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Didn't Fix Windows Restore Problems
jcjules:
Thanks for the effort, but your Beta didn't work for me. When I installed Roxio NXT, it included a program "BackOnTrack 4". BackOnTrack 4 tried to replace Windows Restore as the means of creating restore points and making system images. Unfortunately, BackOnTrack didn't install corrrectly - and it ended up making both itself and Windows Restore inoperative. In Control Panel/System, I am able to turn "on" Restore for my system drive (an SSD), but when I go into Control Panel/Backup Restore and try to open System restore, it tells me (incorrectly) that Restore is not turned on for any drive. Before the problem with BackOnTrack, I had multiple Windows Restore Points - as well as Image Backups. Unfortunately, when I try to Restore from them - I get an error message saying that the system could not boot from the restore image - so the system is being returned to its original state. I get the same error, when I run Restore from my emergency Windows disk. Bottom line is that Windows Restore is completely inoperative in terms of creating new backups, or restoring from old ones - and your utility didn't appear to have any impact at all. Thanks for trying. Anybody got any ideas?
Shane:
The beta repair right now just puts some reg keys back and fixes some file permissions. Yours sounds like it is broken much deeper.
Lets dig in and see what we can find, perhaps I can find something to add to the repair :-)
What version of Windows are you on currently?
Shane
jcjules:
Hi Shane: It's great to talk to the "big dog". OK here are some additional details. I run Windows 7, 64 bit. My system files are on a 240 GB SSD drive, with all program and data files on a pair of 2 TB SATA drives. Before this problem, I used Windows Restore to create a restore point before installing new software, and otherwise, every 30-60 days. In addition, I used BackOnTrack 3 to create a complete image of my C and D drives every 30 - 60 days. The installation problem with BackOnTrack 4 occurred 11/21/12. When I first recognized the problem, I thought that I had only an installation problem - I was unaware that it had caused underlying problems with Windows Restore. So, for the next 6 weeks, I traded emails with Roxio Support trying to get BackOnTrack 4 to uninstall and re-install correctly. A few days ago, I got the idea of re-setting my system files back to 11/21/12 and starting "clean." When I went to Windows Restore, it said that Restore was turned off on all drives. After turning Restore on (in Control Panel/Systems), I created a Restore Point. When I went to Windows Restore, however, it said that that day's Restore POint was the only one that existed. Windows could not see the dozens of other Restore POints that I had created prior to 11/21/12. I went to my E hard drive and confirmed that I still had a 560 GB Windows Image folder from my prior backups - but Windows couldn't see it. I tried booting from my Windows Emergency Disk, System Restore. That disk was able to see the Image Files on my E drive, but when I selected and restored a system date prior to 11/21/12, I got an error message saying that Windows could not re-boot with the new settings, and so the computer had been restored to its original condition - with no changes. I had the same results with my BackOnTrack 3 images. When I restored a system image prior to 11/21/12, the system could not re-boot, and so the changes were deleted and the system was restored to its original condition. So, I have dozens of system images - but none of them will work to re-set the system to before the 11/21/12 problem. Unless you have a better idea, my plan for today was to uninstall all of the Roxio/BackonTrack programs - including the prior versions that were working correctly - to see if the uninstall programs will do anything to re-set the Windows Restore registry errors. If that doesn't work, I'm frustrated enough with this problem to simply format my SSD drive and reinstall Windows. I know that that means that I will have to reinstall all of my programs, but, since all of my data is still secure on my D and E drives, it may be the easiest way to GUARANTEE that my OS is working correctly. Suggestions?
Shane:
Before you do a fresh reinstall a repair install may work and keep all your programs.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html
But lets wait on doing that.
First lets see if this is a system restore problem or a problem with the old restore points instead.
Can you create a new restore point and if you can then try to restore the new point that was just created?
If you can then system restore is fine and the problem will be with the restore points instead.
Shane
jcjules:
Dear Shane:
I went to Control Panel/Systems and tried to creat a Restore Point. The "creating restore point" window opened - and ran for 15 minutes - with no progress noted on the progress bar. In the past, it has taken less than a minute to create a restore point, so I'm pretty sure that the Restore process is not working correctly. I used "ctrl""alt"del" to stop the process after 15+ minutes.
So, if we assume that the "Restore" process itself is what is corrupted, what options do I have to get it working again?
Thanks also for the advice regarding a "repair" option. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that my Windows 7 disk will allow that option. I bought this machine as a custom build and the seller delivered a Windows 7 disk marked "Intended for distribution with a new PC" and the brochure that came in the case describes it as "OEM" software. As I understand your article, the OEM will do a clean install, but not a repair. Right? By the way, if I have to do a clean install, am I going to have an activation problem with Microsoft - when I try to activate a product that has already been activated? Do I need to do something special to de-activate the currrent OS before I attempt to re-install from the disk?
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