System Restore doesn't work

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=283096

I've had no improper shutdown problems. The message SR gives follows:

***
Your Computer cannot be restored to:
Monday, June 12
System Checkpoint

No changes were made to your computer.
To choose another restoration point, restart SR.
***

When I select Help on that message I get this:

No changes have been made to your computer. System Restore was unable to restore your computer to the specified restore point. Select another restore point and try to perform the restoration again.

Over the last 3 weeks I have tried at least 10 different points on 3 separate occasions.

Suggestions?

Disable system restore and enable it again, to see if it helps:

Disable System Restore:
-------------------------------------
1. Click Start.
2. Right-click the My Computer icon and then click Properties.
3. Click the System Restore tab.
4. Check "Turn off system restore" or "Turn off system restore on all drives."
5. Click Apply.
6. A message appears saying it will delete all existing restore points. 7. Click Yes to do this.
8. Click OK.
9. When finished, restart the computer

Enable System Restore:
-------------------------------------
1. Click Start.
2. Right-click My Computer and then click Properties.
3. Click the System Restore tab.
4. Uncheck "Turn off system restore" or "Turn off system restore on all drives."
4. Click Apply and then click OK.

You do realize that things have to change before it sees it. Such as installing something it usually creates an RP= Restore Point otherwise it creates one each day but if nothing has changed other than registry minor stuff you may get that message.

Try this go to Run and type cmd then press enter
then type Net Start in prompt window
Then see if System Restore Service is in list. If not
right click your My Computer icon and choose manage, choose Services and Applications and click the + sign to expand.
Click Services
Scroll down and find System Restore Service and double click
Startup Type should be Automatic, If Manual it won't save but it runs the Restore operation like it knows what its doing.

Also on the repair
To install the Recovery Console as a startup option
With Windows XP running, insert your Windows XP CD in the drive, and click Exit when the installation options are displayed.
Click Start, click Run, and then type D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons Where D: is the CD-ROM drive letter, and then press Enter. (There is a space between .exe and the slash.)
Follow the instructions on screen to install the Recovery Console, and when the installation is complete, restart your computer.
The Recovery Console will show up in the list of available operating systems in the Startup menu. You must be an administrator to use the Recovery Console.

Sorry on the repair boot with your CD and choose Repair by pressing R, youl'l see it when it asks for that.
There is another way to (Refresh) windows without losing anything.
Insert Windows CD and press Exit when it starts.
Go to explorer and browse the Cd, you will see a folder called I386, right click that folder and keeping mouse held down drag to your hard drive and drop on the C: Choose Copy Here and let it copy the folder to drive. I got an error once then I opened the I386 on CD and selected 1 file then choose Edit up top and selected Select All, then right click and drag to I386 on C: drive.

Then To;
Reinstall WindowsXP and keep all your current installed applications and settings:
Start WindowsXP
Go to the location of your source files Run WINNT32 /unattend
Or Type in the RUN box C:\I386\WINNT32 /unattend  and press enter.
Do this to repair something that has gotten corrupted and don't want to do a clean install.

I have XP and have the same issue.  System Restore only restores if new files are added to it's Add and Remove Programs list.  Not all programs do this.  Some programs do not use a installer but rather are unzipped into a folder.  If the program or whatever you think is possibly damaging to your system is not in the Add Remove Programs list then it is most likely you can remove it by deleting the file using it's uninstall command.  As for registry changes SR I believe does recognize these so the problem you are having is actually not a problem at all, it is normal.  If you believe system files were damaged then system file checker will fix that.  

sramesh2k  Date: 06/22/2003 01:41PM PDT  
last resort
Haven't tried this yet as there is a restore point that I don't want to lose unless it's unavoidable

Veegertx  Date: 06/22/2003 01:45PM PDT  
doesn't help
I'd already tried this one - System Restore Service is in the list

Veegertx  Date: 06/22/2003 01:52PM PDT  
need more advice
I installed the Recovery Console but am uncertain as to which commands would be appropriate for my problem.

Veegertx  Date: 06/22/2003 02:19PM PDT  
??
I tried this but it did not seem to offer a Repair option. It started to do a reinstallation of XP so I canceled it.

After trying everything ELSE above I have now

1) run SR from Safe Mode
2)  disabled and re-enabled System Restore
3) done a Repair Install

After the Repair I can't access SR at all. I get this message:

The procedure entry point RemoteAssistancePrepareSystemRestore could not be located in the dynamic link library WINSTA.dll.

Anybody?

have you looked at this page?
Troubleshooting System Restore in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;302796

I checked out the link and have determined that SR IS running, as shown by both suggested methods. It is enabled on both drives.

I tried to run it in Safe Mode. In neither Safe Mode or normal can I access SR. I still get the message:

(heading)   RSTRUI.EXE   Entry Point Not found  
The procedure entry point RemoteAssistancePrepareSystemRestore could not be located in the dynamic link library WINSTA.dll.

I tried to copy both these files from the XP cd but can't find a match. As close as I got was WINSTA.DL_ and RSTRUI.EX_ .

I'm stumped


 

Ok man this may be the solution.
Insert your XP CD and close the install window
Go to your Windows folder, then to INF folder
find in that folder,    sr.inf
right click on it and
choose install
It may ask for certain files, point them to your CD in the I386 folder unless you have an I386 folder on the Hard drive.
Thats it, reboot. It just worked on mine.

BTW,
If you don't have the option to "INstall"
Download this file and double click to merge and then it will be available.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/infinstall.reg

Veegertx
rundll32.exe advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection C:\Windows\Inf\sr.inf    worked.
I can now access SR and just did a restore and reversed it. Thanks for all your help

No problem man thats why I come here.
I'm not a point person just tryin to help if i Can
Well actually points help if I need to ask a ? about VB lol
take care
:)

Thanks, Veegertx.

I was getting the following error message:

Exception occurred while trying to run "shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL "C:\windows\system32\sysdm.cpl,"System".

rundll32.exe advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection C:\Windows\Inf\sr.inf worked for me.

Glad that helped someone else we tried everyting on it.

Well, I just followed the advice from "Veegertx Date: 06/25/2003 03:27PM PDT" and totally hosed my system restore functionality. During the installation process I was warned that the source files were older than the system restore files being replaced, but I replaced them anyway. I did this out of desperation because System Restore has not been functioning (it would go through the motions but on every restart would tell me that the restoration failed) properly and I'm dealing with an horrendous blue/screen crash problem on my XP Pro box. Anyway, once I finished the re-installation from the sr.inf file, I discovered, to my horror, that all previous restore points had been wiped. So, I went ahead and 'restored' to the restoration point that was created when I did the sr.inf installation, and discovered that all my previous restore points were still gone. So, any hope I had of restoring my system to the pre crash state has now been effectively obliterated.

That command is straight from Microsoft so something is corrupt on your system.
Another thing would be if you did install a later SP then point it to that location when it is searching for the files. Like if you have the SP1, extract it to a folder.
System Restore was updated in SP1. Might re run it to try and fix.