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System Restore will not restore

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27 replies

by hutchy80

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I am running Windows XP SR2 and System Restore will not restore to any active restore point, even the most recent date. After selecting a restore point the system reboots with the message "Your system can not be restored to this point - No changes have been made to your computer" As administrator I have given myself access to the 'System Volume Information' folder so I have access to all the 'Snapshots' recorded. Therefore I can replace the appropriate 'Default'-'Sam'-'Security'-'Software' & 'System' files by renaming the HKEY references and replacing the ones in the 'System32\Config' folder from an NTFS-DOS bootup. This usually works, so my question is, why if the 'Restore Points' are there does the Windows Restore Wizard not work. All suggestions welcome, good or bad.
Many thanks, Bob.

27 replies

by jkn1ck

The system has lost all access to previous restore information. This can be caused by a virus deleting all restore information or you could have set a restore point manually. Run a good virus scan to see if the restore points are corrupted.

by hutchy80

Jkn1ck, Thanks for your reply. However, my PC is Virus free it is scanned weekly by Norton 2003 Antivirus. As I said I can see all my restore points (they have not been deleted)nor does Windows report a reason for the Restore failure. You refered to setting a restore point manually - do you mean I selected "Create System Restore Point" in the restore Wizard first window (I did at one point), or do you mean the restore I carried out via a NTFS-DOS or 'Repair Console' boot-up (which was successful)? My settings in 'System Properties'- 'System Restore' tab are all correct and I have stacks of disc space available. Your further comments would be appreciated. Again many thanks in trying to help.
Cheers, Bob

by 3xp3rt

Your can find the answer to your question in My Computer ->Properties->System Restore. Good luck!

by hutchy80

3xp3rt - Thanks for your reply but your answer did not explain. The location you refered to says nothing other than 'System Restore' is set and using an adequate percentage of the drive to store the data. Thanks anyway.
Cheers, Bob

by jodym1

Have you tried running system restore in safe mode? I had that problem. Booting into safe mode and running system restore worked for me.

by hutchy80

jodym - Thanks for your help, I must admit I have not tried running 'Restore' in safe mode. You say it worked for you but did this cure the problem of the 'Restore Wizard' not working. Were you able to use it on a future occasion or did you have to use Safe Mode again ? I need to cure the problem rather than find a work-around. I'm a stickler for having things work the way they are intended to. Your help is appreciated and again thanks for your reply.
Cheers,
Bob

by jodym1

I had to use safe mode to run system restore every time I needed to restore a computer in that network. I got to the point where I would just boot them into safe mode to run system restore.

I just checked Microsoft's site and beyond what you have said you have already done they recommend trying it in safe mode if it won't work in normal mode. I'm sure you have checked to make sure the service is running.

Might be worth a call to Microsoft tech support if you have an afternoon with nothing else to do.

by hutchy80

Thanks again jodym for your prompt reply. Looks like I'm stuck with this, I just hope I don't need to restore anymore (wishful thinking). Like you say though I need to book a vacation to provide the time to speak to Microsoft.
One last thought though, When running Norton Disk Doctor 2003 on Drive 'C' I get an error message saying "Security Descriptors Not Fixed" Setting it to run 'Checkdisk' on reboot doesn't seem to correct this problem either. Is this perhaps related in any way ?
Cheers,
Bob

by jodym1

I had to use safe mode to run system restore every time I needed to restore a computer in that network. I got to the point where I would just boot them into safe mode to run system restore.

I just checked Microsoft's site and beyond what you have said you have already done they recommend trying it in safe mode if it won't work in normal mode. I'm sure you have checked to make sure the service is running.

Might be worth a call to Microsoft tech support if you have an afternoon with nothing else to do.

by jodym1

No clue on this end. Google doesn't have any results for that error and its not one I've ever had before.

However, according to Microsoft's article 831829, an active antivirus scans files during system restore, if it finds anything it thinks is infected it will try to clean it. If it can't clean the file, it will delete the file and system restore won't work. I wonder if you disable the antivirus if system restore will work?

by hutchy80

Thanks Jody,
Had not thought of that, so I will give it a whirl. However, I have never had to disable it before for this but I know an active virus scanner can cripple certain software installations so just maybe it may have the same effect with 'Restore'. If I am sucessful I will submit another posting to that effect.
Thanks for all your help and patience.
Cheers, Bob

by swine

My money is on the virus scanner. If you had a
virus when one of your restore points occurred
then it becomes part of the restore point. The
scanner sees it as infected, quarantines it or
deletes it, breaking the restore point. I've seen
this a few times with different computers. All
you can do is clean it up as good as possible,
delete all restore points and start over. Or
reinstall if its too far gone.

by wlbowers

Just because you have Nortons doesn't mean it is virus free.

Your problem is probably corrupted restore files. It first checks
the crc of the file and will not proceed if that is not valid.

Of course windows always gives you the reason it's pissed off,
Right!

Good Luck

Your gonna need it.

Lee

by smithrodney1936

I've used WinXp for many years and have never gotten System Restore to work. Did restoring in the Safe Mode work for you? I've never tried that. Note: System Restore will work for me if I turn System Restore off, then back on and create a fresh restore point, try it the next day and it will work. However, if allowed to create several restore points over a week or more, won't restore to any point.

Did you finally find a way to make it work?

by pobstar19

I'm having the same problem since I use Windows XP Pro SP. I'm glad to know that I could restore in safe mode. Thank's for the tips.

I'm using a two partitions hard drive in Raid-0. May be this could make system restore unable to handle the "C" drive and the "D" drive were are all the current programs that I use daily. Does that have a sense ?

by badshave

try this mate..it workeD for me
Delete all restore points , use the Disk Cleanup utility. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories,System Tools,
and then Disk Cleanup. Click on the more options tab and then select Clean up in the System Restore dialog box.
To delete all the restore points on your computer, disable and re-enable system restore on the system.
Click Start, Control Panel, and then the System icon.
Click on the System Restore tab in the dialog box, select the Turn off System Restore check box,
and click Apply. Clear the check box again to re-enable System Restore and then click OK.

by davidgc

(Replying to this very old post because this page is the first to appear in a Google search on the phrase "system restore will not work.")

If you use a Symantec (Norton) anti-virus / security application (as this user did), it will prevent System Restore from functioning properly.

The problem is caused by the anti-virus software preventing any other application (in this case, System Restore) from making any changes to its files. When System Restore is unable to change the files in order to restore the system to its previous state, it aborts the process, reboots the system, and generates the "restoration incomplete" error.

In this case, the solution is to disable the "Norton Product Tamper Protection" option in the anti-virus program's settings. (NOTE: Simply turning off the anti-virus protection is NOT sufficient, as it is not the normal virus protection portion of the application that prevents the system restoration.) If you wish, the tamper protection option can be reactivated after the system restore is complete.

This issue is detailed at the following page (which will attempt to print itself):
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/sharedtech.nsf/pfdocs/2005113009323013

I have been struggling with this problem for awhile, and only just discovered today the above solution, which finally solved the problem I had.

by johnvw

At last, a response that works. I've been fighting this problem for the last few months and had not found anything to correct it. I tried your solution and IT WORKED!

John

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