Restore Points not working

Question

Not only can I not find any restore points but it seems many on this forum are having the same issue. Unfortunately it seems as if Microsoft representatives are just giving people the run-around. You used to be able to go to restore, select a restore point and voila, system was restored to a prior build and usually working. I just installed the latest windows update and now my system is jacked and a lot of browsing history is gone (important to me) and when I went to restore... nothing. I even tried just restoring to a previous build and nothing happened. So I guess I have 2 questions: where in the hell are the restore points now? They used to be created automatically and secondly is there nothing that can be done about this or are we just screwed? Oh, and I guess number 3, why can't anybody get a straight answer from Microsoft?

Answer 1

Well I am not glad... I am just a stupid computer user who wasn't aware that I needed to backup daily, I do back up monthly but I thought I always have had system restore to fall back on. There seems to be a lot of stupid mes not happy with this. I seem to have enough things to have to go and set up and now here is one more only to wake one morning and backups will be obsolete. And it seems even if you go back and set your system to auto set restore points or even manually set them it doesn't work either. These are nice things to find out after the fact, after you have lost data to do a bad windows update. I have been the staunchest supporter of windows 10 until now arguing against people bashing it with rumors such as this incident. I am going to have to rethink this. And if you support this, and you sound like you do (so you don't mix 

"that would mean your computer has a combination of old and new registry hives, and old and new system files. That's asking for trouble". Well for one never had any issues stemming from that as I did a clean install occasionally and at least that was at my leisure and I was prepared for it. And I guess you must be right about backing up daily it doesn't seem like we have a choice now as the other options that worked incredibly well for myself and others has been taken out of our hands. At least they made sure we were aware of this change so we could adapt and when we contacted support they could lie to us about the reasons it was happening and the solutions.

Answer 2

I did try that and it didn't work. who's brilliant idea was this? That was one useful tool that worked and worked well. Also used by many it seems. It was also a tool that had been around for awhile and stood the test of time.

Answer 3

I'm not from Microsoft - nobody here represents Microsoft, this is a community forum - but here are the straight answers you're looking for:

Part 1:

"You used to be able to go to restore, select a restore point and voila, system was restored to a prior build ..."

No, that's wrong. System Restore never worked that way. A restore point is not a backup. Only a backup can restore your computer to an earlier time.

A restore point is a collection of essential system files, drivers and registry hives. The original idea behind a restore point was to restore the basic functioning of the operating system, and restore access to the user interface, so you can use Windows' own tools to (hopefully) repair a problem you are having.

System Restore was a good idea when it was first introduced, but fell from grace over time, for two reasons: 1) people mistook it for a backup and then complained when it became apparent that it wasn't a backup; and 2) real backup software became more user-friendly and capable.

In a clean install of Windows 10, System Restore is actually turned off by default. Because, why bother with half a solution when real backup software is available?

Part 2:

"I just installed the latest windows update and now my system is jacked ... and when I went to restore ... nothing."

Yes, and you're glad. After a feature update, all previous restore points are erased. You wouldn't want to restore an old restore point ... that would mean your computer has a combination of old and new registry hives, and old and new system files. That's asking for trouble.

Part 3 - the last part, finally:

"... is there nothing that can be done about this or are we just screwed?"

Note from the Finger Wagging Department: If you were backing up every day, as you should be, this would be a total non-event. Just restore a backup from before the update, and it's like Humpty Dumpty never fell off that wall.

Lacking that, what you do now depends on how you feel about computers. In other words, it's a matter of opinion. So this is my opinion, and you should know that I'm only interested in solutions that solve a problem now and in the future. No shortcuts for the Bulldog.

I accept that not everyone feels the same. Other people want a solution to make the pain go away, so they can get on with their lives. Respect if you feel that way. Here's my way:

If you are able to specifically identify the problems in your computer, fix them. If not, backup your personal data and start from scratch with a clean install. That way you'll know that everything will work well.

But don't bother with that if your computer originally shipped with a different version of Windows and the manufacturers of your hardware aren't supporting their stuff on Windows 10. If that's the case, do a factory restore to send your computer back to the way it was when it left the factory.

Answer 4

When you perform an upgrade or clean install of Windows 10, it deletes older system restore points.

If you want to go back to an older version of Windows 10, you have 10 days to so.

If thats what you want to do:

Open Start > Settings > Update & security > Recovery > under Go back to my previous version of Windows 10, click Get started.

or

Press Control + Alt + Delete

Click Sign out

At the Sign In screen, hold down the shift key on your keyboard while clicking the Power button on the screen

Continue to hold down the shift key while clicking Restart

Continue to hold down the shift key until the Advanced Recovery Options menu appears

Click Troubleshoot

Click Advanced options

Click Go back to the previous version of Windows

Windows Update might attempt to upgrade to Windows 10 1803 again. See instructions how to block it:

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/block-windows-...

Answer 5

Hi HDSDad. I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 8 year Windows MVP, here to help you.

I've been fighting for preserving System Restore via MVP channels for several years now since some Updates including Version Updates were turning it off. I've seen that a lot less lately, although Version Updates still remove all Restore Points because they are an Upgrade install which always does that. So it's important as I write in my tutorials to always check that System Restore is enabled on C with plenty of Disk space (5-15%) configured for it. http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/computing/how-t...

If you want to express your opinion on this to Microsoft use the Feedback Hub app in Start Menu where developers are tasked to process consumer feedback. They will not even see it here. This is a tech forums staffed mostly by volunteers trying to help others with your problems.

Version Updates till only can be rolled back for 10 days. This makes it important to keep a System Image backup so if a version Update messes up your install then you can restore it from the stored image in 20 minutes: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7363/macrium-re...

And as always the most important thing in Windows 10 is the quality of the install so it can endure the oppressive Updating with the least trouble. I recommend this Clean Install which should get you past all difficulties as it has hundreds of thousands of others who have followed the steps in this link and never come back to report another problem: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and let us know how it goes. I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

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