What does 'System Restore' do?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Howdy All,

I'm looking for a definitive answer on System Restore.

1) Does it 'restore' the registry to that date, cleanup ALL references added
since then?

2) Will it level files intact which were added since that date (i.e. docs,
PDFs, etc.)?

3) Does it remove programs installed since that date?

Thanks and sorry for my ignorance!

Brian

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Brian wrote:
> Howdy All,
>
> I'm looking for a definitive answer on System Restore.
>
> 1) Does it 'restore' the registry to that date, cleanup ALL references added
> since then?

Yes, it restores the registry. It is possible that some references in
the current user portion of the registry will remain.

> 2) Will it level files intact which were added since that date (i.e. docs,
> PDFs, etc.)?

It will not touch your documents.

> 3) Does it remove programs installed since that date?

Partially, although some things may be left behind if they are files or
locations not monitored by System Restore.

For additional info on System Restore, see the following articles:

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding System Restore in Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/p [...] srwxp.mspx

Understanding System Restore
http://www.microsoft.com/resources [...] stand.mspx
--
Tom Porterfield
MS-MVP Windows
http://support.telop.org

Please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup only.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Ok, while we are not the subject, would everybody think I'm mad if I
said that RESTORE once deleted my data files? I swear it happened, and
after that I removed a couple of partitions from the SYSTEM RESTORE
drive list (whatever it's properly called).

If SYSTEM RESTORE is supposed to touch primarily system files, I can't
help but wonder why it would want to look at drives that are not system
drives. Anyway, I am somewhat apprehensive about using RESTORE after
that experience.

Am I the only one who had lost data? Was I dreaming? Any comments?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Hi,

When you say "RESTORE" along with loss of all data file, I would suspect that an OEM
restore disk was used to reinstall Windows XP. That's what most restore disks do.

System Restore is a utility native to Windows XP and was not designed to touch data files.
Here is list of list of files and folders System Restore Monitors.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/filesfolders.html

Letting System Restore monitor partitions other than the one Windows is installed on is
not necessary, and can lead to very large restore points.

Here are some tips on keeping System Restore Healthy.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/healthy.html

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org



bxf wrote:
> Ok, while we are not the subject, would everybody think
> I'm mad if I said that RESTORE once deleted my data
> files? I swear it happened, and after that I removed a
> couple of partitions from the SYSTEM RESTORE drive list
> (whatever it's properly called).
>
> If SYSTEM RESTORE is supposed to touch primarily system
> files, I can't help but wonder why it would want to look
> at drives that are not system drives. Anyway, I am
> somewhat apprehensive about using RESTORE after that
> experience.
>
> Am I the only one who had lost data? Was I dreaming? Any
> comments?

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

What was the file extension of the files that were missing?

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org


bxf wrote:
> Bert Kinney ha scritto:
>
>> When you say "RESTORE" along with loss of all data file,
>> I would suspect that an OEM restore disk was used to
>> reinstall Windows XP. That's what most restore disks do.
>
> I didn't say ALL my data - just a couple of files. I am
> adequately familiar with SYSTEM RESTORE, which I'd used
> successfully several times.

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

bxf wrote:
> Bert Kinney wrote:
> > What was the file extension of the files that were missing?
>
> Sorry, too long ago to say with certainty, but I think they were a
> couple of folders containing JPEGs, etc. I did view the MS site
> providing SYSTEM RESTORE info, including the list of extensions that
> are monitored, and none of those would be applicable.

Whoops, someting just clicked while I was reading another post, and I
think I just remembered something. I may have lost my DOWNLOADs folder
(or part thereof), which is on my D partition. Of course, this folder
contained EXE type files, so that would explain why SYSTEM RESTORE
included this folder in its processing.

However, this makes things rather risky, unless one know this advance
and disables specific drives/partitions from SYSTEM RESTORE. I don't
recall if it touched anything on my second OS (dual booting).

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

Bert Kinney wrote:

> > bxf wrote:

> > Whoops, someting just clicked while I was reading another
> > post, and I think I just remembered something. I may have
> > lost my DOWNLOADs folder (or part thereof), which is on
> > my D partition. Of course, this folder contained EXE type
> > files, so that would explain why SYSTEM RESTORE included
> > this folder in its processing.
>
> System Restore should not have touched any unmonitored files in the folder.

Well, this is the whole problem. I didn't expect SR to touch non-system
files. I cannot easily accept the notion that just because a file has
(e.g.) an EXE extension, that it automatically qualifies as a system
file.

But, you are saying "unmonitored files". I'm aware that one can set
partitions to be excluded from SR. Off hand, I don't recall seeing
anything that provides control at the FILE or FOLDER level.

> The best advise is to only let System Restore monitor the partition Windows is installed
> on.

That's what I've been saying, and I've excluded non-system partitions
from SR monitoring. Not a problem once one understands the process.