Restore windows xp system to a restore point. We roll back the Windows XP system without third-party programs

Restoring (rolling back) Windows XP

1. Introduction
The more you work with Windows, trying to get the most out of it and customize it to suit your needs, preferences and tasks, the more it confirms the half-joking concept that Windows should be considered one big glitch. After all, it often happens that a function that worked great yesterday, today either doesn’t work at all, or works completely differently than before.

Each Windows problem caused by objective reasons: changes in the Windows registry, system files, settings, boot options, drivers, consequences of malicious and simply poorly written programs. Even small changes to the system can make it impossible Windows boot XP, one of the most stable Windows in the world. That’s why in the section (Frequently Asked Questions) questions often arise about what to do if something in the system suddenly begins to work differently than before.

In some cases, you can assume the source of the problem, check, find and eliminate it, but very often it turns out that it is faster and easier to reinstall the system than to waste time studying registry errors (the size of which is usually about tens of MB), system files, their versions, system settings, etc.

Reinstalling Windows XP, if you have its distribution kit at hand and some experience, usually takes no more than an hour. However, installing additional drivers, programs, setting them up, as well as organizing work in accordance with user preferences may take more than one hour, and possibly more than one day. This procedure is routine, and you can simply forget what these or those settings and parameters were before.

This article contains information about ways to return the system to a previously known good state, with the necessary settings and in full accordance with individual preferences. This procedure is usually called “system rollback” (in English - “rollback”) or “system restore”. Below we consider rolling back changes to Windows XP (hereinafter we mean Windows update XP 32 bit Professional SP2), as the most popular home PC system.

Windows Vista, released at the end of 2006, did not live up to expectations and turned out to be less reliable in terms of data storage security, as a result of which it is not optimal. Release next Windows versions for home PCs, which is currently codenamed Windows Vienna, is planned for no earlier than 2010. Therefore, it is obvious that Windows XP will remain relevant at least until 2010-2011.

2. Built in Windows programs, used for recovery
Windows has several such programs:

- System Restore Application- system recovery program, the full path to which C:\WINDOWS/System32/Restore/rstrui.exe(hereinafter in the text it is assumed that the system is installed in the “default” directory - on drive C: in the “WINDOWS” folder);

- Windows Backup Utility- archiving program Windows data, the full path to which C:\WINDOWS/System32/Restore/ntbackup.exe;

- System File Checker- a program located like C:\WINDOWS/System32/Restore/sfc.exe. Checks versions of protected system files, and, if they are replaced or damaged, restores the original files from a special folder C:\WINDOWS/System32/dllcache. You can read more about this program;

Dr. programs with a very narrow application profile.

Shortcuts to the first two of the above programs can also be found in the main menu (Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools), unless, of course, you deleted them from there. The original location of system recovery program shortcuts in the "Standard" menu group is deeply symbolic. It seems that when creating Windows XP already implied that problems and rollbacks in the system would be a frequent occurrence. Shortcut for System File Checker If desired, you can create it yourself in the start menu.

In addition, it is possible to restore the Windows configuration (but not the entire OS!) to the state it had at the time of the last successful boot. To do this, you need to press the "F8" key after turning on the computer, immediately before the moment when the Windows boot logo and the boot identifier line (a running white stripe at the bottom of the screen) usually appear. If you have several OS installed on your computer, then the “F8” key can be pressed when the menu for selecting an OS to launch appears. If the above steps are performed correctly, a menu will appear on the screen with a list of additional Windows boot options, in which you need to select " Last Known Good Configuration" and confirm your choice by pressing the "Enter" key. More detailed information about this method of restoring the operating system can be read on the Internet at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852.

The described method helps if you have just installed:

A faulty driver that prevents normal loading of the OS;
- the second antivirus that began to conflict with the previously installed one, preventing it from working normally under the OS.

Strictly speaking, there is another Windows tool created for the most extreme case, when the problems are so serious that it is no longer possible to boot the system. This tool is the Recovery Console located on installation disk with Windows XP. However, the Recovery Console is too limited in functionality and only works from the command line, so it should only be used by qualified professionals. You can read more about the Recovery Console.

2.1. Windows Backup Utility
Unfortunately, the means Windows Backup Utility very far not only from the ideal, but even from the wishes of an undemanding user. In practice, it can only be used as an archiver of individual user files. The archives obtained as a result of this program are saved in files with the "BKF" extension, which other programs cannot work with. There are other significant drawbacks, including the inability to restore the system from an archive when the latter “does not boot” and the low degree of data compression. Therefore, third-party archivers are much better suited for creating backup copies of individual user files - for example, the well-known WinRar, and the lesser known free 7-Zip File Manager.

2.2. Built-in system recovery program
(System Restore Application)
Archivers that are convenient for creating copies of user files cannot be used for Reserve copy current state of the OS. The reason, in particular, is that running Windows XP will not allow the archiver to read the contents of many system files to create a backup copy of them, not to mention replacing system files under the active OS. In addition, some files and system data are located in strictly defined areas hard drive; when restoring, their location must very strictly coincide with the original one (before restoration), and archivers do not have this ability.

Where archivers are unsuitable, system rollback (restore) programs work successfully. First of all, it is a program built into Windows XP System Restore Application, already mentioned above and described in detail.

Since the installation of the OS, the service Win recovery dows(service name - srservice) is automatically included in working with hard disk partitions whose format is supported by Windows XP. During Windows operation this service tracks:

Changes in the registry and system configuration files;

Changes in OS modules, including changes that occurred as a result of installing system updates and patches;

Some other changes that Windows developers found necessary to track in order to later restore the original state of the OS using System Restore Application.

If any of the above changes take place, the data necessary to undo them, original copies of files and additional service information are written to special folders named “System Volume Information”. Such folders are created at the root of each hard drive partition that is being monitored.

See if it works for you System Restore Application, as well as manage this program, you can right-click on the “My Computer” icon, select “Properties”, and then the “System Restore” tab:

After a certain period of time, as well as during serious system events (more precisely, immediately before them), a so-called “return point” is created, relative to which changes are recorded. As a rule, such an event is installation (installation) new program or batch update.

The command to create a recovery point can also be called manually, specifying a description of this point, so that after a while you yourself do not get confused why the latter was created and what state the system was in at that time:

If necessary, you can return to one of the previously saved system states (to one of the saved restore points):

In this case, service data for recovery is read from the above backup folder (System Volume Information), and then Windows is put into a special state when some of its auxiliary functions are disabled and the protection of replaced system files is deactivated. Then the files and data needed for recovery are restored from the specified folder. After automatic reboot computer, the system should be restored (ideally) to the state recorded at the specified restore point. However, the picture of the restored system obtained in practice does not always fully correspond to the desired one.

In particular, the cause of the errors is the not entirely successful idea of ​​dividing files into “necessary” and “useless” (depending on their extension) for system recovery. This idea is as follows:

Files whose extensions correspond to user documents (for example, "DOC", "XLS", "PPT", etc.) are not tracked or restored;

Files whose extensions correspond to “system” files (for example, “EXE”, “DLL”, “SYS” and a number of others) are monitored, and all changes made to them are controlled, and when the system is restored, the latter are returned to their original state.

If you look at it, dividing files by extension can often lead to errors. Let's consider a small example of such an error: on Monday a system backup is created, and on Tuesday the user moves his office documents to a self-extracting archive, while deleting the source files as they are no longer needed. Then, for example, on Wednesday, the user notices errors in the operation of the computer and therefore decides to roll back the system state to the last known working state, i.e. to the restore point made on Monday. In this case, the archive with documents will be lost, and the original document files, as we remember, were deleted by the user himself.

Why did it happen? It's very simple: a self-extracting archive has the extension "EXE". According to this criterion, it is classified as a “system” file and, as a result, is deleted during system recovery, because in accordance with the rules described above, it is superfluous in the OS, because on Monday it was not yet there. Office files are not restored because their extension determines that they are not needed by the OS.

In such a situation, to restore documents, the user will need to return the OS state to the “future” - to the state on the environment, and then the lost archive will return. You will have to extract the original documents from it, and then, to restore the system to a working state, you can return to the “past” again - to the restore point containing records of the system state for Monday.

The system recovery program built into Windows has a number of other disadvantages, including the following:

After a system rollback, some types of files may have their duplicates; for example, in addition to the file “file”, “file(1)”, “file(2)”, etc. may appear in the same folder;

When running a service that monitors the system, additional computer RAM resources are used, which causes a decrease in computer performance;

Active operation of the specified service with a hard drive not only slows down the work of other programs on the same disk, but also quickly leads to fragmentation of the latter, which leads to an even greater decrease in performance (this is especially noticeable on laptops, where hard performance disk - one of the "bottlenecks");

If such global changes have been made to the OS that it has become impossible to boot, then you will not be able to use the recovery program.

It seems very risky to store the data needed to roll back the system in a folder located on the same partition of the same disk as the protected data. If there are problems associated with a violation of the file structure of the disk, the contents of this folder are likely to suffer the same problem as the files to be recovered. Therefore, it will be impossible to roll back the system to a working state using the program in question. A similar loss of data necessary for system recovery can also occur as a result of the destructive actions of viruses.

3. Conditions and means of reliable system rollback
So, rollback Windows systems XP implemented in System Restore Application, very far from perfect. But it can also be performed using other third-party programs. Most of these programs are created taking into account the above-mentioned shortcomings of the recovery tools built into Windows.

3.1. Separation of system and user data
To prevent the program from having to divide files into system and user files, which will inevitably lead to errors, the right to separate data should be given to a person. In practice, data division can be done like this: select a partition on a physical disk with a capacity of about 10-20 GB, which will be intended for use by the system (usually the system partition C:). In this case, another partition is allocated for the user’s files, for example, logical drive D:, or folder D:\ Documentation located on it.

It is advisable to leave the “My Documents” folder offered by the system, located on the system drive, in place. Let the files and subfolders that some programs like to leave in “My Documents” without the user’s knowledge go there, and the user’s new “Documents” folder will be automatically rid of such garbage.

To avoid confusion with two similar folders, you can remove the “My Documents” shortcut from the Desktop, and instead create a shortcut to the D:\ folder there. Documentation.

Office programs from Microsoft, system utilities, editors that do not take up very much disk space, as well as most other programs, can be installed on the system partition in the default folder - “C:\Program Files”. The exception is for programs that occupy a significant amount of disk space - approximately hundreds of MB or more. These include: games, voluminous reference books, and other “monsters” that occupy the hard drive, especially if the latter do not require storing their settings in the registry to operate. Such programs can be placed, for example, inside the D:\ folder Soft.

With this division, to roll back Windows, it will be enough to return only one small system partition to the desired state. This will take significantly less time than a full recovery, and will not affect either user data or programs on another partition. In addition, after the proposed separation, you can safely format the system partition and new installation systems to a clean partition without the risk of losing necessary files user. Such actions may be required, for example, if the file system on the system partition is corrupted or after an unsuccessful recovery.

3.2. Hard drive partitioning process
As noted above, for optimal system rollback, it is advisable to have a hard drive divided (i.e., divided) into several partitions. Additionally, you may need a separate partition to store system state backups.

To avoid possible data loss splitting hard It is advisable to split the disk into partitions before installing the system and before moving any useful data to it. For partitioning, the most effective, in my opinion, are programs Acronis Disk Director Suite 10 and Partition Magic version 8.0 or higher.

Even the most best program when partitioning, it is capable of making an error, which can lead to irretrievable loss of data. Therefore, in cases where partitioning has to be carried out when there is a “live” system installed, it is necessary to first create copies of all any important files on additional external or internal media. Such media can be a network or local drive, CD/DVD, flash memory, etc. Partitioning should only be carried out under the guidance of a person with the necessary knowledge and experience in the field of OS recovery.

When partitioning, the question often arises: which file system to choose for the partition - FAT32 or NTFS. From the point of view of storage security and optimality for most tasks performed under Windows XP, preference is often given to NTFS, as it is more modern, self-healing, and protected from the point of view of data access control. On the other hand, FAT32 is much simpler and preferable in terms of performance, especially in the case of an older computer with 128 MB of RAM or less. In addition, if the system cannot boot for some reason, access to data to correct problems on a FAT32 partition can be obtained using a regular MS-DOS boot floppy disk. In the case of NTFS, this will be more difficult to do, because will require running a cumbersome driver. At the same time, for a fully comfortable user experience with files, you will need a Live CD or DVD based on Windows PE(Windows Preinstallation Edition), which will perform a number of OS functions without requiring the latter to be installed on the hard drive, but its files will take up a considerable part of the computer’s RAM.

3.3. Third-party system rollback (recovery) programs
Writing system rollback (restore) programs is a responsible process, because... mistakes made during development can be very costly for users. Creating such programs requires the work of many specialists who have deeply studied the system and equipment, both in theory and in practice, so this task is only within the capabilities of leading large software companies and, as a result, there are not so many such programs.

You can identify standard functions that are found in all modern system recovery programs:

The ability to restore the entire system partition, or only selected folders and files, or only files;

The ability to create backup copies of the system state on another (non-system) physical or logical disk, on the network, on removable media (CD, DVD, flash) with automatic splitting of these copies into parts;

Recovery from all of the above media types;

Supports all file systems used by common operating systems on hard drives: FAT16/32, NTFS, Ext2/3FS, etc.;

Possibility of data recovery even if the OS does not boot;

Opportunity to do backup copy or recovery (rollback) without installing the program - from a boot CD that supports access to disks with file systems FAT16/32, NTFS, Ext2/3FS and CD/DVD-ROM drives;

The possibility of differential data copying, in which not all data is recorded, but only the changes made since the previous full data copy.

The table below is a list of some well-known OS recovery programs given at the time of writing this article (December 2007 - January 2008):

Program name	Price	Developer's website
Paragon Drive Backup 8.51
Acronis True Image Home RUS 11.0

Manufacturers ShadowUser pay attention to the main feature of their program: the ability to create a “layer” between the file and operating systems. When activated ShadowUser file changes are written to free place on the disk, and after a reboot they can be destroyed. That's why this program It is more suitable for using the computer in Internet shops, for those who like to experiment with various “experiments” on the system, as well as for using the computer by a child or other person who cannot ensure the safety of important data on the hard drive.

ShadowUser, like the more famous program Norton GoBack, uses free space on protected partitions to store its recovery data. System recovery tools like ShadowUser, have a number of the above-mentioned disadvantages of the recovery program built into Windows, the main one of which is the slowdown of the computer when the OS is running due to the continuous recording of all changes that occur.

As can be seen from the information provided on the developer’s website APBackup, the program, frankly speaking, is weak, and even uses ZIP files to store copies of the system state, which is clearly not intended for this purpose. The program installer available for download is very small (size is just over 3 MB), so it will be easy for everyone to check in practice the validity of my opinion about the program. Numerous other programs of this kind, which are only more or less successful archivers, are absolutely unsuitable for complete OS recovery.

4. System rollback using Acronis True Image Home as an example
Job Description Below Acronis True Image(we have considered the version of Acronis True Image Home 10, which in the following text we will simply call " Acronis") has much in common with the work of other programs, such as, for example, Norton Ghost And Paragon Drive Backup.

Work with Acronis It is especially convenient due to the fact that the program has an interface and built-in reference materials in Russian. It also adds special functions that Russian-speaking PC users need. For example, in cases where the program is launched from a bootable CD without the need to boot into Windows, a switch for Russian and English keyboard layouts appears on the screen, very similar to the switch found in Windows.

By examining the main menu of the program below, you can familiarize yourself with its main functions:

A PC user who has some experience with other similar programs can easily start working with Acronis immediately after installing it on Windows OS, because The program interface is intuitive, and the execution of individual functions is carried out using thoughtful step-by-step “wizards” that will not allow the user to “go astray.” Convenient "wizards" are used even in loading cases Acronis from a CD or from a security area. However, due to the responsibility of the assigned tasks, it is necessary to study the functionality of the program in more detail using, for example, reference materials built directly into Acronis.

4.1. Creating a copy (archive)
First task Acronis- creating a backup copy of the OS. The backup copy of data created by the program is called an “archive,” so we will continue to call it by this term throughout the text.

The archive can be created in the “background” mode - without interrupting the operation of the system and individual programs. In this case, the “control point” for the created archive will be considered the state of the OS immediately at the moment when the archive creation process starts in the Acronis program. Therefore, changes made (for example, adding or deleting files) that will be made after the specified point are no longer made to the created archive.

We suggest copying "My Computer":

In the next step, select the partition with the OS:

Next, indicate the location where the created archive will be saved. This could be another partition of the same hard drive, another hard drive, a location in a network environment, removable media, a location on the Internet accessible via an FTP connection, or a security zone (about the security zone, see paragraph 4.3 of this article ):

Next, you are asked to choose to create a full, incremental or differential archive:

A “full” archive contains all the copied information, and an “incomplete” (differential or incremental) archive contains only changes that occurred in relation to the previously created full archive. Therefore, these archives will occupy a smaller volume compared to a “full” archive, which is their advantage.

In incremental archives, each new archive adds one more file to the existing “chain”, taking into account the entire logical sequence of previous archives. Therefore, to restore from it you will need the original "full" archive and all previous "incremental" archives.

The differential archive contains all changes that occurred after the full backup was created. Therefore, incremental archives will take up less space than differential ones, and to restore from a differential archive you will only need this archive and the original “full” archive. In addition, restoration from a differential archive will be faster than from an incremental one.

If from the moment of complete archiving until the moment of creating an incomplete archive on the copied disk partition, the defragmentation program works seriously, then the location of the files will be greatly “shuffled”. Therefore, the "incomplete" copy will be comparable in size to the "full" one and, therefore, will lose its advantages. Taking this into account, it is more rational to create a new “full” archive.

Next, you are asked to select copying parameters (in my opinion, in most cases it is better to leave them “by default”) and enter a comment for the archive. After clicking the "Proceed" button, the archive creation procedure starts.

It should be noted that the creation of archives in Acronis produced very intelligently. For example, paging and hibernation files, which do not carry useful information. The copied data is compressed (“by default”), which makes copying even faster than without compression. To completely copy the system partition, which takes up about 5-10 GB of space, a few minutes are enough.

4.2. System recovery (rollback)
After selecting the recovery command, you are prompted to specify the location of the archive from which you want to restore data:

In this case, you can choose to restore disks, only certain partitions, or individual files on them:

If you need to view or copy individual archive files, it is more convenient to do this by simply opening the archive file from under Acronis, after which you can “enter” this archive as a regular folder. Moreover, you can connect an image of a partition or disk located in the archive. As a result of the connection, a new virtual disk will appear on the computer with the contents of the archived image, which is practically no different from ordinary (real) disks or partitions in its operation, but will be read-only. This disk will exist either until the image is disconnected through the program Acronis, or until the computer is rebooted.

Please note that in addition to restoring the system partition, it is also possible to restore the MBR ( Master Boot Record - master boot record). Acronis True Image includes the MBR in the archive, despite the fact that the user did not issue such a command when creating the archive. Obviously, this unplanned user action occurs for the following reasons:

The MBR occupies an obviously insignificant size in the archive, while its copy contains critical data about the disk;

MBR corruption leads to serious consequences. In most cases, after such distortions, to restore system functionality, partition recovery alone will not be enough and preliminary MBR recovery will be required (this is where a copy of this record, prepared in advance, comes in handy Acronis True Image).

MBR recovery can (and should) be done only if the data in the MBR is obviously erroneous. It is important to remember: if during the period from the moment the archive was created to the moment the recovery procedure was launched, the position of the partitions on the physical disk changed, then restoring the previous MBR will most likely lead to damage to the partitions whose physical location on the hard disk has been changed.

Select the desired system partition as the recovery location. You can restore a partition to a place other than its “native” location, if there is enough free space for this in the new recovery location.

In subsequent dialog boxes, you can change the type of partition to be restored, the space before and after the partition to be restored, assign a letter to the partition (a new name), and also change some other parameters. In all these windows, the parameters initially correspond to the initial properties of the partition - for example, the previously existing partition type and its letter (name) are indicated. Therefore, it is not advisable to make any changes to the parameters (relative to the parameters initially set in the dialog boxes) unless absolutely necessary.

While Windows continues to run, it is impossible to recover the partition on which its files are located (the system partition). Therefore, while the OS is running, actions to restore it can only be planned. After clicking the "Proceed" button, the computer will restart; while in RAM component will be loaded Acronis, which works without the need to boot Windows, which will carry out the planned recovery actions.

Restoring a system partition with occupied space of about 5-10 GB takes approximately 5-15 minutes. Then you need to reboot the computer again, after which the restored OS will be ready for use.

4.3. Using Acronis Secure Zone and booting the program from a CD
Security zone Acronis- this is a place on a physical disk that is a partition that is not connected to the OS. It is inaccessible to Windows (“invisible”), so the risk of intentional or accidental deletion, as well as modification of the data contained on it by the user, other programs or viruses, is practically excluded.

How can I Acronis works with security zone? For this purpose it is used special driver Acronis, which allows you to access data on a disconnected partition, bypassing OS tools. Theoretically, it is possible to create a virus that contains a driver similar to that used in Acronis so that the virus can gain access to the security zone. However, information about the emergence of viruses with such capabilities has not yet been recorded in any of the official sources. The fact is that driver development is technically complex, and creating such viruses is practically pointless. After all, it is easier to develop malicious code that deletes all information from a physical disk (all partitions along with all the data on them), which will be no less “effective” than creating a highly specialized virus with a complex driver.

In the security zone you can store not only archives, but also files necessary to download the program itself Acronis without using Windows. If this function is enabled, then when the computer starts, you will be prompted for a few seconds to press the "F11" key to boot Acronis. If the "F11" key is not pressed, Windows will begin loading.

Implementing this feature requires changes to the MBR. Such changes may be blocked if modification of the MBR is prohibited in BIOS settings. In addition, incorrectly changing the MBR can lead to complete loss of data on the computer, so this type of procedure must be performed with extreme caution.

Another dangerous operation performed Acronis- this is the creation of a safety zone, because at the same time it is formed new section either by allocating part of the space occupied on the hard disk by existing partitions, or by using the space remaining unallocated among partitions (unformatted areas). Those. In fact, a new disk partition occurs. Possible negative consequences of errors during partitioning have already been discussed in paragraph 3.2 of this article.

Download option Acronis from CD without need Windows startup very useful in cases where for some reason the latter turns out to be inoperative. In this case, using Acronis It is also possible to restore a damaged MBR. As with booting from the security zone, the user will be presented with a windowed interface very similar to that implemented in Acronis for Windows XP. The main menu and the order of individual operations are also very similar to those implemented in Acronis for Windows.

5. Conclusion
In some cases, it is enough to use the standard recovery program built into Windows XP, especially in situations where user data, settings and system performance are not very important for the person working at the computer (for example, if the computer is used as a gaming machine).

In cases where the system operates under conditions of frequent experimentation and can be damaged at any time, or when fast and more reliable data recovery is required, paid programs from third-party manufacturers are used. In such cases, to increase performance and avoid duplication of copy functions, perform a standard system restore along with the appropriate Windows service It is advisable to turn it off completely. It should be borne in mind that working with such programs requires special care and caution, and the user, of course, must be competent in this matter and have a clear understanding of what the program he is using does and how it does it. Otherwise, recovery attempts are more likely to result in data loss than useful results.

No recovery (rollback) method guarantees a 100% recovery result. Therefore, in all cases, it is necessary to regularly archive user data on external storage media.

The last non-obvious tip: before restoring data, it is advisable to make an additional copy of the current state of the OS. If this precaution is taken, it will always be possible to return to the state that existed before recovery. This can be very useful in the event that the rollback procedure suddenly went wrong, and further aggravated the current situation.

A fully functioning function to restore one of the previous saved system states appeared in Windows XP. This is a very useful and necessary feature of the OS, allowing you to bring it back to life after problems with the software occur. The user himself is to blame for some of these situations, but most conflicts are related to imperfections operating system and the software products used in it. It often happens that the operating system generates an error when loading the desktop or launching an application after installing or uninstalling a software product (application, new device driver), deleting or modifying a system file, or becoming infected with malicious files. In addition to messages about Windows error may slow down, constantly drop to the desktop or display notifications in the system tray.

For the most part, such things cannot be solved by removing the problematic driver, application, or restoring a system file. What remains besides reinstalling the operating system? Her recovery. Today we’ll look at how to roll back Windows XP without using a disk with installation files.

Implementation of Windows XP recovery

After Windows installations System Restore Application starts automatically and creates a rollback or restore point for most actions that could harm the system (modify or replace system files, work with the registry in write mode):

• installing programs using Windows Installer and other installers that support system recovery;
• before installing updates and drivers;
• every day with default settings;
• at the user's request.

The restore point is a hidden system directory called System Volume Information. It stores copies of records Windows registry, installed applications and system components. To do this, a free amount of disk space is allocated on the system volume, up to 12% of the total partition size.

Due to the imperfection of system recovery in XP (reserving the entire registry, backing up only certain types of files from a clearly limited list of directories), often after the OS is rolled back to a previous state after updating a driver or program, they may not completely return to their previous state. As a result, you have to reinstall the product manually.

Working with the Windows XP recovery feature

To make sure that the System Restore Application is active, call “Properties” of the “My Computer” directory and go to the “System Restore” tab.

• In order to view system restore points and roll back XP, call the “System Restore” window using one of the proposed methods.
• Enter “rstui” or “rstui.exe” in the “Run” line and press “Enter”.

• We go to the address:

• We select the first option, as shown in the screenshot, in order to be able to view all Windows XP restore points created by you and the operating system and roll back its state to the selected point.

• Select a rollback point from the list or using the calendar.

This will provide greater convenience when there are multiple restore points scattered over a significant time period. The days when retracement points were created are highlighted in bold.

• Click “Next”.

• We close all running applications, as the recovery program warns, and click “Next”.

• We are waiting for the completion of copying operations for more than earlier versions system files.

• We restart the computer after a window appears with information about the completion of the system rollback procedure.

Problem solving

It happens that recovery fails due to a number of reasons. In such cases, you need to run the system rollback process again, but in the second step, choose to cancel the last restore, as in the screenshot. Then you can try to roll back again, but select a different point (preferably one created immediately before the one used).

It is possible that service files located in System Volume Information are damaged, which prevents attempts to access them.

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Hello everyone, Ruslan Nova is here, and today we will talk about how to roll back a Windows system.

Microsoft operating systems are equipped with the ability to rollback, that is, loading the last created restore point. This option is very useful if your computer starts to work incorrectly, crashes appear, and it is not possible to reinstall the system from scratch.

From this article you will learn:

• how to roll back a system based on Windows XP;

• how to roll back a system based on Windows 7;

• how to roll back a system based on Windows 8 and 8.1;

• How to roll back a system based on Windows 10.

How to roll back a Windows XP system?

Option #1

First you need to click Start, after which the main panel will open, in which we select the All programs tab.

In the window that appears, look for the Standard line and click on it.

The tab that appears contains many items, but we need to find the Service line and activate it.

In the tab that opens, all you have to do is select Recovery, after which the required service will automatically start.

Option No. 2

The second method starts by opening the My Computer folder, then you need to open Local Drive C.

After that, go to the Windows folder

Inside there is another folder called System32, which also needs to be opened by double-clicking.

Inside you need to find and open the Restore folder.

Double clicking on the rstrui.exe application will activate the system restore system.

How to restore Windows 7 checkpoint

Option #1

This method is somewhat similar to the principle of system recovery on the XP platform. Click the Start button and look for the All Programs line.

Click Standard.

After this, activate the Service line.

The System Restore shortcut starts the process we need.

Option No. 2

This method is one of the simplest. It consists of only 2 steps. The first is the opening Command line by pressing the Win+R key combination.

Then all you have to do is enter the rstrui command and click OK, after which system recovery will automatically start.

Option No. 3

Option similar to 1. Open the My Computer folder, then the Local Disk C folder.

Go to the Windows folder.

Double-click to go to the System32 folder.

All that remains is to select and launch the rstrui application, after which the system will begin to roll back to the last restore point.

Option No. 4

Another simple way to quickly restore Win 7. Right-click on My Computer and open the Properties line.

In the left column of the window that opens, you need to find the line System Protection and click on it.

The tab contains a Restore button, clicking which starts the process.

Option No. 5

The last method that allows you to roll back the system. Click Start and select Control Panel.

Let's start Recovery.

How to roll back Windows 8 and 8.1

Option #1

Most in a simple way is to activate the Command Line and then enter a special request. By pressing Win+R, you will open the above line.

Then you need to enter rstrui and click OK. This will start the recovery service.

Option No. 2

This method is the same as in the case of Windows 7. Right-click on My Computer and go to the Properties tab.

After that, go to the System Protection line.

In the corresponding tab there is a Restore button. Activating it starts the process and eliminates questions about how to perform a system rollback.

Option No. 3

And this method is classic for almost all Windows systems. Go to the My Computer folder, and then to the Local Drive C folder.

Inside there is Windows folder, which is what we need.

Inside it we are looking for another folder called System32. Let's go there.

We find the rstrui application, double-click it to activate it, and now you don’t need to think about how to perform a system rollback.

Option No. 4

The last method has 6 steps. It all starts by opening the Settings tab in the special pop-up window on the right.

Click Shutdown in the window that opens.

After this, a tab with a choice of 2 items is displayed. We need to select the Reboot line, but we need to click on it while holding down the Shift button

The screen that appears has 3 items, but we need Diagnostics. Let's activate the line.

After that, go to the Additional options item.

System Restore is the button we need that will put the service into action.

Option #1

The simplest and known method starts by pressing the Win+R combination, which opens the command line.

Enter the rstrui command and confirm with the OK button.

Option No. 2

Another way: right-click on My Computer and select the Properties tab.

The last step is to click the Restore button in the corresponding tab.

Option No. 3

A method specific only to Win 10; 8 and 8.1. Open the Shutdown menu.

In the window that opens, find the Diagnostics parameter and activate it.

Click on Additional options.

The final step is to activate the System Restore line.

Option No. 4

First you need to open the Search menu, located to the right of the Start button.

In the bottom line, enter the request Recovery, and click the corresponding tab, which immediately appears above after entering the word in the search bar.

Click on the line Start system recovery.

So we looked at how to perform a system rollback and how to run system restore on the most common Windows operating systems. Good luck and see you again.

During long-term work on a personal computer, critical situations may arise associated with constant malfunctions and so-called “glitches.” Fatal system errors occur, the cause of which may be different. Very often, users, taking advantage of the free opportunity provided by Microsoft, install Windows 10 on their hard drive and then problems begin. Often, a personal device begins to malfunction and “glitch” after installing any drivers. This is due to the fact that users forget about already installed drivers and download them again. This will certainly lead to a conflict between them and a failure in operation.

The reason for constant “glitches” can also be the downloading and installation of malicious software. software

OS repair

Before taking radical measures, you need to try to save the operating system in simple ways:

1. Conduct full scan for viruses, personal device
2. Remove duplicate program and driver files
3. Defragment HDD and registry
4. Remove the second Windows

There is one more nuance that many users forget about. Cannot be installed on Personal Computer two powerful ones at once antivirus programs. If you install Kaspersky Anti-Virus and ESETNOD32 at the same time, then Windows is almost guaranteed to have to be reinstalled, since the device will immediately stop working normally. Each program perceives the other as a virus and they will try to destroy each other. By the way, complete uninstallation of such products is a complex and lengthy process. If relatively simple measures do not help, you will have to properly roll back the computer, in other words, restore the operating system from the rollback point.

Windows Recovery

This procedure is simple, but each version has its own characteristics.

• To roll back your Windows XP system, you can use a built-in program called SystemRestoreApplication. The program itself creates restore points during the download process of package updates and new programs.

In order to enter the program and manage its operation, you need to perform the following steps: “My Computer” icon - “Properties” - “System Restore”

After clicking “OK”, the program itself will begin to perform the necessary actions.

You can also create restore points or rollback points yourself.

• You can perform a system rollback of Windows 8 using built-in hardware. To roll back Windows 8 you need to follow a certain sequence of actions. Close all applications and, while holding down the “Shift” key, click “Restart” in the shutdown menu.

Next, in the “Select Action” menu, click on “Diagnostics” and “Next”.

• To roll back the Windows 10 system, you need to select “Settings” in “Start”, enter the “Update and Recovery” section and launch it with the “Restore” button.

The process is performed automatically

At reinstalling Windows, the old OS remains in the "Windows.old" folder and Windows 7 Boot Manager may prompt you to boot using previous version. She takes disk space and does not contribute to the good functioning of the personal device, so it must be uninstalled. To remove Windows from the download list, you need to follow a sequence of simple steps.

Sometimes computer users have an unpleasant situation when the Windows xp software shell we are used to begins to slow down, other applications malfunction, and often the computer reboots itself or the “screen of death” pops up.

Such errors can be caused by recently installed programs, viruses, unnecessary files on the disk, damaged system files. Moreover, if you suspect that you are guilty recently installed program, removing it does not always help restore stable operation of the system. This is where rolling back the system to the state when this program was not yet installed will come to your aid.

Now we will tell you how to roll back a windows xp system.

Using the built-in program in Windows XP to restore the system

It's called System Restore Application and is installed automatically when you install Windows XP. It also starts automatically every time Windows boots and monitors changes in the system file structure.

The program uses those disk partitions that are supported by the operating shell.

When the program runs, it monitors the following processes:

How the configuration files and system registry.
How does it change modular system after installing system updates.
Other important changes that can be returned to their original state.

When any change occurs in the above files, recovery data, file sources and service information are saved in folders that are automatically created in “System Volume Information”. This folder is provided in the root of any drive letter that is monitored by the system.

To make sure that System Restore Application is running and performing its functions, right-click on the “My Computer” icon and select “Properties”, and then “System Restore”.

Before serious system events occur, a “return point” is created in which changes are recorded in order to make a successful rollback of Windows XP.

Usually this point is created automatically before you install any new program.

However, you can do it yourself. To do this, go to “Start” -> “Programs” -> “Accessories” -> “System Tools” -> “System Restore”. Then check the box “Create a restore point” and then click next. The following window will open.

For convenience, name the rollback point so that it is easy to remember later, then click “Create”.

Rolling back a Windows xp system also begins by going to “Start” -> “Programs” -> “Accessories” -> “System Tools” -> “System Restore”, but now you just click on the “Next” button.

Now on the calendar, select the date until which the system worked stably, click on it, and then click “Next”.

The operating system will begin to roll back to this point.

This process is quite long, so be patient. Once completed, the computer will reboot and a window like this will appear.

In this case, all programs installed after the selected date will disappear, but all your manually modified files (Word documents, Excel) will not change, even if you edited them after the date of the restore point. The same applies to downloaded files of any kind - they will remain in place.

If this method of “treating” the computer did not help, then similarly select an even earlier date on the calendar.

In rare cases, complications may arise after recovery, then select the third option in the recovery menu, which was not there before. There will be a kind of “rollback rollback” of windows.

How to restore using a third-party Acronis program?

Download and install Acronis on your computer, then launch it. The main program window will open.

First of all, create a backup copy of the system, which is displayed as an archive. It can be done using background mode, so Windows will not interrupt current running processes. As soon as the archive begins to be created, wait until the process completes.

Let's describe all the steps in more detail.

First, copy “My Computer”.

Now select the desired section.

Specify the folder on your hard drive or removable media where the archive will be stored.

After saving the archive, you can be sure that you will be able to roll back the system at any time. To do this, select “Restore” and indicate the folder in which the archive is located.

If you just want to see the contents of the archive, then you need to open the file in the program itself.

Now select the files that need to be restored. You can also specify the restoration of the master boot record, from the invisible files of which the computer actually starts booting after turning on.

By the way, you can also restore files to another folder on your hard drive or removable media.

Important detail. System rollback will not begin until Windows XP is running. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that when you click on the “Proceed” button, the computer will restart, so do not be alarmed.

After the reboot, the computer will start to boot again, and when the BIOS and other programs are loaded into the RAM, the Acronis base will also be loaded, which will then perform all the necessary operations. A system partition with a capacity of five to ten gigabytes is restored in five to fifteen minutes, after which you restart the computer again.

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