System Restore did not fully restore

Question

I checked the forum for similar problems before I posted this, so I hope I am not wasting anyones time...but I did a system restore last week and all I got back was the desktop picture. Apparenty everything did not restore. I reinstalled XP and everything is now fine, plus I seem to have gotten rid of all the preinstalled stuff that came with the system. My question now is, is it safe to restore from a 'software distribution service 2.0' checkpoint as well as the 'system checkpoint'? The posts I checked offered different opinions on this. Is system restore a safe or advisable move without trying all alternatives ? Thanks, I will try not to dick it up until I hear back.

fireberd · Answer

In most cases System Restore will restore everything.  There are exceptions, depending on what was installed.  So what you saw was probably correct.

JRosenfeld · Answer

Jerold,   To answer your question about restore points called software distribution service 2.   These are created by Windows Update when you install one or more updates They are created just before the install. If you restore to such a point it will restore trhe system to what it was just prior to your installing those updates, i.e. it effectively uninstalls the updates. This is useful if one or other update causes a problem, but of course you will be offered the updates again if you have automatic updates on, or when you go to Windows Update and let it scan your PC.   If you hover over a restore point  a tooltip shows. For restore points created at the start of a software install by some apps (not all, but including Windows Update) you will see that the tooltip says 'restores your computer to the point before this program was installed'. Similarly if a restore point is created by an app when you uninstall it, it says 'restores your computer to the point before this program was removed'. For system checkpoints and restore points that you create, it says 'restores your computer to this time'.   There is no difference in terms of 'safety' between one restore point or another, just that the state you restore to is defined slightly differently, as shown by the tooltip.   Note also that if you go to a restore point further back in time than  the most recent one, all the intermediate restores are also carried out, i.e.any software installs/uninstalls and Windows Updates between the present and the chosen restore point are also undone.

Jerold R · Answer

JR- Thanks for replying. I gather that it is ok to use SDS 2.0 as a restore point. My ststem must have had a hiccup, because when I used that last time all I got back was the desktop picture, no icons, just blank. Task manager showed only 11 processes running compared to the normal 41. I reinstalled XP and all seems fine, in fact, it got rid of a lot of the Dell garbage that came with the system. I will try to use Restore sparingly in the future, but was/am confused by all of the doomsday info re : SDS 2. Thanks again for taking the time.

BertKK · Answer

Hi, Here is a description of System Restore: http://bertk.mvps.org/html/description.html

JRosenfeld · Answer

Why have several of the posts in this thread disappeared? They answered Jerold's question, I think.   Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 08-07-200611:26 PM

Windows General

System Restore did not fully restore

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