Start Windows System Restore from a command prompt

How often have you performed a Windows System Restore from a command prompt? Typically, when would you need to Start System Restore from a command prompt?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/start-system-restore-from-a-command-prompt

I have read somewhere that if Malware will not allow you to boot to Safe Mode, you can try to do a Windows System Restore from the command prompt.

Please share your experiences.

Thanks in Advance.

 

The problem with that is often malware will lock the restore points so System Restore is more than normally useless. If one is able to get to the command prompt, just typing "explorer" gets to a desktop and should allow any malware to be removed from there.

 

Thank you.

 

I've never needed to use the commandline option for System Restore. In my experience if SAFE mode is going to work at all I can get to the desktop. If SAFE mode doesn't work then I fall back on an optical boot disk. With Windows 7 I use an OS disk which will boot to the repair options and SR can be accessed there. With XP I use something like the Kaspersky rescue CD which does a good job of removing malware that prevents the system from booting.

 

Agree with you that boot disks are nice, but I can't (and don't want to) count the times that friends/family have called me at 3AM (do Time Zones mean nothing to them?) because they will have some form of Ransonware or other. And the one thing I can be sure of is that they've never heard or seen of a startup disk.

Command prompt-explorer- regedit to kill the startup entry and Windows Explorer to delete the file in Roaming will allow me to get back to sleep in a jif.

 

Thank you.

 

Dang, you answer your phone at 3AM?

 

Just a forenote regarding system restore exclusively on Windows 8, dunno but maybe 7 too.

Unlike XP, System Restore is strickly reliant on VSS, commonly referred to as Volume Shadow Copy for it's restore points. Been experimenting with malware lately and if users of 8 depend too heavily on just system restore (and the unlearned usually do) and a malware targets successfully either the vss. file or bugs up the VSS service in any way, it may become neccesssary to do at least a REFRESH to fix it again but the restore points will be erased.

 

That is another reason to justify making routine Images of the Windows System Partition.