lose all your restore points,as I said this has happened to me quite a few times, next time I'me going to try and restore in safe mode because it will happen again.
tontoe
Had the same problem with System Restore
by lungfixer - 5/28/05 7:15 AM In reply to: 5/27/05 Windows System Restore has run astray by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I tried to use System Restore when my computer started ''acting funny'' (I couldn't open MSCONFIG or Task Manager...and all my Norton Systemworks programs wouldn't open either). It happened shortly after installing Adobe ImageReady and Win XP SP2 (still dont know which one mucked everything up), but even after uninstalling Adobe and SP2, the problem continued. I attempted to restore my system to a date prior to the installation of those two programs, but received the exact same error message. I ended up saving what I could, wiped my hard drives (2 80-gig in a RAID-0 configuration) and did a clean reinstall of my Win XP.
So far, everyting is back on my computer (including SP2 and ImageReady) and no problems...although I did purchase an 250 GB external hard drive and saved an image of my C drive after each program install!!
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