Tweaking.com Support Forums
Main Forum => Tweaking.com Support & Help => Topic started by: oldgray1938 on March 08, 2017, 01:00:09 pm
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Does the registry backup option produce a copy that is a duplicate of the create restore point in the Windows 10 protection process? When I used create a restore point in Windows 1o Pro the restore point recovery does not work. The restore operation with this program seems to work. Any comments or insights with regard to this question/issue.
Thanks
oldgray1938
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I've found that when you use the program's create a restore point, it doesn't create one and you are better off using the registry back up.
You can check this by using the program to create a restore point and then go into System Protection/Restore where you'll see no new corresponding restore point was created.
I've broached this with Shane, but wasn't sure I'd gotten my point over from his answer which was to use the registry back up.
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I can create restore points but when I go to use a restore point I get a message "
System Restore did not complete successfully. Your computer's system files and settings were not changed.
Details:
System restore failed while restoring the directory from the restore point.
Source: AppxStaging
Destination: %ProgramFiles%\WindowsApps
An unspecified error occurred during System Restore
Multiple tries produce the same response. You can try System Restore again and choose a different restore point. If you
continue to see this error, you can try an advanced recovery method
Even creating a new restore point and then immediately trying to recover with this new restore point fails with the above message.
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Are those restore points created by the program or manually by you ?
Usually the prime reason why a restore operation fails is because of an antivirus program blocking it.
The workaround to that is to try the restore in Safe Mode where all 3rd party programs are isolated.
You can either do that by booting to Safe Mode through the program or go in through Settings/Update & security/Recovery and use the Restore function from there.
However, yours is a different problem and in a Google search it has been found that January's update KB3213986 could be the cause of this.
While I've seen a couple of fixes by taking ownership of WindowsApps and renaming it to .old, the way I would approach this would be to perform a repair install, checking the box for not to search for updates during the process.
The updates will then auto download and install after the repair install and a reinstall of that update may resolve.
I've just done a system restore on my other Win 10 laptop and get the same error as you but with the error code 0x80070091.
I'm going to perform a repair install on that machine and will get back to you on the result.
A repair install doesn't affect your personal stuff or installed programs.
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Answers to your questions:
1-The restore points were created both manually by me and automatically by the system. In fact as a test I manually created a restore point and after its creation changing nothing on the pc attempted a restore and still got the error info shown in an above message.
2-This program is installed on my three computers. The same antivirus program Trendmicro is also on all three pc's. I am having problems on only my Windows 10 Pro pc. The other work fine with the ability to use restore points to recover from my screwups. I have never had to turn off Trend on the other pc's.
3-I tried safe mode but the restore capability is not available in safe mode.
4-Again this restore capability is not available in Safe mode.
5-Not sure about your comments on this one .
6-I saw the suggestions for this one. There are actually three things to try. Two did not work and who ever posted them one was not complete. Was unable to rename WindowsApps to WindowsApps.old. If this had worked then the next reboot of the pc would have resulted in the rebuild of WindowsApps?
7-The repair install is above my skill level and will wait till my buddy visits.
Thanks for the info
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Update -
The repair install had no effect so I phoned MS Support who after showing him my error message proceeded to open a Command Prompt (Admin) and take own of the WindowsApps folder.
He then created a batch file to rename it to .old and then left me while I performed another system restore with a promise to phone me back in 20mins or so.
~40 mins has gone without any call back so far.
This one also failed with the same error message.
I had a look at the batch file he left on my desktop but wondering if he left something off in the final cmd - I'll get him to look at that if/when he gets back.
He wasn't aware of any reports about this and says anything to do with Windows Updates would need to be elevated and I had to persuade him that it was OS specific and not computer specific.
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Boggin,
If you ever get a call back with a solution please email me so we can both be working with a PC where restore points work. I have been trying everything for three months when I realized restore points were not working on my Windows 10 Pro PC. Right now my only solution is to do a full image restore with my Ease US TODO backup program.
Thanks in advance.
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That guy didn't call back yesterday so I phoned up this morning but she was working on the premise that it was computer specific and not OS specific.
Anyway, after she'd run a dism /scanhealth, /checkhealth and a /restorehealth - all of which came back clean, she then suggested a repair install.
I told her I'd already done one yesterday but she proceeded to download the ISO.
I then made my point that it wasn't machine specific with others getting the same problem and that it should be elevated and let them try it, as it had been proven to be as a consequence of January's update.
Given all I'd done and she had done without resolution, she chucked the towel in and agreed to elevate it.
Getting a call back tomorrow afternoon.
I asked her to try a restore point on her own Win 10 machine and she'd get the same error as everyone else has.
In the meantime I've restored the machine with an external image - reinstalled Norton Security and now waiting for a new system image to complete - it always takes hours on that machine.
I'm then going to boot up into the advanced boot options to select Command Prompt and enter the cmds as in Fix #5 of this article, substituting UserDomain for the full name of my laptop and UserName for my admin name.
http://borncity.com/win/2017/02/22/windows10-version-1607-system-restore-error-0x80070091/
You can get the full name of the machine by right clicking on This PC and selecting Properties.
I don't know when I'll be able to test them as there's still about a 3rd left to go on the image progress bar.
If you want to give them a go, to find which partition Windows sees your volume in before you enter the cd cmd, enter -
bcdedit |find "osdevice" which will give the partition letter to use in the cd cmd.
Just to clarify, that's a Pipe symbol before find and is the uppercase of \
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Update -
The cd C:\Program Files didn't change anything in the WPE Cmd Prompt but worked in a normal Cmd Prompt (Admin).
I was able to do the takeown and icacls cmds but got an Access Denied for the attrib cmd and a file not found for the rename.
I then tried to delete the folder with rd /s WindowsApps as in the article and while it scrolled all the way through the files, each gave an Access Denied.
It's too late here in the UK for me to try the restore operation but will give it another go tomorrow - but not holding out much hope though.
Hope you have better luck with the cmds.
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Success !
That restore point failed as I'd expected so I went back into the WPE Command Prompt and entered c: then entered cd Program Files
As I'd already done the cmds to take ownership and grant permissions, I just did the attrib unhide and rename cmds which were successful this time.
Entered exit to close the cmd window, shut down then rebooted and did the restore which came back as successful.
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Boggin,
We tried to follow what you indicated but were unsuccessful. We were not able to take control and the and get WindowsApps either renamed to WindowsApps.old or to delete it. Could you please post a step by step of exactly what you did to get rid of Windowsapps so on the next boot Window re created a clean WindowsApps folder without the troublesome sub-folders. We keep getting a message that there is a file in use so the operation could not be completed.
At this time, our plan for my friends next visit is to pull the SSD c drive from my old ASUS PC and stick it into an external USB drive slot so it will look like just a data drive and then try to delete the WindowsApps folder. If that works we will then return the drive to my old ASUS PC and reboot with hopefully a new clean WindowsApps folder with all of its sub folders less the one causing my problem. Should that work we will create a dummy restore point and then try to recover it cleanly.
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First, open Windows Explorer - right click on This PC and select Properties where you will see the full computer name.
You will need this for the icacls cmd - mine is KAM4-TOSH on this machine.
However, that cmd didn't work on this machine but did on my other upgraded Win 10 laptop.
The cmds need to be run from the WPE Command Prompt.
To get there, press and hold SHIFT throughout a Restart - click on Troubleshoot - Advanced options - Command Prompt
Then enter these cmds - noting the space before the / and substituting your username etc. for my KAM4 etc.
c:
cd Program Files
takeown /f WindowsApps /r /d Y
(This cmd should produce a Success as it scrolls through the WindowsApps folder).
icacls WindowsApps /grant "%KAM4-TOSH%\%KAM4%":(F) /t
attrib WindowsApps -h
rename WindowsApps WindowsApps.old
exit
Then use the back arrows to shut down and then reboot to try the restore point if the cmds were all successful.
You can create a manual restore point before or after you have completed these cmds - I did mine before I started.
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We will try and let you know how we made out using your instructions. If we have to resort to pulling my c SSD and treating it as a data drive ie windows. Once inside hopefully we can delete the Windowsapps folder. If we do this I will let you know how it went.
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Hi Boggin
Well I got gutsy and tried what you sent me the WindowsApps was renamed to WindowsApps.old. There is no WindowsApps folder in the Programs Files main folder. Rebooted the system created a test restore point and then tried to restore that test point. Same old message , system restore failed nothing changed. Also tried to delete the WindowsApps.old but that also failed. Not sure what to try next except pulling the C drive and placing it in an external USB drive and then deleting WindowsApps.old.
Any one have other ideas to solve this problem?
oldgray1938
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Going by what it says in the right pane of this article, I don't think there is anything tangible to get hold of - https://www.file-extensions.org/pri-file-extension-microsoft-windows-compiled-resources-file
The MS tech was unable to find WindowsApps in Program Files either.
You can however, open Windows Explorer - This PC - Wndows(C) - Program Files and enter WindowsApps or WindowsApps.old into the top right search box.
Unfortunately, the .old doesn't produce a folder but lists every app like it did in the takeown cmd.
You can right click on each and select Delete, but I haven't checked to see if Windows will let you delete them - but given how many there are, you would have your work cut out.
Those that came up with just the search on WindowsApps produced two but not very big in size.
I had some updates on the KAM4 machine and am in the process of trying a restore on that one should the updates incorporated a fix, but it's just hung on Preparing to restore your system....
If it ever gets to the end it will probably give me the same error code.
For now it's probably best to just stick with the registry back up in Windows Repair or create system images onto external media.
EDIT - The restore has frozen now so it looks like I've got some work of my own :(
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Something strange going on...
I left Windows Explorer to go to other forums and when I was logging out of those as a prelude to shutting down, I came back to Windows Explorer and the files search to find WindowsApps.old just sitting there on its own so I right clicked on it and selected Delete.
It looked like it was going ahead with it but soon got the pop up that I'd need admin permission as it belonged to me ???
Anyway, I cancelled that and went into the WPE and selected Command Prompt
Entered -
c:
cd Programs Files
rd /s WindowsApps.old
Entered y when prompted and after a little while, it returned to the next prompt.
I entered exit to close the cmd window and used the option to shutdown.
Rebooted and did the search for WindowsApps.old which returned not found, so it looks like I was able to remove mine.
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Here is what I am attempting now:
Step 1-I have created a full image using Easetodo v10 Home, sector by sector option, WindowsApps is no longer hidden per your instructions
Step 2-I have created a full image with WindowsApps had to use sector by sector, bad news the image still contained WindowsApps, back to square one.
Step 3-Now trying a file backup but I expect that not to be good since it is not backing up the unnamed partition. However, the exclusion did work in file mode. Now to try a restore with the unnamed partition missing. This will require a reboot so I will post this now and send another post after the restore.
Fingers crossed.
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File backup was worthless.
System transfer does not work in this case since we really want the WindowsApps ignored. Unable to set exclusions.
I am now trying once more disk/partition backup with WindowsApps excluded in the exclusions options. The exclusion option does not seem to work. Need to contact Ease UsTo and see what they say.
Would like to find a way to blow away WindowsApps
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It sounds like you are making life difficult for yourself - have you tried what I did ?
I thought it was WindowsApps.old you are trying to get rid of ?
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Yes I tried what you posted. Got as far as the renaming of the WindowsApps to Windowsapps.old. I rebooted the system to see if windows would recreate the WindowsApps folder with all of the 1000 plus sub folders and all of the thousands of folder and files. The only thing I had was WindowsApps.old. There was no new WindowsApps created by Windows
It is impossible to delete the WindowsApps.old as I get a message that there is a file in use and the delete will not work.
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I've had problems with MS System Restore going back as far as Win XP. My Win 10 solution is to use an easy whole drive backup software program. I have found that Macrium Reflect does the job.
My first concern in doing a backup of an operating system is that I want to be completely out of the operating system that I am backing up. Win 10 does not allow you to even look at a file that is in use - much less to copy that file. So the first thing Macrium does is to ask you to create a CD or flash drive to boot from - the flash drive boots twice as fast as the CD version. So you can be completely out of Win 10 to do both a backup and restore of the entire C drive. Incidently Win 10 has 2 hidden drives that should always be backed and restored with drive C.
I have 3 additional logical hard drives that are on the same physical drive as C. All the logical hard drives can be backedup and restored independently of each other.
What about backup time? Macrium allows you to do something called an incremental backup. So the first backup of a drive takes the longest - one hour, 15 minutes for my smaller C drive. The second backup backs up only the changes to the C drive. Now Microsoft is constantly creating and deleting log files. So the C drive has a lot of activity. But my second and successsive backups take about 11 minutes, which includes the time need to verify that all the information was copied correctly. My D drive takes about 3 minutes - including the verify.
My other option is to backup the registry using the tweaking.com program. I have some issues here and will write up another entry. P.S. I always do a tweaking.com registry restore using the Windows Recovery Console because it is run outside of Win 10 on the C drive.
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Yes I tried what you posted. Got as far as the renaming of the WindowsApps to Windowsapps.old. I rebooted the system to see if windows would recreate the WindowsApps folder with all of the 1000 plus sub folders and all of the thousands of folder and files. The only thing I had was WindowsApps.old. There was no new WindowsApps created by Windows
It is impossible to delete the WindowsApps.old as I get a message that there is a file in use and the delete will not work.
You should be able to delete the WindowsApps.old folder as I had in the WPE Command Prompt.
The reason you may not be able to find the new WindowsApps folder is because it is hidden.
Go back into the WPE Command Prompt and enter these cmds -
c:
cd Program Files
attrib WindowsApps -h
attrib WindowsApps.old -h
rd /s WindowsApps.old
exit
Continue to Win 10 and search for WindowsApps
If the remove cmd works, then you can also search for the .old to confirm it has gone.
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I followed your procedure in going from WindowsApps to WindowsApps.old. The problem I encountered when trying to delete WindowsApps.old was an error message saying it could not delete the folder since there was a file in the Windows.old folder that was in use. I will try what you recommended once more but I expect to get the same result. Keep you posted.
Paul
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There shouldn't be anything open in the .old folder and especially in the WPE.
What you could do is to repeat the rename cmd but reversed such as -
rename WindowsApps.old WindowsApps
That way you should just have the original and then you could try the rename cmd again to see if you have success in removing the .old version then.
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OK finally redid per your instructions and got windowsapps renamed again to windowsapps.old. the rd command removed windowsapps.old. With windowsapps.old gone there was no windowsapps in the programs files folder. The system did not recreate the windowsapps folder. Examining the apps under all programs there were very few apps available six in all. Next I copied the windowsapps folder from my clean PC to the one that had the problems with the system restore points. Now located in the programs folder a folder from my other PC. However, the numbers of available apps is minimal. All I have available are six apps where before the problem there were at least 42. The apps on the system where I copied the windowsapps from shows 42 available.
Not sure how to populate the apps in Windowsapps. Well so far the restore point seems to be working.
Thanks
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Did you shutdown then reboot after removing the .old folder and did you not do the attrib WindowsApps -h cmd after, as the folder is hidden.
When you did the restore, did that take you back to before you copied the folder over from the other computer or do you have a restore point that will ?
I think the Windows Repair program should repopulate the folder when it does the store repair.
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I did a shutdown and reboot.
Nope I would have had to drop back more than 3 months to ensure a clean restore point.
After the clean out of Wwindowsapps restore points worked going forward. Prior to today restore points did not work period.
Going to try windows repair program but first create a restore point.
Here goes!
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Yes I know - it sounds like a Catch 22 with restore points if they will work.
Rather than trusting to restore points I'd create a system image onto external media, but the program will auto create a registry back up prior to running the repairs, although you can do that manually to be sure.
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Hi once more. Ran the Tweak repair it did not fix the problem. I am not able to select default apps from each apps' drop down menu. Not sure what to try next. I actually have an image from before I started all of this where restore points did not work but I could recover an image. Have to see what my friend suggests. If you have any other ideas that I could try to get the default apps changed to what I want and to get the 43 apps showing as available.
Thanks for all of you ideas so far.
Paul
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I'd use the system image and then go through the procedure again to rename WindowsApps to .old and then delete .old - you've had plenty of practice :)
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Once we delete the windowsapps.old folder and reboot the computer is windows supposed to create a new windowsapps folder and repopulate it as though it were a new install? I never got at new Windowsapps folder.
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When I put a search in for WindowsApps I'm no longer getting a single entry of the folder but reams upon reams of files which appear to be dynamic with the list refreshing, so I would assume mine has been created and repopulated.
I don't know why yours isn't.
You could open a Command prompt (Admin) and enter these cmds to see if it will reinstate it -
dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup
This can take a while to run.
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
This one appears to hang at 20% but will complete.
sfc /scannow
To see if it reports any file corruption and then see if you have your WindowsApps folder back.
However, if they don't do it then I'd use your system image so that you are starting from scratch.
If you had done the rename cmd in reverse as I'd suggested before deleting the .old you would have had the original back.
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OK here is when I am right now. After going through many reworks I found that my system image grew from ~62/GB to 92 which was crazy. I ran a program WinDirStat to try to figure out where the files grew by over 30 GB. Could not determine what grew. I have now gone back to the last image from the 15th which was only ~62 GB. Restored that image and then removed the WindowsApps folder completely following your instructions. There is no Windowsapps folder but when you look under programs there is an apps section with five apps. Must be a default setting of Windows 10. The five apps Contact, Cortana, Microsoft Edge, Settings and Connect. These work when you click on them. There are seven others that have white icons. If you click on these icon nothing happens.
I have found by searching the net via Google a website with instructions on how to repopulate WindowsApps. The address of the site is www.download3k.com/articles/How-to-Restore-the-Store-App-Windows-10-after-removing-it-01404. They have three methods on how to do it. I expect to try method 3. This one calls for using a Windows ISO disc. I will keep you posted on how it goes.
Have a nice weekend.
Paul
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That 3rd one is a repair install.
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This time I followed your note to the letter. Everything completed without finding or fixing any errors.
I guess we will try option 3 on Monday.
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Okay - hope it works.
I've occasionally done a repair install on my other upgraded Win 10 laptop when it didn't seem to be running as it should.
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Well here is the latest. I deleted all of the folders under Windowsapps. Next I copied the folders under the WindowsApps from my healthy ASUS Windows Home Premium to the WindowsApps of the sick computer. I am using that one now. I went through a refresh and reboot. When the system came up there were icons under the Apps icon under programs and when I clicked on a number of the ones that I would be interested in using they actually executed.
Afterwards I had done a few things I should not have and had to do a recovery from my last EaseUsToDo image. On the image there were two partitions C and an unnamed partition. As an experiment, instead of doing a recovery, I opted for a System Transfer. At the end of the transfer there is now only the C partition on the PC. Need to check with my computer expert friend coming here today if I really should do a recovery not a transfer so that the unnamed partition is on the boot hard drive.
Now running your tweaking program to see if I screwed anything up in the last few days.
Thanks for you help,
Paul
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Was that a 450MB recovery partition that you got rid of - Win 10 puts that on.
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Yes I think so but I have never had the occasion to use it nor do I know how to use it. Right now only a C partition on the drive. So far windows has not put it back on the drive.
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That 450MB partition allows you to go into the recovery environment should you need to repair your system.
http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-delete-the-450-mb-recovery-partition-in-windows-10/
I don't know if a repair install will reinstate it but I would advise you to restore with the image which will put it back on.
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Well here is the latest. Tried to see if restore points were working. Tested a restore point created with no changes.
Next tried to use that restore point to recovery to less than five minutes old. Got the same old error message that the restore failed due to problem with WindowsApps.
Next tried to delete all old restore points by disabling restore points. Rebooted the system and then created a new restore point and then attempted to use that restore point. System restore failed again with the same error pointing to the Windowsapps again.
Now creating an image of C only since that is all that is there. Once done I will try a recovery of only C as my means of saving my but. Till Microsoft fixes the WindowsApps problem I will use the long and safe method to recover. What i do for recovery is copy the image from the storage drive on my Diskstation to an internal Raptor drive and then recovery using EaseUStodo Home v10. Sending this now since when I reboot this will be lost.
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You don't want to overwrite your previous image until you have restored with it to get the 450MB recovery partition back.
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OK followed your advise. Now have the 450 MB partition back on the drive, WindowsApps work but restore points do not work. Will wait on trying to fix restore points next week. When the restore points fail the error message points to Windowsapps.
At the very least now I can do a full image recovery and forget about restore points.
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You can use Option 5 in Windows Repair to create registry back ups and restore from those if required, but regular system images onto external media are always the best fall back.
Having restored from an image that pre-dates the WindowsApps renaming will set you back to where the restore points will fail and citing that as the cause.