xp system restore

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mary
  • Start date Start date
M

Mary

Help My system resore used to go back to the date I
installed XP but now it will only restore back to July.
 
System Restore only keeps Restore Points up to the amount of hard drive space that has been allocated for it, then the oldest points are deleted as needed to fit the maximum size limit. You need to understand that System Restore is not a backup system, but rather is intended to permit rolling back the system to resolve current problems such as a bad program install, etc. If you want to be able to roll back to a clean XP install, you need a good backup or imaging system, then make a backup or image at the time of a new install and store it off the computer for emergency use. In my opinion, if you are allocating enough disk space to have restore points back to July you are wasting drive space and having a couple of weeks worth is just as good for resolving the limited set of problems that System Restore can resolve.

--

Bill James
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User

Windows VBScript Utilities » www.billsway.com/vbspage/
Windows Tweaks & Tips » www.billsway.com/notes_public/
 
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Mary said:
Help My system resore used to go back to the date I
installed XP but now it will only restore back to July.
Click to expand...


That's not surprising. How far back you can go depends on how
many restore points you have, and that depends on how much disk
space you give it. Moreover there's a maximum of 90 days that you
can go back.

So what's happened is simply that you no longer have restore
points that go back that far, and as I said, it's not a surprise.
 
Mary said:
Help My system resore used to go back to the date I
installed XP but now it will only restore back to July.
Click to expand...

System restore is specifically a short term matter, not a substitute for
backup. It is for unwinding changes - unintentional or experimental -
to the system over a matter of up to may be a month, and in any case
absolutely limited to 90 days (ie to 10 July as of now)
 
Daj said:
How do I change it to go back only 15 days?
Thanks, Daj
Click to expand...

I do not believe you can set System Restore to only go back 15 days. You
can decrease the amount of space used for System Restore from the
System Restore tab in the Control Panel System applet. Then the
computer will keep fewer System Restore points. Is that what you meant?
If not, please post back with a better description of what you are
trying to do.

Malke
 
Daj said:
How do I change it to go back only 15 days?
Thanks, Daj
Click to expand...

Only by adjusting the amount of space allowed to it. Go to Control
Panel - System - System Restore , highlight C: and click Settings.
Reduce the slider and experiment. The 12% set as default is too much
for its own good on a large drive anyway. I would start around 800 MB
and see how many points accumulate before they start to drop off; then
re-adjust accordingly. BTW there is not point in having it on at all on
a second drive that you use only for data - that is not covered by
*System* restore in any case, so you might as well highlight any drive
of that sort and turn it off there
 
There is a way to adjust the number of days Restore Points are kept, but the System Restore UI doesn't include the capability to change that setting. It can be changed by editing the Registry, but that's something the typical user probably should not attempt. If you have the skill/knowledge for editing the Registry, here are the details:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore

The parameter for this setting is RPLifeInterval, and the value is in seconds, so for 15 days the value would be 1296000. When editing this type of parameter, it's important to change the Base display to decimal when inputting the new value.


--

Bill James
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User

Windows VBScript Utilities » www.billsway.com/vbspage/
Windows Tweaks & Tips » www.billsway.com/notes_public/

Daj said:
How do I change it to go back only 15 days?
Thanks, Daj
Click to expand...
 
Bill said:
There is a way to adjust the number of days Restore Points are kept,
but the System Restore UI doesn't include the capability to change
that setting. It can be changed by editing the Registry, but that's
something the typical user probably should not attempt. If you have
the skill/knowledge for editing the Registry, here are the details:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore

The parameter for this setting is RPLifeInterval, and the value is in
seconds, so for 15 days the value would be 1296000. When editing this
type of parameter, it's important to change the Base display to
decimal when inputting the new value.
Click to expand...
Wow, Bill. I never would have guessed. The only reason I can think of
why someone would want to set System Restore to a particular number of
days would be to possibly reset some trialware. I can't imagine that a
regular user would have any reason to do this, but thanks for the
information anyway. I am in awe of your Tremendous Brain. ;-)

Malke
 
The setting can be useful. For example, I can play around with the size allowance to try to limit the number of restore points that are kept, but if I am dong a lot of installs, or system tweaking, etc., I might be throwing in a lot of extra Restore Points within a short period of time. With just a size limit, I might inadvertently get into the position of not being able to go back more than a day or so because I created too many new points. Hard drive space used is not as important to me as being able to revert to recent configurations, regardless of how many points there are. For my use, 10 days is plenty of time to catch any problems that might make me want to do a System Restore, and 7 would probably be just as good.

--

Bill James
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User

Windows VBScript Utilities » www.billsway.com/vbspage/
Windows Tweaks & Tips » www.billsway.com/notes_public/
 
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