Question re: LastGood & LastGood.tmp folders

  • Thread starter Thread starter Linda Antonsson
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L

Linda Antonsson

I understand that one (or both) of these are used in case you need to
revert to earlier drivers and configurations, although I am not quite
sure what the difference is between these as the System Restore tool?

However, I don't have either of these on my machine. It is possible that
they were deleted at some point, but shouldn't they have recreated
themselves? And that doesn't happen automatically, is there any way that
I can get them back? They sound rather useful, after all.

Or are there any settings in Windows (Win XP Home) that determines
whether these folders are in use or not?

Linda
 
Linda:


There are several methods incorporated into Windows XP that may help you in
repairing changes to the system that you don´t want after all. Unfortunately
all of them require a good understanding of the operating system. I suggest
reading further information from Microsoft´s web site or any other
documentation such as books in order to determine what is appropriate in
your situation. Alternatively, you may describe a problem that you´re having
and would like help with.
 
Andre, I would be interested in the answers also.

Linda DID describe her problem and there were two definite questions -

1. What exactly are the functions and importance of the LastGood &
LastGood.tmp folders & contents, and how do they tie in with System Restore?

2. They have disappeared from her machine, how does she regenerate them?

I don't think a "go look it up yourself" type of reply is appropriate from
an "MCP Windows XP Professional", definitely reading and understanding all
parts of her post is definitely a pre-requisite.
 
Well John I disagree with your post in every aspect.

First, Linda did not describe any problem, because there are to my knowledge
no folders called that way. What she might have meant is the so-called "Last
known Good configuration" which is a specific boot option to be used only
when the system will not boot properly. System Restore points serve to
return the system to a prevous state, and can be created by a user but also
automatically by some (installation) programs. They disappear only when a
user explicily turns off System restore on a drive (or on all drives).

Finally, note that I am writing this in my own time and at my own choice at
2:30 AM Saturday night (local time) when I really want to get some sleep. I
think my answer was correct, polite and to the point. No one can expect me
to write a tutorial about this subject in a newsgroup.
 
I have both lastgood and lastgood temp. on my computer!
If your that tired then get some sleep.
 
Go and have a good sleep and then try again, Andre.

Disagree with my post all you like, but -

"However, I don't have either of these on my machine. It is possible that
they were deleted at some point, but shouldn't they have recreated
themselves?" sounds awful like a question to me.

Both the 'LastGood' & 'LastGood.tmp' folders reside in the Windows folder &
always have! Even the average "MCP Windows XP Professional" (or Friesian)
knows that.
 
OK John you seem to (think you) know better than me. As this is not helping
anyone I decide now to stop participating in this newsgroup and suggest you
yourself solve her problem. BTW would you be so kind to tell me the exact
location of the folders you´re referring to? I have not been able to find
them.
 
Andre Terpstra wrote:

A bit of searching on, for example, Google should show that these
folders are indeed supposed to be under the Windows directory, just like
everyone else has been saying.

What I haven't been able to find information on, however, and which is
why I posted here, was what can be done if these folders are missing, as
this means that the Last Known Good configuration apparently is not an
option that is available to boot from.

Linda
 
Well, perhaps you deleted them at some stage.

As I already said below -

"Both the 'LastGood' & 'LastGood.tmp' folders reside in the Windows folder "

I'm sorry, Andre, but for some reason not much of what you've said so far
seems to make sense.

I just did a bit of Googling to make sure I wasn't going crazy - luckily
found out I'm not, so here is just one part of the 'LastGood' folder's
purpose, quote -

"when you update a driver the HIW saves the previous version used to boot
successfully in \Windows\LastGood\System32\Drivers, and when you select the
LAST KNOWN GOOD BOOT option the updated driver is replaced with the old
version"
 
Well, I can't recall doing so, but I imagine I must have done so by
mistake. In any case, they're definitely gone, and what I am really
wondering is if they can be restored somehow?

It seems odd that Windows wouldn't simply recreate these folders, when
it persists in recreating My Pictures every darn time I remove that one. ;)

Maybe there is an option somewhere that controls whether Windows creates
those folders or not?

Linda
 
Sorry, Linda, I meant that bit for Andre, not you.
There's not anything on Google or the MS sites that I can find related to
restoring so far, but will keep looking.

You DID actually have those folders at one stage?
 
No prob. :) I did have them, yes. I am thinking now that maybe they
disappeared when I upgraded to Service Pack 1.

In any case, I just managed to get an answer from the software support I
get for my computer, and they claim they're not needed, and that they
just tested choosing the Last Known Good boot option on a computer
without them, and it worked fine. They seemed to think they might have
been removed/changed by some upgrade or other.

So, I guess I don't need to worry about them being gone. But thanks for
the help. :)

Linda
 
Thanks for that, Linda - I'll leave mine intact for the time being until I
find out a bit more about it (even though they're possibly wasting 300MB).
I'm have SP1 plus all criticals, so that's still a mystery as to why yours
went.
 
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