system-restore interview questions
Top system-restore frequently asked interview questions
I just had to do a system restore on a Windows XP machine infected by some malware or virus. Among other things, the virus had hidden all files and folders on all drives, removed all shortcuts in the start menu, and somehow blanked and locked the desktop. After fixing some things manually (but not the desktop issue) I thought about System Restore.
Performing the System Restore was successful and also fixed the desktop issue.
But this left me with the questions:
- What exactly does System Restore restore and not restore?
- Are there any notable differences between Windows XP and Windows Vista/7 System Restore?
Edit: I know in general what System Restore restores: you Windows configuration but not your files. I am interested in more detailed information, like does it also resets meta property of files (like read-only, hidden), if it restores programs what parts of the program are restored (only .exe file, or also related files in 'application data', ...?), ...
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have a new Dell Laptop that I have setup the way I like it. I want to use Windows 7 to do a backup and then restore that backup on a different hard drive (solid state).
When I setup the backup info (manually) for Windows 7 Backup there is a little checkbox at the the bottom that says:
Include a system image of drives: RECOVERY, OS (C:)
I can also select to backup all my data on the C: drive (the only hard drive I have anything on) as well as some libraries (which are on my C: drive so no point in selecting those).
The question I have is, does Windows 7 Backup just somehow know what needs to be restored (ie program files and Windows and the registry ....? Or is it really making a full restorable copy of the C: drive? (If the later is true then I don't need select the C: drive to be "backed up" if I don't plan to access the files except by restoring them right? (Because the system image will already have it all.))
So, which way is it? What is saved in the System Image?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I know when I click on "show more restore points" in Windows 7 System Restore application it shows up more restore points. But are they all of them? Only a few more showed up, and I believed I must have had more.
I also checked the disk space I allocated for the restore points, there is still much space left.
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have a user profile which has files moved from the desktop to the network and deleted. Will system restore restore user profiles as well such that my desktop files will be back?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have a fresh and activated Windows 7 installation that I would like to use as a Test installation. So I would like to create a Snapshot and be able to completely revert to that snapshot.
As it's not Enterprise/Ultimate, VHD Booting is not an option, and as it's a Netbook, VMWare/VPC is not an option either.
So I wonder if System Restore is good enough, or if I need an imaging solution? (If it helps: I have a Windows Home Server)
I should add that the HD has 2 partitions, and on both are Windows 7 installations. The second partition should be left untouched as this is the main Setup.
Source: (StackOverflow)
Is there any way to copy the restore points to another location? A virus could delete the restore points so I want to put them in a separate directory and save them for later use. My OS is Windows Vista.
Source: (StackOverflow)
In the spirit of Joel Spolsky's "Let’s stop talking about backups" article, is there any software that's good at restoring a Windows computer?
By "good", I mean it can handle a situation where a laptop is dropped, stolen, flooded, or otherwise completely unusable. I want to be able to take a backup image and restore it on another computer, which may be a completely different make and model, and have the new computer running without having to re-install every application and re-configure every setting.
Obviously, any new device drivers will need to be installed and configured, and Windows itself will need to be reactivated. But is there any software that will do this out of the box with a minimum of typing, scripting, and hoop-jumping?
From Daniel R Hicks:
If I open a new question it will just get closed as a dupe of this one, and TPTB don't like a question in an answer, so I must edit this one:
Norton Ghost gets some pretty lousy reviews on Amazon, and Acronis gets even worse ones. Is there ANY reasonably reliable system imaging/backup software for Windows (Vista and 7)?? What about ShadowProtect Desktop?
(At this point I'd settle for a drive image only tool -- no deltas -- so long as it has a reasonable chance of restoring to a replacement drive.)
Source: (StackOverflow)
Whenever I install using .MSI, the system freezes right after starting the Volume Shadow Copy Service/etc, and creating a System Restore Point.
If possible, I'd rather not disable System Restore, as this deletes all previous restore points. I also don't want to kill the service/process, although I haven't tried this one yet to see if it even works.
How can I prevent a system restore point from being created while installing using a MSI launcher?
Source: (StackOverflow)
Microsoft's website states that "System Restore does not affect personal files, such as e-mail, documents". However, they do not define what personal files are.
Today, I installed a new AMD graphics card. After installing the latest driver (13.1), the system became unstable and occasionally crashes, so I decided to roll back using system restore. The system becomes stable again, but some user files are missing, including those in the C:\Users\<name>\Downloads. It appears to me that zip files are kept and exe files are gone.
Note that the files were still there after the crashes and before system restore, so they're not lost because of the crashes.
Does anyone know what is the precise mechanism Windows uses to decide what files to restore/remove? How does it tell what is a system file and what is not?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I am using Windows 7 Professional. My system crashed few days back and to recover that, I inserted the Windows 7 DVD. While running the System Restore from the DVD, it showed there are no restore points. It shocked me. I created few restore points, where they disappeared.
Is there a way to preserve these restore points from accidental deletion? Is there any other FREE tool to take snapshot of the image on other disk?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have done system restore 10-15 times thus far within 5-6 months.....
Is it a bad practise to do system restore often?
Source: (StackOverflow)
Is there a way of determining which files and registry values were added\deleted\modified during a Windows 7 system restore? Maybe a log file?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have a problem that did not exist at a previous system restore point. I want to find out the difference. Is there a built-in or third party program that can list the differences?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I just bought a Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Tablet (4294) and I'm trying to use the Factory Recovery Disks application within Lenovo ThinkVantage Tools to create "boot media" and "data media", but I don't have enough space on my 8 GB USB stick for the latter. This was surprising to me because I read that a CD will hold the "boot media" and a DVD will hold the "data media." My laptop doesn't have an optical drive, so I can't burn any disk. (Don't get me started on my Sony DRX-710UL external burner that won't work with Windows 7.)
Anyway, this is the error I get, including the misspelling:
Create Recovery Media
No enough temporary disk space in D drive, Create Recovery Media will exit now.
OK
Judging from some other posts I'm not the only person having this trouble.
Another post got me looking into a file called cdrivebackup.wim and I'm thinking that perhaps I need to get a USB stick that is as large or larger than Q:\FactoryRecovery, which for me is 9,592,796,014 bytes (~9 GB), per below. Does that sounds right?
C:\Users\pdurbin>dir Q:FactoryRecovery
Volume in drive Q is Lenovo_Recovery
Volume Serial Number is 640D-D557
Directory of Q:\FactoryRecovery
10/15/2011 02:28 AM 3,986 bcdinfo.txt
10/15/2011 02:28 AM 9,290,524,252 cdrivebackup.wim
10/15/2011 02:28 AM 956 RECOVERY.INI
10/15/2011 02:07 AM 302,266,820 sdrivebackup.wim
4 File(s) 9,592,796,014 bytes
0 Dir(s) 810,397,696 bytes free
Source: (StackOverflow)
I have an ASUS computer running Windows 7 Home Premium and I am attempting to test my system backup/restore. I created the recovery DVD and system backup images (from the tools included with the OS) which I stored on an external hard drive.
When I attempt to test the backup, the boot from DVD is successful, and I can locate the folder for the system images on the external drive. However, the Windows restore program is now asking for the name of the file (of type Setup Information). The image folder contains three folders - Backup{date}, Catalog, SPPMetadatCache, and a file named MediaId. I've tried selecting almost all of the files, but none will work.
Which file(s) should I select?
Source: (StackOverflow)