Okay, let do something basic.
Please complete this tutorial by Brink on the troubled computer.
I need to see the log.
Windows Genuine and Activation Issue Posting Instructions
If you can't do any of the test and post results, I can only think of one other thing to do.
Save what you can to a external drive and do a Clean Install.
Jack
Well, I have gained lost ground !
By typing the error message I kept getting in Google search, I found this:
Solved: c:\windows\system32\config\systemprofile\desktop | Tech Support Guy
I read and read and re-read and looked and hunted and scrutinized through all of the user folders and could not find a single instance where I had acquired a second folder with the same name except empty, so I really don't think that part of the fix is relevant.
What I did have was a single "Desktop" folder in the user folders.
Opening this folder showed only five desktop shortcut icons and nothing else; so, I was not very excited as to the outcome of me copy/pasting this Desktop folder into "systemprofile"
I had already looked and there was no Desktop folder in systemprofile, empty or otherwise.
So, figuring I had little to lose, I copy/pasted that Desktop folder into systemprofile.
Instantly, about a fifth of my missing icons appeared on the desktop, more than were in the folder; plus, some shortcut icons showed up that I had never seen before,such as "libraries", "control panel", "Explorer"
I still had no task bar icons.
I held my breath and give her a restart.......; and, low and behold, it restarted and there was our old familiar desktop, back in all it's glory.
I give her a few minutes to get settled and successfully created a new system restore point.
I haven't taken time to put her through her paces; I am exhausted to the point of staggering, but I will get a second wind directly and see what is what.
I never did quite grasp this statement in the instructions: "once it has copied a message will say copy desktop.ini file the top 1 being older and other newer make sure you overwrite this to the older 1."; and, I have not as of yet seen any such message.
I did search around in the system files and I never saw any desktop.ini files.
After I catch my breath and recuperate from this ordeal, I intend to do that command prompt shadow copy business; as the mystery still has not been solved as to where all of my restore points went.
One of the most common causes of "missing" system restores is User action.
A lot of system maintenance programs like CCleaner, and even windows own Disk Clean-up contain an option to delete all but the last Restore Point. The last restore point is normally the only one you actually need but if you have a reason to retain more than this then be careful when housekeeping a system - the actual store for the restore point is also set to a specific size as described by Jack, and will automatically remove the oldest or more to make room for each new retore point
Just a thought.
It could be that you have been changing names of folders and moving them around and Windows 7 couldn't find them. I have also read that icon problem can happen when a (Make my Desktop Pretty) program has been used.
If you have Ccleaner on your system, you can also see restore points under (Tools).
Jack
I don't have any sort of CCleaner or such, nor did I employ one of those make-my-desktop-pretty deals.
I honestly cannot fathom any reason for the near calamity I had.
It may or may not be connected at all; but, the two events that predated the trouble was first, I made several attempts to create a restore point and on each attempt got the shadow copy error.
I gave up on that and restarted the machine, hoping that would purge whatever glitch was preventing me creating restore points, and it all went downhill from there, at which point I left the ninety and nine to retrieve the one that had gone astray.
After the "fix", it is as good as it ever was and whatever was wrong with creating restore points is fixed as well.
Try cmd prompt and see if you have it back. If it's back run this and see if any errors are found.
sfc /scannow
Jack
Results of "sfc /scannow":
After all this scary episode, the machine is running like a 6BT Cummins; however, I am still losing restore points and for reasons unbeknownst to me it is hanging onto those two from October (which may be a good thing as it was clean install sometime in October)
Which leads me to the question, can I pick certain restore points so that that it never deletes them ?
Also, how can I get it to keep the last several ?
When I look in our other identical machine, it has a long list of restore points.
On EDIT:
Do I do ^^^ this ^^^ in normal or elevated command prompt ?
Thanks for reading.
Last edited by BuckSkin; 20 Jan 2017 at 18:09.
Hi
System restore is dependant upon VSS which in turn is dependant on the amount of free space on your MBR.
If you have vey little space on it then VSS and system restore will both fail.
(I've recently and Unfortunately not been able to resolve, @Microbell, his problem).
The thread makes for interesting reading and may help you to resolve yours.
Windows 7 Update disables system restore + new folder entry
Please post the Event Id's that are thrown up, we can go from there.
Roy
I haven't read that entire thread yet, however, I just checked again to be certain and the machine in question shows one of those "Windows(C: ) Missing"; the Missing has protection ON as also the Windows(C: ) main drive.
When I clicked "Configure", everything in that box looked the same as the "good" example posted in that thread with one exception, while that capacity gauge thingie shows 10-GB available, there are only a very few MBs of that space currently being used; the same thing on this machine shows nearly the entire 10-GB used.
After much discussion of bad things happening after updates, and me not being smart enough to understand what to pick and choose, I have had updates turned OFF on all of our machines for a very long time; what puzzles me about this is that on the machine that lists a whole host of restore points, about every other one's description says "Windows critical update"; how can it get critical updates when updates are turned OFF ?
Thanks for the link to the other thread.
From my post #3
As you can see, it states from the cmd. prompt.From the cmd. prompt. Copy and past this.
vssadmin list shadows
Please complete so we can see what you have.
Next.
To check we are on the same page.
Restore points are only stored on the "C" partition. Backups are stored where ever you care to.
There is no such thing as a drive with a letter. Drives have numbers and partitions have letters.
How much space on the drive means nothing when it comes to Restore Points.
What is needed is space on the "C" partition that is positioned on a drive and has Windows 7 installed on the "C" partition.
Also, please complete this tutorial by Golden and post the results here exactly as the tutorial stipulates.
Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image
We need to see information to give better guidance.
Jack
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