Restore point not completing

Dru2 said:

Yeah, you said the same in my thread about System Restore when I killed your FUD there.

Have a good day :)

Click to expand...

Have the last word by all means if it makes you feel grown up.

For clarity, I think we need to know what's a "System Restore" to you?

Click to expand...

System restore is quite self explanatory : it restores the windows system (OS) to the state it was when restore point was created. Nothing to do with programs and user data. Modifying / deleting personnal files should not affect a system restore and even less when the user file blocking the restore is in another drive (E; in my case). Here's the Microsoft definition :

System Restore​

System Restore is a Microsoft® Windows® tool designed to protect and repair the computer software. System Restore takes a "snapshot" of the some system files and the Windows registry and saves them as Restore Points. When an install failure or data corruption occurs, System Restore can return a system to working condition without you having to reinstall the operating system. It repairs the Windows environment by reverting back to the files and settings that were saved in the restore point.

What app or service do you use to attempt a "System Restore"?

I ask becasue what one thinks it "System Restore" can be something completely different. I've seen people confuse "Reset this PC" to "System Restore".

Click to expand...

If you carefully read the first message : Windows froze in doing an update right after login with the message " just a moment". Each time I restarted the pc, I was getting the same "just a moment " message. After 3 attemps, I automaticaly got a windows repair environment diagnosis and an unsuccessfull repair attempt.

As I I could not start the pc, the only place I could start a system restore was from the windows repair environment we get when windows start fail. If it's not the right way to do it, there's no right way !

As you look like as a restore point expert who never experienced a failed restore, you will certainly explain me how can a removed personnal file in E: drive could stop the restore point for system C: drive ? BTW, this personnal file / folder was removed many months before the restore point was created. You may want to know how old was the restore point : few days and no programs were removed / changed.

I imagine many people are waiting to become an expert like you or at least lucky !

Dru2 said:

But yes, it can fail, but it's usually associated with something that's rendered it ineffective.

Click to expand...

I remember one build of Windows 10, 1803 I think it was, where system restore was 100% reliable on all my machines. It could be relied on to fail every time I tried to use it! Despite 6 months of CUs until 1809 was released MS never fixed it.

I do still use it occasionally, there are a few times when it's more appropriate than restoring an image. Even when it does work it can be excruciatingly slow though. I find that restoring a Macrium image can be a lot faster

@Dru2 : But yes, it can fail, but it's usually associated with something that's rendered it ineffective.

Click to expand...

For my fail, the reason is crystal clear : "E:\photo library\desktop.ini could not be replaced". If deleting personal files in a non system drive makes restore point failing (this non system drive is not clicked to be restored), this feature cannot be qualified as reliable as you never know if it will work if you change your data.

At the end of the day, this is probably what hosed your System Restore....

jguy said:

If you carefully read the first message : Windows froze in doing an update right after login with the message " just a moment". Each time I restarted the pc, I was getting the same "just a moment " message. After 3 attemps, I automaticaly got a windows repair environment diagnosis and an unsuccessfull repair attempt.

Click to expand...

when Windows was issuing a "just a moment" request and you kept forcing a reboot, things got really muddy where Windows tried to repair itself. At that moment the Restore Point probably doomed to fail... which it did.

Additionally, whenever you do an update/upgrade a new restore point is created from there and the old ones are removed/deleted - meaning once you did that update that was your starting restore point and anything before that was lost.

As for this.... "E:\photo library\desktop.ini could not be replaced", I've no idea what that's about without doing a deep dive; But at the end of the day your forced restarts caused your issues, and the generated failed message you got was for Windows, not System Restore.

It's worth nothing arguing with you. Restore is perfect and those who experience problems created it. That's it !

How can you "decide" I interrupted the update process ? Like it or not, waiting half an hour for an update to complete with top notch PC and a frozen screen and no SSD nor network activity clearly indicates windows is frozen.

User is always responsible for something ... but you previously said the reverse ...

it's usually associated with something that's rendered it ineffective.

Click to expand...

it can be ineffective with something that rendering it ineffective. That's exactly the definition of a bad program with bugs ... it can be ineffective. If you're the only one able to properly operate it, Microsoft has a problem ...

I don't know where you see arguing from, as I simply tried to help you out. Perhaps there is a language barrier here.

jguy said:

How can you "decide" I interrupted the update process ?

Click to expand...

jguy said:

If you carefully read the first message : Windows froze in doing an update right after login with the message " just a moment". Each time I restarted the pc, I was getting the same "just a moment " message. After 3 attemps, I automaticaly got a windows repair environment diagnosis and an unsuccessfull repair attempt.

Click to expand...

I can only go by what you posted. I wish you luck in solving your issue.

Peace

I wish you luck in solving your issue.

Click to expand...

You didn't understand yet that it was solved ... sorry but my english is not that bad !

As you understood my mother's tongue is not English but I never had any problem to be understood anywhere anytime. My sentences, for sure, are not perfectly constructed but most people can understand and when they don't they ask. Again, problem is on my side, my english is not good enough to exchange with you. That may be true but in this case, I think the real problem is that you propose answers without completely reading the posts or not all of them. Also, for your benefits, it was solved with a restore point. So I didn't mess up windows in stopping myself an update as you falsely concluded. I just found a workaround to the problem with the E: drive. This is for sure a bug in restore point. Personal data should not matter at all in restore point.

I don't have any lesson to give to anybody trying to help but giving ways to either solve or avoid the problem, as most people have done, is much more beneficial to op than saying that the problem is on the chair.

Thanks

jguy said:

For my fail, the reason is crystal clear : "E:\photo library\desktop.ini could not be replaced". If deleting personal files in a non system drive makes restore point failing (this non system drive is not clicked to be restored), this feature cannot be qualified as reliable as you never know if it will work if you change your data.

Click to expand...

'desktop.ini' is a system file used by the Windows OS, and is definitely NOT a user file, even though it may be in a user folder.

@IanMosley​

Thanks. The problematic desktop.ini's file and folder were deleted many months before creating the latest restore point (which failed), why does that desktop.ini still appear in a recent restore point ? When the restore failed, following the problem identification, I had a message saying that with advanced mode, I could proceed anyway with this restore. From the windows startup repair environment, I've not be able to see such an advanced mode.