Windows System Restore (Win XP Pro)

Hi,

I´m thinking about using WSR to fix a problem, but does anyone have any experience with it? Can it screw up your system? Should I uninstall all software installed after a certain WSR image date? And I won´t loose any data, right? TIA

 

A little experience only a few years ago, having used it once and it was successful. It is not guaranteed, though. I have had it disabled ever since, using ATI instead to restore images if something goes wrong and I can't fix it. There is more on WSR here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_restore.htm

 

System Restore only restores certain files and registry entries, but its worth a shot for troubleshooting.

BTW for your reading pleasure: Wikipedia - System Restore

 

I use system restore to restore programs that get messed up due to updates gone wrong, small stuff like that. For big stuff like getting locked out (not even safe mod and so on) I use Acronis Backups (with rescue disk to get to Acronis, then I use backup to restore).

 

with windows system restore,if it work flawles it fix most any problems but the real nagging is that's not always work as expected,thru the years on many machines there where too many times i got stuck with system restore,so for me the main reason to choose a reliable imaging program.

 

Thanks for the info, and of course I´ve already read about it, but I wanted to hear some opinions. For me the most important thing is that it won´t screw up my system, I do not want to completely reinstall my system yet. I mean what if the restore doesn´t work, will I at least get my old system back?

 

I had to use Windows System Restore once after I tinkered in the registry and messed up some stuff. I had no problems and my Word and Excel files remained intact. But people are understandably reluctant to tell you to definitely try it because there are no guarantees. (I do understand your concern.)

One more thing: It's not clear what your "problem" is. If your "problem" is malware, then using WSR is not the answer because the malware could have infected your WSR files as well.

 

IMHO WSR is not something to rely upon much.it failed on me quite a few times.

these times now there better solutions like imaging and isr programs.

 

Hi,

It´s not malware related, I have a problem with Gadwin Printscreen (the bastards didn´t even respond to me, so don´t buy the Pro version ), something went wrong during uninstall (probably caused by my HIPS), and now both the old and new version (reinstalled several times) will crash when I click "printscreen".

Restoring the registry with ERUNT didn´t help, so apparently the problem is a bit more serious. Seems like I will have to do a complete OS reinstall (which I´m planning to do anyway, but I´m not ready yet), or perhaps WSR can solve it, so let´s see how good this thing is.

 

By all means try it! If it does not work it will just pop up a screen that say no files were restored. System Restore DOES NOT WORK most of the time but when it does your home free. Your problems end. So I would give it a try but remember its a long shot.

 

Rasheed,

This probably doesn't pretain to your Gadwin Printscreen problem but I thought I would throw it out there just in case.

I have Gadwin on my systems and only recently started having Gadwin crash whenever I tried to copy an image. The program would run but would shut down if I tried to copy an image. I just happened to remember that a while before the problem started I had changed Windows DEP from Opt-in to Opt-out. I never got any indication from DEP that it was stopping Gadwin from running, etc, but as soon as I enetered Gadwin into the DEP exclusion list everything was back to normal with Gadwin.

I have since changed back to Opt-in for DEP because if I am not going to get a pop-up or anything when a program fails due to DEP then it is just one more thing that can cause me to have to have to try and figure out why a program may not work. A little trade off between security and convenience. My other security programs will have to take up the slack.

Sorry if this post is a little off topic from Windows System Restore.

 

He may or may not be speaking from personal experience, but outside that "experience", there is simply no reason for such claims. My own experience includes hundreds of successful uses. Actually, system restore does usually work, and it's far more successful than a "long shot".

It's possible that your problems are beyond the capability of system restore to correct. If so, it will likely let you know when you attempt to use it. When you finish the restore, a new restore point is created that permits you to undo the restore.

In the hands of someone using it straight, as it should be used, and not trying to do a bunch of additional things, it's pretty well foolproof and reversible.

 

Yes but this is also a personal experience,and if it works well for you,great.
Question is the quantifying of results and experiences used by millions of users if to say anything meaningfull about system restore's usebility.
as far as i know there are no investigations done sofar,so the real worth of this module stays obscure.

 

The question at hand isn't regarding the "real worth" of "this module", unless it's an attempt to alter the focus of the thread. The OP, having no other alternatives other than a reinstall, wants to know if system restore is going to screw up his system. Since the design and purpose is to rescue rather than screw up, and has for a significant period of time, the onus is on you to demonstrate deviation from that expectation.

I take it, since my recommendation is to use the system restore feature, then your recommendation is to forget it and reinstall?

 

A reinstall is sometimes the only option,after screwing up badly but that was not something i hint at.[see post 8 in this thread].I assume that the OP who is known for testing malware in VM should know the many options at hand to restore his OS's to a clean slate,at least he is a longtime member here at wilders an naturally in the course of time most anyone here run or confronted with the issue '' how to restore to the last known good configuration '' and SR is one of the many options at hand,and not the best one in my experience !

If RS was bullitproof then there should be no need for the endless imaging/backup/virt. solutions in excistence today.

Eventually my message is,if RS works, use it to your convenience but keep a second solution at hand in case RS fail for whatever reason.

Huub.

 

Hi Firebytes,

A bit of a late reply, but I just wanted to say that you the man! I can´t believe how stupid I was, because months ago I saw the same behavior with SnagIt and a newer version of Gadwin PS on my VM. Plus I should have just asked the question on this forum. But because the older version never gave me any problems I thought I had screwed it up myself. And apparently I was using an even older version than the one I was trying to install. But anyway, I have put it in the DEP exclusion list and it works just fine again. I´m really happy and I didn´t even have to use WSR.

 

I've used SR dozens ofd times and it usually (>90% of the time) works great. if it doesn't, it'll leave your system untouched, and if it doesn't fix the problem, you can always undo the restore.

Pre-SP1 System Restore was a spotty util but SP1 upgraded it's reliability and I've used it ever since.

 

The only thing I learned about WSR was, how to disable it.
If you can't boot in Windows anymore due to a BSOD, WSR can't help you anymore.

 

Because it is not supposed to do so.

 

Glad I could help Rasheed.

 

On my Real Hard drive (the other four are for other household users/internet/testing purposes [ yes, I am selfish in that I keep and maintain a high quality drive for my own personal use, but one is forced to do so to insure a minimum integrity-level for "enterprise purposes"-- so to speak]). I keep a detailed log of all programs and dates installed ect. all proceeded with a restore point well documented with Microsoft's description function for each particular restore.

On the few occasions I have had to use the restore function I check the log carefully to see if any programs may be in conflict and if they seem to be then I uninstall the suspected culprit before restoring. It has always worked good using this method for me.

On other drives the restore function has been able to restore without uninstalling anything and it saved the time to restore an image of the partition. Occasionally, on multi-boot configurations it has not worked out (too many drive letters or other arcane aspects ect.).

So over all I would say that it is a worth while way to regain the functionality after a mishap of some unforeseen sort.

As for loosing data one should have a separate data partition that is regularly backed up. If you do not have a dedicated data partition then I would back up all data before using the restore function (data is much too valuable to loose for any reason).

If You can not boot up or if you get a 'blue screen of death' , or other hang-up, than Microsoft's F8's "Use last good configuration" has been a real life saver many times.

Hope you do not have to use either of them.

I use XP Pro but XP home has been able to recover just as well as the Pro version.