System Restore, Drive cannot be found

terryco · 28 Mar 2018

Hi, a Friend asked me if i can sort a problem for him. His PC is a Lenovo Thinkcentre M series Desktop with Windows 7. It was running very slow and he suspected a Virus. He did a Scan wih Microsoft Free Antivirus and it showed nothing wrong. I suggested he used System Restore and take it back to an earlier date. He had restore points but when clicking he got this Message " The drive cannot be found, you must always restore the drive that contains windows. Restore other drives is optional" I have the PC which apart from the problem is running fine. I did a factory Reset and still get the message. Running in Safemode still will not run a Restore. The Desktop is less than two years old, so i dont think the Hard Drive is Dying. I have to give him it back today, so if anyone can come up with a soloution i'll print it out for him Thanks.

samuria · 28 Mar 2018

If you did a factory reset there won't be any restore points. You will have 100s of updates that need doing

terryco · 28 Mar 2018

Thats correct samuria I have had several updates. But i still get the same message that the Drive cannot be found.

Megahertz07 · 28 Mar 2018

Did you try to create a restore point?
When done it, do you receive same message when trying to restore to that point created?

Snick · 28 Mar 2018

This will install updates & superseded updates (replaces about 204 updates via WU give or take a few)
How to update Win7 all at once with M$ convenience roll-up, How-to-Geek Website link for more detail.
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for x64-based Systems (KB976932) has to be installed prior to installing these, if it's not already on your computer. You can check Windows Update > View update history.
You will have to install 2015 service stack first.
Then Convenience Rollup updates through April 2016.
Save you many hours and reboots.
If you are experiencing Windows Update hanging searching for updates, install latest windows update agent, Microsoft changed the update server a while back and that causes the hours delay to start downloads.

Snick · 28 Mar 2018

Factory reset is to original condition when computer was purchased, may or may not contain Service Pack 1, which depends on when the OEM created the factory reset partition. There will be no restore-points, any that you had were deleted when factory reset formatted your C: drive.

Personally, from experience, I frown on using M$ built in system restore. When I've needed to use it in the past, most of the time it fails, resulting in an inoperable machine. Macrium Reflect free and AOMEI Backupper free are excellent 3rd party backup utilities, demoed both, Macrium's GUI (graphical user interface) is a little more daunting then AOMEI, both provide all the tools that you would need for backups. External HDDs are cheap and becoming cheaper all the time. I don't recommend an external SSD, for 1 they are more expensive, and 2 they are more prone to data loss, but they are faster. You can obtain a Seagate 3-4 TB external HDD for around $100 US. Amazon, New-Egg, Micro Center, to name a few reputable vendors.

Megahertz07 · 28 Mar 2018

A failing disk can run slow. Do the basic fist. Schedule a disk check. (chkdsk c: /f).

For the updates, use the offline SP2 and then install security only updates.
On services, set WU to manual.
On WU page set to never check.
MS releases SP2 for Windows 7 - Windows 7 Help Forums

terryco · 31 Mar 2018

Thanks for the reply's. Ill print these suggestions and give it to my Pal

mrjimphelps · 06 Apr 2018

Make sure all of your drive cables are plugged all the way in. A loose cable can cause various issues like the one you are seeing.

terryco · 07 Apr 2018

it seems to be working ok now. I had several Microsoft Updates, one was over 200 Mb's. The Restore works fine. Thanks for the help