Where are system restore points saved?

[tedcredted]

I want to save a system restore point to disc, but it seems to only let me save the most recent one, whereas I want to save the oldest one to disc. Where is it located on my hard drive, and can I manually send it to a disc or flash drive if I can find it? Thank you for your help!

 

[nate42nd]

On the root of "C" under "system volume information"

You have to un-hide protected system files to see it.

Hope this helps.

 

[elmo2006]

@ tedcredted...

The following link should 'satisfy' your curiosity....
Windows XP System Restore

From the looks of things, you may be able to copy the restore point to a temp directory and then burn to disk, but you may have to copy the restore point back to that same location to have the system register it.

I guess it's trial and error from here on....

Hope this helps...

 

[tedcredted]

Thanks Nate, I can see the system volume information folder, but it is denying me access. How do I change the permission for that folder? Thank you for your help!

 

[nate42nd]

Thanks Nate, I can see the system volume information folder, but it is denying me access. How do I change the permission for that folder? Thank you for your help!

You will need to have admin rights on the machine.

Beyond that you will probably need to take ownership.

That is one of my "weak points" so I will have to defer to someone else if you're not the admin on the machine.

 

[tedcredted]

Well I thought I was the admin on my machine, but apparently not. I'll see what I can find out about that and how to take ownership, then I'll check back here, thanks for the help!

 

[jav]

Well I thought I was the admin on my machine, but apparently not. I'll see what I can find out about that and how to take ownership, then I'll check back here, thanks for the help!

You are still Limited Administrator and not full power Admin (like Builtin administrator)
(actually Builtin Administrtor not only all powerful user. Tha's just on your Administrator account UAC makes token of limited User for you for security reasons, so system sees you as Limited user in some cases, but anyway it's not important now)

It will help you to take ownership:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67717-take-ownership-file.html it's for vista, but it should work for Windows 7 aswell.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html

If you want I may write how to do here. But those tutorials explain it better.

 

[jav]

Hello Jav, when I right click the extracted reg file, it doesn't give me the option to merge like it says, do you happen to know why that is or how I can get it to work? Thank you!

ok, wait I will write some tutorial to you.. 2 mins

 

[jav]

Now, I suppose you are taking ownership of the folder. yeah?

1. Right click that folder and go to properties.
2. Go to Security Tab and click Advanced (Look At image 1)
3. Go to Owner Tab (look at image 2)
4. Click on Edit (look at image 3) (note: If you are administrator you will be prompted with UAC, if limited user UAC with administrator password)
5. Choose your current account (look at image 4)

And now you are owner.

It will be better before changing you remember who was last owner so you will give ownership back when you are done.

P.S. That registry thing was to automate it, but we can do it manually, can't we?
P.S.1 I know it's rubbish tutorial, but I did it in 3 minutes and I am not that good at this like Brink or Mr GRiM.
P.S.2. for my own privacy reasons I had to cover some names, sorry for that.

 

[tedcredted]

Thank you so much Jav! I have given myself ownership, but am I correct in that I still have to give myself permission in order to open that particular folder?

 

[jav]

Thank you so much Jav! I have given myself ownership, but am I correct in that I still have to give myself permission in order to open that particular folder?

ermm.. actually you are owner so you have full control.

ok, just give yourself Full control permission, just in case
(need help on that?)

 

[tedcredted]

I followed the instructions on this site to give myself full permission (correctly I think?!) and I still can't get into that folder. I think it might just be impossible to get in there.

 

[jav]

I followed the instructions on this site to give myself full permission (correctly I think?!) and I still can't get into that folder. I think it might just be impossible to get in there.

What folder are you trying to access?

 

[tedcredted]

System volume information, I want to get access to older system restore points so I can save them to a disc.

 

[jav]

System volume information, I want to get access to older system restore points so I can save them to a disc.

I got access to System volume information on my own PC.
But it was a bit troublesome as I had to create find create my account permission and put it full power to each folder.
i got there, I got into system restore folders, but I am getting into empty folder.

Wait i will try to find easier way

 

[tedcredted]

Thank you Jav, I really appreciate you going out of your way to help me find a resolution to this issue. I know I have several old restore points because I can see them as options when I start up system restore, but I can't seem to get to where I can select the actual files and move them onto an external device.

 

[whs]

You can't get to the file because it is owned by the trusted installer. Maybe this can help (rather than me repeating the sermon) How to Delete a System File in Windows 7 or Vista :: the How-To Geek
But once you get at the file, there will be little you can do. If you want to keep old restore points, you need to use imaging. Have a look at this http://www.sevenforums.com/performa...e-imagesfrom-any-disk-partition-anywhere.html

 

[jav]

Thank you Jav, I really appreciate you going out of your way to help me find a resolution to this issue. I know I have several old restore points because I can see them as options when I start up system restore, but I can't seem to get to where I can select the actual files and move them onto an external device.

ok, now I can get anywhere I want. (did some tweakings, got full powers, turned off UAC, and some more things)
But you know it's not that good as it sounds.
I got into C:\System Volume Information\SystemRestore\FRStaging\Windows\System32\DriverStore\Temp

I am running into empty folder in this Systemrestore folder. And I have system restore points aswell. :shock:

So I think after some hard work and some contribution of other members we may get your restore points.
But just ask yourself are they worth it?

It is a lot (I mean A LOT) easier to just make system images with either Windows itself or with all those free Imagining programs.

So are you still determined to get them? if so I will try to help you as much as i can, but again are they worth it?

Or If you need any help with imagining just ask here, will try to help on it aswell

 

[tedcredted]

I guess I will just leave it alone if it is that much work. I created a system restore point today and saved it to disc, but I wanted an older system restore just in case a so far solitary blue screen should pop up again at some point.

 

[IggyAZ]

This is what I use.


1.Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

2.Make sure that you are in the root folder of the partition for which you want to gain access to the System Volume Information folder. For example, to gain access the C:\System Volume Information folder, make sure that you are in the root folder of drive C (at a "C:\" prompt).

3.Type the following line, and then press ENTER:
cacls "driveletter:\System Volume Information" /E /G username:F
Make sure to type the quotation marks as indicated. This command adds the specified user to the folder with Full Control permissions.

4.Double-click the System Volume Information folder in the root folder to open it.

5.If you need to remove the permissions after troubleshooting, type the following line at a command prompt:
cacls "driveletter:\System Volume Information" /E /R username
This command removes all permissions for the specified user.




This is what my command line looks like
cacls "C:\System Volume Information" /E /G iggyaz:F