System Restore - Stays Disabled

I'm trying to uncheck the 'disable system restore' option. When I do and
reboot, it's still checked (ie: still disabled). I have Tweak UI
installed, can that impead or make this happen?

f you cannot uncheck the disable SR entry found at System | Performance |
File System | Troubleshooting check the following:
Do you have at least 300MB of free space on the drive containing your
windows folder?
Is the *StateMgr entry still present and checked in MSConfig | Startup?
Is stmgr.exe running? You can check this using either a Task Manager such
as WinTop or TaskInfo or by using MSInfo32 (or Start | Help & Support |
System Information) and checking for stmgr.exe in the section Software
Environment | Running Tasks.

If all of the above are OK then I think that the best way forward would be
to remove the _RESTORE folder and allow the state manager to rebuild the
necessary control files which have probably become corrupted.
Delete the folder as follows:
a) Boot to DOS using a floppy. Do NOT choose "Minimal Boot" from the menu
when booting from a floppy but rather choose "Start computer with (or
without) CD-ROM support" otherwise the ATTRIB command will not be
available.
b) At the DOS A:\ prompt, type:

ATTRIB -H -S -R C:\_RESTORE
then
REN C:\_RESTORE OLDREST

c) Remove the floppy
d) Reboot your PC
e) Delete the folder C:\OLDREST
f) Check that an automatic system restore checkpoint was created.
g) Finally adjust the space allocated to the restore folder:
System | Performance | File System | Hard Disk and adjust the restore
slider to your preferred setting. A figure of 200MB is normally more
than adequate for day to day use allowing perhaps a week of checkpoints to
be available although increasing this to perhaps 400MB for a few days
during periods of large installs such Microsoft Office is advisable.

It might now be a good time to test that system restore is working
correctly.
You can do this by performing the following test.
a) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file.
b) Create a manual checkpoint
Could you create a checkpoint?
c) Delete the shortcut
d) Restore your PC to the checkpoint you created.
Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages?
e) Reboot your PC
Was the checkpoint retained?
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Nomad wrote:

I'm trying to uncheck the 'disable system restore' option. When I do
and reboot, it's still checked (ie: still disabled). I have Tweak UI
installed, can that impead or make this happen?

I have followed your directions through to reboot of PC. I have not deleted
folder C:\OLDREST. I still have restore disabled in Troubleshooting. I have
cleared disable again and rebooted but there is no change. I presume that
after reboot a new C:\_RESTORE should be created but this has not occurred.
Can you advise further action? I believe that this problem may be due to mess
created on installation of AVG7 which I have uninstalled but I know that
remnants of AVG7 were left on my PC. I have had to clear many problems
already. This I hope is one of the last.

I also have a problem on desktop where I am unable to access Properties on
Right-hand click. I see this problem exists on XP but I don't think it has
been resolved - advice on this problem would be appreciated.

Adrian

"Mike M" wrote:

f you cannot uncheck the disable SR entry found at System | Performance |
File System | Troubleshooting check the following:
Do you have at least 300MB of free space on the drive containing your
windows folder?
Is the *StateMgr entry still present and checked in MSConfig | Startup?
Is stmgr.exe running? You can check this using either a Task Manager such
as WinTop or TaskInfo or by using MSInfo32 (or Start | Help & Support |
System Information) and checking for stmgr.exe in the section Software
Environment | Running Tasks.

If all of the above are OK then I think that the best way forward would be
to remove the _RESTORE folder and allow the state manager to rebuild the
necessary control files which have probably become corrupted.
Delete the folder as follows:
a) Boot to DOS using a floppy. Do NOT choose "Minimal Boot" from the menu
when booting from a floppy but rather choose "Start computer with (or
without) CD-ROM support" otherwise the ATTRIB command will not be
available.
b) At the DOS A:\ prompt, type:

ATTRIB -H -S -R C:\_RESTORE
then
REN C:\_RESTORE OLDREST

c) Remove the floppy
d) Reboot your PC
e) Delete the folder C:\OLDREST
f) Check that an automatic system restore checkpoint was created.
g) Finally adjust the space allocated to the restore folder:
System | Performance | File System | Hard Disk and adjust the restore
slider to your preferred setting. A figure of 200MB is normally more
than adequate for day to day use allowing perhaps a week of checkpoints to
be available although increasing this to perhaps 400MB for a few days
during periods of large installs such Microsoft Office is advisable.

It might now be a good time to test that system restore is working
correctly.
You can do this by performing the following test.
a) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file.
b) Create a manual checkpoint
Could you create a checkpoint?
c) Delete the shortcut
d) Restore your PC to the checkpoint you created.
Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages?
e) Reboot your PC
Was the checkpoint retained?
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Nomad wrote:

I'm trying to uncheck the 'disable system restore' option. When I do
and reboot, it's still checked (ie: still disabled). I have Tweak UI
installed, can that impead or make this happen?

Adrian,

Please check again and post back your findings:
Do you have at least 300MB of free space on the drive containing your
windows folder?
Is the *StateMgr entry still present and checked in MSConfig | Startup?
Is stmgr.exe running? You can check this using either a process monitor
such as WinTop or TaskInfo or by using MSInfo32 (Start | Help & Support |
System Information) and checking for stmgr.exe in the section Software
Environment | Running Tasks.

I suspect that your problem is that either the *StateMgr entry is
unchecked or stmgr.exe is not running otherwise you would have immediately
seen a new C:\_RESTORE folder created when you booted back in to Win Me.

If you are having problems with XP may I suggest you post those to a
newsgroup supporting XP. Incidentally are you multi-booting Win Me and
XP? If so how? By using XP's multi-boot capability or by using a third
party utility such as Boot Magic or BING? Can you see the Win Me
partition when running XP (and XP's when running Win Me), if so, this
could well be the underlying cause of any problems you are experiencing.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



adrianus (doesn't adrianus (doesn't
wrote:

I have followed your directions through to reboot of PC. I have not
deleted folder C:\OLDREST. I still have restore disabled in
Troubleshooting. I have cleared disable again and rebooted but there
is no change. I presume that after reboot a new C:\_RESTORE should be
created but this has not occurred. Can you advise further action? I
believe that this problem may be due to mess created on installation
of AVG7 which I have uninstalled but I know that remnants of AVG7
were left on my PC. I have had to clear many problems already. This I
hope is one of the last.

I also have a problem on desktop where I am unable to access
Properties on Right-hand click. I see this problem exists on XP but I
don't think it has been resolved - advice on this problem would be
appreciated.

*StateMgr and stmgr.exe are both present and correct. I'll go through process
again. Are the attributes of C:\win\system\restore of any significance? (win
is my windows folder).

sorry if I misled you on second point. I was referring to XP only as forum
where I had seen similar problem addressed re Desktop Properties. I am
running ME only.

Regards

"Mike M" wrote:

Adrian,

Please check again and post back your findings:
Do you have at least 300MB of free space on the drive containing your
windows folder?
Is the *StateMgr entry still present and checked in MSConfig | Startup?
Is stmgr.exe running? You can check this using either a process monitor
such as WinTop or TaskInfo or by using MSInfo32 (Start | Help & Support |
System Information) and checking for stmgr.exe in the section Software
Environment | Running Tasks.

I suspect that your problem is that either the *StateMgr entry is
unchecked or stmgr.exe is not running otherwise you would have immediately
seen a new C:\_RESTORE folder created when you booted back in to Win Me.

If you are having problems with XP may I suggest you post those to a
newsgroup supporting XP. Incidentally are you multi-booting Win Me and
XP? If so how? By using XP's multi-boot capability or by using a third
party utility such as Boot Magic or BING? Can you see the Win Me
partition when running XP (and XP's when running Win Me), if so, this
could well be the underlying cause of any problems you are experiencing.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



adrianus (doesn't adrianus (doesn't
wrote:

I have followed your directions through to reboot of PC. I have not
deleted folder C:\OLDREST. I still have restore disabled in
Troubleshooting. I have cleared disable again and rebooted but there
is no change. I presume that after reboot a new C:\_RESTORE should be
created but this has not occurred. Can you advise further action? I
believe that this problem may be due to mess created on installation
of AVG7 which I have uninstalled but I know that remnants of AVG7
were left on my PC. I have had to clear many problems already. This I
hope is one of the last.

I also have a problem on desktop where I am unable to access
Properties on Right-hand click. I see this problem exists on XP but I
don't think it has been resolved - advice on this problem would be
appreciated.

adrianus (doesn't
ft.com wrote:

*StateMgr and stmgr.exe are both present and correct. I'll go through
process again. Are the attributes of C:\win\system\restore of any
significance? (win is my windows folder).

Is stmgr.exe running?

sorry if I misled you on second point. I was referring to XP only as
forum where I had seen similar problem addressed re Desktop
Properties. I am running ME only.

Ah, understood. Is it only on the desktop that you cannot access
Properties? If so, what happens if you attempt to open the same applet
via the Control Panel - Display? If that fails and other Control Panel
applets open without problem then it could be that the file desk.cpl has
become corrupted and needs replacing. The easiest way of doing this is
via MSConfig | General | Extract File ...., enter desk.cpl and extract a
new copy to your windows\system folder
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP

No luck on Restore. C:\_RESTORE just won't happen! Any more suggestions?
Could there be a conflict with other software?

Thanks for advice on Display. I'll have a go with MSConfig.

The Land of Nod is beckoning here. Have a good night!

"Mike M" wrote:

adrianus (doesn't
ft.com wrote:

*StateMgr and stmgr.exe are both present and correct. I'll go through
process again. Are the attributes of C:\win\system\restore of any
significance? (win is my windows folder).

Is stmgr.exe running?

sorry if I misled you on second point. I was referring to XP only as
forum where I had seen similar problem addressed re Desktop
Properties. I am running ME only.

Ah, understood. Is it only on the desktop that you cannot access
Properties? If so, what happens if you attempt to open the same applet
via the Control Panel - Display? If that fails and other Control Panel
applets open without problem then it could be that the file desk.cpl has
become corrupted and needs replacing. The easiest way of doing this is
via MSConfig | General | Extract File ...., enter desk.cpl and extract a
new copy to your windows\system folder
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP

I am still waiting for you to confirm that stmgr.exe is running. Saying
that it is present is a bit confusing.. Do you mean that it is present as
a file or that it is present and running when viewed using a process
viewer such as WinTop of MSInfo | Software Environment | Running Tasks.
If stmgr.exe is not running for some reason you will never see a new
C:\_RESTORE folder.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



adrianus (doesn't
ft.com wrote:

No luck on Restore. C:\_RESTORE just won't happen! Any more
suggestions? Could there be a conflict with other software?

Thanks for advice on Display. I'll have a go with MSConfig.

The Land of Nod is beckoning here. Have a good night!

stmgr.exe is running.(v4.90.0.2533). Still no joy on restore.

I do not have desk.cpl on disk or on CD-Rom. The only file of a similar name
on CD-Rom is in \win9x\cab_9 and is deskw95.cpl. I identified it using
zipscan. I have extracted it via msconfig and added it to \win\system but
after reboot it has made no difference. BTW, I have noticed that on the first
occasions after start up or reboot when I try Desktop Properties, the mouse
cursor changes as if it is running for a couple of seconds but nothing
appears. On a second attempt immediately thereafter, there is no response at
all. There is no display option in Settings.

I last used desktop properties at the beginning of November.

NB I have run Symantec online antivirus check and had a clean report. I also
run ad-aware regularly and have only had cookies reported which I have
deleted.

"Mike M" wrote:

I am still waiting for you to confirm that stmgr.exe is running. Saying
that it is present is a bit confusing.. Do you mean that it is present as
a file or that it is present and running when viewed using a process
viewer such as WinTop of MSInfo | Software Environment | Running Tasks.
If stmgr.exe is not running for some reason you will never see a new
C:\_RESTORE folder.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



adrianus (doesn't
ft.com wrote:

No luck on Restore. C:\_RESTORE just won't happen! Any more
suggestions? Could there be a conflict with other software?

Thanks for advice on Display. I'll have a go with MSConfig.

The Land of Nod is beckoning here. Have a good night!

Desk.cpl

Yes, this is the file deskw95.cpl which is contained in WIN_9.CAB.
Extract deskw95.cpl and then rename to desk.cpl. If you check on the
version tab you will find that the File information indicates that the
original file name was desk.cpl. I have no idea as to why Microsoft has
changed the names of one or two files when stored in the cab files, there
are a few others I know of including marscore.dll which is stored in the
cab files as marspch.dll and keyb.com which is called keyb.ebd.

I don't recall your having yet replied to my query as to whether you can
access Display in the Control Panel since this is the same applet as
accessed by right clicking on the desktop and selecting Properties. If
you can don't waste any more time with desk.cpl as the problem lies
elsewhere.

C:\_RESTORE folder.

Could you please just check that you have enabled the viewing of both
hidden files and folders and also protected operating system files in
Explorer (Tools | Folder Options | View ). If C:\_RESTORE is missing and
stmgr.exe is running then you have a very odd situation, possibly unique.
Regrettably I'm very busy elsewhere at the moment and will be for probably
the next week at least but if you want to pursue this drop me an e-mail
next week and we can go through a number of steps to try and solve this
mystery.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



adrianus (doesn't
ft.com wrote:

stmgr.exe is running.(v4.90.0.2533). Still no joy on restore.

I do not have desk.cpl on disk or on CD-Rom. The only file of a
similar name on CD-Rom is in \win9x\cab_9 and is deskw95.cpl. I
identified it using zipscan. I have extracted it via msconfig and
added it to \win\system but after reboot it has made no difference.
BTW, I have noticed that on the first occasions after start up or
reboot when I try Desktop Properties, the mouse cursor changes as if
it is running for a couple of seconds but nothing appears. On a
second attempt immediately thereafter, there is no response at all.
There is no display option in Settings.

I last used desktop properties at the beginning of November.

NB I have run Symantec online antivirus check and had a clean report.
I also run ad-aware regularly and have only had cookies reported
which I have deleted.