Registry backed up automatically? Then why my problem?

A few months ago, I had a problem on startup of my Win 98 SE machine.
Windows told me it had found a problem in the registry, and that it
would use an earlier registry backup. Well, that backup turned out to
be several years old!

I ended up having to reinstall everything. So today I got the idea that
I'd better make a backup of my registry regularly.

So I googled for instructions on how to do this and found many sites
with the following advice:

"click Start and select Run. In the Run dialog box, type scanregw.exe
and click OK. This will check the Registry for errors. When the scan is
complete, a dialog box will display the following message: "No Errors
Found. The System Registry Has Been Backed Up Already Today. Would You
Like To Back It Up Again?" Click Yes to perform the backup. When the
backup is complete, a new dialog box will open, saying Backup Complete.
Click OK."

Well, this suggests that the registry is being automatically backed up
every day. But if that's true, why did Windows restore a registry from
several years ago when I had my problem? And how can I be prepared if
it happens again?

Thanks for any answers.

First learn how to post a message. You posted your message 5 times.

Yes, your computer can backup a copy of you registry automatically, if that
feature is not turned off.
To check to see if the feature is activated, go to START then RUN and type
in the word
msconfig
press the OK button
Click on the STARTUP tab and look for a line

ScanRegistry c:\windows\scanregw.exe /autorun

The box in front of this line should be checked.

This command automatically makes a backup of the registry the first
successful start on a new day.
It only makes one backup on that day. If you leave your computer on 24/7,
you wont get a new backup until you restart. The computer default is to
keep 5 successive copies.

If you don't have this line in your startup, you will have to add the line
to the registry.
Post back (Reply once only) if you need help with modifying the registry.
Since playing in the registry can be dangerous, you will get more specific
help then.

wrote in message
ups.com...
A few months ago, I had a problem on startup of my Win 98 SE machine.
Windows told me it had found a problem in the registry, and that it
would use an earlier registry backup. Well, that backup turned out to
be several years old!

I ended up having to reinstall everything. So today I got the idea that
I'd better make a backup of my registry regularly.

So I googled for instructions on how to do this and found many sites
with the following advice:

"click Start and select Run. In the Run dialog box, type scanregw.exe
and click OK. This will check the Registry for errors. When the scan is
complete, a dialog box will display the following message: "No Errors
Found. The System Registry Has Been Backed Up Already Today. Would You
Like To Back It Up Again?" Click Yes to perform the backup. When the
backup is complete, a new dialog box will open, saying Backup Complete.
Click OK."

Well, this suggests that the registry is being automatically backed up
every day. But if that's true, why did Windows restore a registry from
several years ago when I had my problem? And how can I be prepared if
it happens again?

Thanks for any answers.

Richard,

I don't know how my post got posted 5 times, but I deleted the other
four. Might have something to do with my bad connection.

That ScanRegistry box is checked. I did get the message earlier that
the registry had already been backed up today, so I didn't bother to
back it up again.

I wonder why I got a four year old registry when this problem occurred.
Maybe the box was not checked in my earlier installation, though I
can't imagine why it wouldn't have been, since I didn't change any of
the defaults.

Thanks for your reply.

sorry, you cant delete the other four, they are still there and will be
until then end of server time

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wrote in message
ups.com...
Richard,

I don't know how my post got posted 5 times, but I deleted the other
four. Might have something to do with my bad connection.

That ScanRegistry box is checked. I did get the message earlier that
the registry had already been backed up today, so I didn't bother to
back it up again.

I wonder why I got a four year old registry when this problem occurred.
Maybe the box was not checked in my earlier installation, though I
can't imagine why it wouldn't have been, since I didn't change any of
the defaults.

Thanks for your reply.

To investigate your Registry backups...

(1)
(a) START, Settings, Folder Options, View tab.
Bolt "Show all files" & UNcheck "Hide file extensions..."

(b) "START, Find, F/F, RB???.cab".
Those are the Registry backups, in Sysbckup\. Are there five,
plus an RBbad? Are the dates consistent with each of the last five
days you've successfully boot? What is the date on RBbad?

(2) "START, Programs, MS-DOS Prompt". Then,
(a) CD C:\Windows\Sysbckup
(b) DIR RB???.cab /od
(c) Use the "Mark" button, outline with mouse, "Copy" & post for
inspection.

C:\CD C:\Windows\Sysbckup
C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUPdir rb???.cab /od /a
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP
RBBAD CAB 1,593,319 09-08-05 5:22p rbbad.cab
RB001 CAB 1,590,251 09-18-05 3:34p rb001.cab
RB002 CAB 1,589,811 09-19-05 9:15a rb002.cab
RB003 CAB 1,583,534 09-20-05 8:53a rb003.cab
RB004 CAB 1,583,487 09-21-05 10:01a rb004.cab
RB005 CAB 1,583,477 09-22-05 11:54a rb005.cab
6 file(s) 9,523,879 bytes

Note, on 9/8 I did a Scanreg /Fix, which created the RBbad. It is also
created when Windows decides on it's own to replace a Registry with one
of the backups. Then, the Registry that was replaced ends up in RBbad.

One is created at the first successful boot per day, when all is well.
So, check those dates. When Windows detects a Registry corruption at
boot, it will look for one of those backups to replace it with. If there
only is a very old one in there, it would explain a loss of recent
changes to settings at reboot.

Also check that "ScanRegistry" is checked in "START, Run, MSConfig,
Startup tab". It should read:

ScanRegistry c:\windows\scanregw.exe /autorun

Perhaps look inside "C:\Windows\Scanreg.ini". Here is how a normal one
should look...

......Scanreg.ini..........
;
; Scanreg.ini for making system backups.
;

;Registry backup is skipped altogether if this is set to 0
Backup=1

;Registry automatic optimization is skipped if this is set to 0
Optimize=1

ScanregVersion=0.0001
MaxBackupCopies=5

;Backup directory where the cabs are stored is
; windir\sysbckup by default. Value below overrides it.
; It must be a full path. ex. c:\tmp\backup
;
BackupDirectory=

; Additional system files to backup into cab as follows:
; Filenames are separated by ','
; dir code can be:
; 10 : windir (ex. c:\windows)
; 11 : system dir (ex. c:\windows\system)
; 30 : boot dir (ex. c:\)
; 31 : boot host dir (ex. c:\)
;
;Files=[dir code,]file1,file2,file3
;Files=[dir code,]file1,file2,file3
......End......................


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

wrote in message
ups.com...
| Richard,
|
| I don't know how my post got posted 5 times, but I deleted the other
| four. Might have something to do with my bad connection.
|
| That ScanRegistry box is checked. I did get the message earlier that
| the registry had already been backed up today, so I didn't bother to
| back it up again.
|
| I wonder why I got a four year old registry when this problem
occurred.
| Maybe the box was not checked in my earlier installation, though I
| can't imagine why it wouldn't have been, since I didn't change any of
| the defaults.
|
| Thanks for your reply.
|

wrote in message
ups.com...
Richard,

I don't know how my post got posted 5 times, but I deleted the other
four. Might have something to do with my bad connection.

That ScanRegistry box is checked. I did get the message earlier that
the registry had already been backed up today, so I didn't bother to
back it up again.

I wonder why I got a four year old registry when this problem occurred.
Maybe the box was not checked in my earlier installation, though I
can't imagine why it wouldn't have been, since I didn't change any of
the defaults.

Thanks for your reply.

Just so you know, the Registry is not backed up automatically every day UNLESS
you shut it down each day.
IOW, if you leave it running 24/7, it will NOT be backed up every day.

"Buffalo" wrote in message
...
Just so you know, the Registry is not backed up automatically every day UNLESS
you shut it down each day.
IOW, if you leave it running 24/7, it will NOT be backed up every day.

You don't have to shut down, you just have to reboot.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Okay, thanks, PCR, here are my settings. As you can see, some of my CAB
files have a date six years in the future! Wonder why that happened and
whether I should do something about it:

C:\WINDOWScd c:\windows\sysbckup

C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUPdir rb???.cab /od

Volume in drive C has no label
Volume Serial Number is 1380-0FE3
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP

RBBAD CAB 1,113,795 08-18-05 3:00p rbbad.cab
RB000 CAB 1,209,658 09-23-05 1:50p rb000.cab
RB002 CAB 678,461 07-13-11 1:21a rb002.cab
RB003 CAB 692,455 07-14-11 4:14a rb003.cab
RB004 CAB 874,181 07-15-11 11:42a rb004.cab
RB005 CAB 883,159 07-16-11 12:48p rb005.cab
6 file(s) 5,451,709 bytes
0 dir(s) 8,885.95 MB free

C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP

Okay, thanks, PCR, here are my settings. As you can see, some of my CAB
files have a date six years in the future! Wonder why that happened and
whether I should do something about it:

C:\WINDOWScd c:\windows\sysbckup

C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUPdir rb???.cab /od

Volume in drive C has no label
Volume Serial Number is 1380-0FE3
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP

RBBAD CAB 1,113,795 08-18-05 3:00p rbbad.cab
RB000 CAB 1,209,658 09-23-05 1:50p rb000.cab
RB002 CAB 678,461 07-13-11 1:21a rb002.cab
RB003 CAB 692,455 07-14-11 4:14a rb003.cab
RB004 CAB 874,181 07-15-11 11:42a rb004.cab
RB005 CAB 883,159 07-16-11 12:48p rb005.cab
6 file(s) 5,451,709 bytes
0 dir(s) 8,885.95 MB free

C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP

That is very strange & bad, to have Registry backups in the future!
Windows will not replace those until that date is reached! At best,
only one slot of the five seems to be active!

BETTER rename those 2011's, or even delete them. They seem quite old
judging from their much smaller size.

Once they are out of the way, check again tomorrow. You should then see
a 09-24-05 has joined 09-23-05 right after boot.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

wrote in message
oups.com...
| Okay, thanks, PCR, here are my settings. As you can see, some of my
CAB
| files have a date six years in the future! Wonder why that happened
and
| whether I should do something about it:
|
| C:\WINDOWScd c:\windows\sysbckup
|
| C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUPdir rb???.cab /od
|
| Volume in drive C has no label
| Volume Serial Number is 1380-0FE3
| Directory of C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP
|
| RBBAD CAB 1,113,795 08-18-05 3:00p rbbad.cab
| RB000 CAB 1,209,658 09-23-05 1:50p rb000.cab
| RB002 CAB 678,461 07-13-11 1:21a rb002.cab
| RB003 CAB 692,455 07-14-11 4:14a rb003.cab
| RB004 CAB 874,181 07-15-11 11:42a rb004.cab
| RB005 CAB 883,159 07-16-11 12:48p rb005.cab
| 6 file(s) 5,451,709 bytes
| 0 dir(s) 8,885.95 MB free
|
| C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP
|