Troubleshoot System Restore “Restore Point Failures” in Windows XP

• There are several application that will interfere with with System Restore in Normal or Protected Mode causing a restoration to fail. First try Running System Restore in Safe Mode. This may overcome the interference and allow the restoration to complete successfully. Note: An UNDO restore point will not be automatically created when System Restore is run in Safe Mode. To have a current restore point to fall back on, create a manual restore point in normal mode before entering Safe Mode.
• If Real Player is installed on the system click HERE and update to the latest version.
• IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore - Microsoft System Restore "Restore Points" are not preserved or System Restore errors are logged in Event Viewer.
  System Restore's Restore Points are not saved in IBM Rapid Restore Ultra's backup. When restoring using Rapid Restore Ultra, System Restore will log an error message in the Windows Event Viewer and if you start System Restore, any prior System Restore Points are not available.
• ZoneAlarm has been known to interfere with the restore process. If restoring in Safe Mode doesn’t work, then you will want to consider uninstalling ZoneAlarm as a troubleshooting step.
• Zone Alarm version 6.5 has a bug that creates very large .rdb files within the system. These .rdb files are monitored by System Restore and thus end up in the restore points located in the System Volume Information folder, along with other locations on the system. The best advise is to revert to an earlier version of Zone Alarm. Then disable System Restore which will purge all existing restore points, then turn it back on. For more information on this subject please visit the Zone Labs User Forum.
• If Microsoft Update is being used rather than Windows Update, go back to using Windows Update. Run Windows Update and let it complete. Reboot the system and retry System Restore. I have only seen this issue mentioned once in the public newsgroups. It was on a new HP system and was accompanied by this error message.
• For Systems shipped with a Recovery Partition, such as HP, Compaq and Dell, to name a few, DO NOT let system restore monitor these partitions. See Disable Monitored Drives.
• Scan for Virus and Spyware infection.
• If the system will not boot, here’s a list of Disaster Recovery Tools within WindowsXP.
• Make note of any error messages produced by System Restore or any low Free Disk space warnings, exactly as they appear.
• Use the Event Viewer to investigate System Restore service errors. To do this, follow these steps:
  • Go to Start - Run and type eventvwr.msc and press enter.
  • In the left pane click on System.
  • Click the gray title “Source” at the top of the source name column in the right pane to sort by source name, look for "sr" and "srservice." Double-click each of these services, and evaluate the event description for any indication of the cause of the problem. Make note of the Description, EventID and Source of these Event Properties that show an Error or Warning.
  • If you would like assistance in examining the "sr" and "srservice" events, double click on each event then, click on the button below the two arrows in the upper right corner. This will copy the event information to the clipboard. Paste the information for each event to a post at AumHa System Restore Forum along with any other error messages received. Please use a appropriate subject line (including “System Restore”) when creating the post.
• Install the latest Service Pack (SP) for WindowsXP. SP1 (fixes the locked files issue) and SP2 include bug fixes for System Restore that may fix the problem.
  • From Windows Update
  • Order WindowsXP Service Pack 2 on CD
  • Download Service Pack 2 (SP2) from Microsoft - 266mb’s
• Confirm that the “Task Scheduler”, “System Restore Service” and “Remote Procedure Call (RPC)” are running:
  • Click Start, click Run, and then type cmd /k net start then press enter. Check to make sure that the Task Scheduler, System Restore Services and Remote Procedure Call (RPC) are running.
  • To start the “Task Scheduler” Service.
    • Go to Start - Run and type Services.msc then press enter.
    • Double click on “Task Scheduler”.
    • Set ‘Startup type’ to Automatic then press Start and Wait for the Service Control progress indicator to close.
    • Do the same if the “System Restore Service” was missing. Close the Services window.
• Confirm and make note of the amount of the Free Disk Space on all of the drives System Restore is monitoring.
  • To check for Free Disk Space go to Start - Run and type diskmgmt.msc then press enter. Look at each drive System Restore is monitoring for free space.
  • If the free space on any partition system restore is monitoring falls below 50MB, System Restore will SUSPEND & PURGE all restore points to free up disk space. You should have already receive a low free disk space message by now. System Restore will resume monitoring when free disk space reaches 200MB’s.
  • In most cases it is not necessary to have System Restore monitor Partitions/drives other than the one Windows is installed on. System Restore does not monitor data files. Monitored File Extensions.
  • How to disable a monitored drive in System Restore.
• Adjust the Disk Space Used by System Restore. By default System Restore will use 12% disk space for most size drives. With larger drives the data store can get quite large, which has been know to cause problems in System Restore. Setting the data store to just under 1GB should be adequate. Click HERE for more System Restore Health tips. Note: Reducing the data store size will purge the oldest restore points on a FIFO (first in first out) bases and leave as many recent restore points as the new size will allow.
• Test System Restore to confirm it is functioning correctly.
  • Create a new restore point named TEST.
  • Create a new folder on the desktop an name it TEST.
  • Now restore to the Test restore point.
  • You will receive a message if the restore was successful, and the Test folder on the desktop will be gone.
  • The above test can also be performed in Safe Mode.
  • If this fails, that would indicate there is a corrupt restore point and all restore points should be purged.
• How to purge the System Restore Store.
  • To do so Turn off System Restore follow these steps:
    • Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
    • Click the System Restore tab.
    • Put a check next to ‘Turn off System Restore on all drives’, then click OK.
    • Click Yes when you receive the prompt to the turn off System Restore.
    • Reboot the system.
  • Turn System Restore back on by following the previous steps and uncheck ‘Turn off System Restore on all drives’. A new restore point will be automatically created at that time.
    • As suggested earlier it is not necessary to have System Restore monitor Partitions/drives that Windows is not installed on.
    • Test System Restore as previously described.
  • If System Restore fails at this point, reinstall System Restore.
• If all else fails perform a Repair Install.