system restore fix Noel

As many times as I have mentioned that my system restore
never works no one has ever offered a solution. I was
nosing around somewhere possibly Pit Stop and found this
info. After I installed the fix sytem restore worked the
first time I tried it. Saved me a major headache. Wonder
why microsoft didn't have this in their updates. Check here

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
us;290700&Product=winme

Kelly Smith
Ohio

Kelly,

Microsoft DO have the 290700 patch in their updates and have done since late
March 2001 since when it has been available via Win Me's Automatic Update, the
Windows Update site, the Windows Catalogue and from a direct link in the
associated Knowledge base article KB290700.

What probably happened in your case is that you did at one time install this
patch but then subsequently chose for some reason to reinstall Win Me over
itself and the forgot that this meant you needed to reinstall the various
patches you had installed before reinstalling Win Me. The problem being
exacerbated by the Windows Update site not knowing you had reinstalled Win Me
and therefore not knowing that the patches were no longer present due to the
reinstall not having set the various flags in the registry used to indicate
that a patch is installed.

May I recommend to you to download and use the Belarc Advisor
(http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) which will help you in identifying
which patches needed to be reinstalled.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Kelly Smith wrote:

As many times as I have mentioned that my system restore
never works no one has ever offered a solution. I was
nosing around somewhere possibly Pit Stop and found this
info. After I installed the fix sytem restore worked the
first time I tried it. Saved me a major headache. Wonder
why microsoft didn't have this in their updates. Check here

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
us;290700&Product=winme

Mike you have hit the nail on the head. My daughter
reinstalled over windows a while back. I installed Belarc
and and a directx patch.
thx
Kelly

-----Original Message-----
Kelly,

Microsoft DO have the 290700 patch in their updates and
have done since late
March 2001 since when it has been available via Win Me's
Automatic Update, the
Windows Update site, the Windows Catalogue and from a
direct link in the
associated Knowledge base article KB290700.

What probably happened in your case is that you did at
one time install this
patch but then subsequently chose for some reason to
reinstall Win Me over
itself and the forgot that this meant you needed to
reinstall the various
patches you had installed before reinstalling Win Me.
The problem being
exacerbated by the Windows Update site not knowing you
had reinstalled Win Me
and therefore not knowing that the patches were no longer
present due to the
reinstall not having set the various flags in the
registry used to indicate
that a patch is installed.

May I recommend to you to download and use the Belarc
Advisor
(http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html) which will
help you in identifying
which patches needed to be reinstalled.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Kelly Smith wrote:

As many times as I have mentioned that my system restore
never works no one has ever offered a solution. I was
nosing around somewhere possibly Pit Stop and found this
info. After I installed the fix sytem restore worked the
first time I tried it. Saved me a major headache. Wonder
why microsoft didn't have this in their updates. Check
here

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
us;290700&Product=winme



.

Thanks for that feedback Kelly.

I would strongly urge that anyone who reinstalls Win Me over itself for any
reason then download the Belarc Advisor and check their system for which
patches need to be reinstalled since, as I mentioned, the Windows Update site
can't handle such a reinstall and will report that all are present and
correct.

Regards,
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Kelly Smith wrote:

Mike you have hit the nail on the head. My daughter
reinstalled over windows a while back. I installed Belarc
and and a directx patch.

Only problem is Belarc does not list every patch. But the critical ones are
listed. I've been using this product for several years and it has really
helped.
"Mike M" wrote in message
...
Thanks for that feedback Kelly.

I would strongly urge that anyone who reinstalls Win Me over itself for
any
reason then download the Belarc Advisor and check their system for which
patches need to be reinstalled since, as I mentioned, the Windows Update
site
can't handle such a reinstall and will report that all are present and
correct.

Regards,
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Kelly Smith wrote:

Mike you have hit the nail on the head. My daughter
reinstalled over windows a while back. I installed Belarc
and and a directx patch.

Belarc will not report on patches which have been superseded by later patches.
For example it will only ever check for the latest Cumulative Update for
Internet Explorer. Otherwise I believe it will report on any patch that is
broken and needs to be reinstalled. If you know of any critical patch for Win
Me that Belarc does not check then please post details as this will be of
benefit to other users as I am unaware of any that Belarc misses.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



upscope wrote:

Only problem is Belarc does not list every patch. But the critical ones
are listed. I've been using this product for several years and it has
really helped.

Mike M wrote:

Belarc will not report on patches which have been superseded by later patches.
For example it will only ever check for the latest Cumulative Update for
Internet Explorer. Otherwise I believe it will report on any patch that is
broken and needs to be reinstalled. If you know of any critical patch for Win
Me that Belarc does not check then please post details as this will be of
benefit to other users as I am unaware of any that Belarc misses.

Which registry settings are the patches in? If it's all in one place it
might be easier when doing a refresh install, just to reset the entries
to let WindowsUpdate start from scratch (?)


Rick

The problem with that approach Rick is that there are a lot of other keys in
that location other than those for patches installed via the Windows Update
site. I keep meaning to put together a script that will clear down the WU
entries but decided that since it would need to be continuously updated to
instead let Belarc do the work for me.

BTW most but not all updates and patches add a sub-key to the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components
and then set the value IsInstalled=1 when the patch is successfully installed.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Rick T wrote:

Which registry settings are the patches in? If it's all in one place it
might be easier when doing a refresh install, just to reset the entries
to let WindowsUpdate start from scratch (?)

AFAIK, What Belarc does is look for the 'isinstalled' entry, and if it's
set to 1, then it checks file versions. if the entry doesn't exist, then it
ignores the patch, and if it's set to zero I have no idea what it does!g

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2004, Win9x)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
or
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/f.../Mar27pmvp.asp
"Mike M" wrote in message
...
The problem with that approach Rick is that there are a lot of other keys
in
that location other than those for patches installed via the Windows
Update
site. I keep meaning to put together a script that will clear down the WU
entries but decided that since it would need to be continuously updated to
instead let Belarc do the work for me.

BTW most but not all updates and patches add a sub-key to the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components
and then set the value IsInstalled=1 when the patch is successfully
installed.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Rick T wrote:

Which registry settings are the patches in? If it's all in one place it
might be easier when doing a refresh install, just to reset the entries
to let WindowsUpdate start from scratch (?)

Which is exactly what is required. Unfortunately the Windows Update site
simply checks that IsInstalled set = 1 and doesn't check file versions. Hence
why I recommend the use of Belarc.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Noel Paton wrote:

AFAIK, What Belarc does is look for the 'isinstalled' entry, and if it's
set to 1, then it checks file versions. if the entry doesn't exist, then
it ignores the patch, and if it's set to zero I have no idea what it
does!g