Question System Restore Failed

[DarthGizmo]

I was having trouble with an "explorer.exe application error" when shutting down and none of the things I tried helped, so I tried to do a System Restore.

I did a System Restore from a restore point about 3 weeks ago, and it said it was successful, but the computer would not restart, it got stuck in a loop.

It tried to do Automatic Repair, couldn't repair, then I chose 2/16 as a Restore Point, and it worked.

Is this an indication that I did indeed have some sort of serious Windows problem, or is it normal for System Restores to fail like this?

 

[Lafong]

I don't use System Restore as much as I did 10 years ago, but it can certainly fail.

In my experience, it would sometimes give an error message like "System Restore failed to complete". Probably less than 5% of attempts.

I cannot recall ever having a situation where it said it was successful, but then I could not re-boot.

Since it is not a highly reliable solution to anything, the best thing you can do is to use something more reliable....such as imaging.....at least as a last resort for when System Restore is no help.

 

[kerberos_20]

system retore doesnt fix corrupted files, its just a way to roll back some bad driver/installed apps, it could fix it if you have enabled image backups

for repairing windows use sfc /scannow and dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth commands

 

[DarthGizmo]

I am having lots of errors after I did this System Restore:

1. I ran another sfc /scannow and it said my Windows files were corrupt
2. Simple things like MS Paint have been not working
3. Other games I installed now have corrupt files
4. Still having explorer.exe application errors

Is there anything I can do to help my computer recover from this System Restore and make sure things are back to normal?

 

[Vikko151]

Hello @DarthGizmo,

Well, welcome to the team of people who only get problems with the System Restore tool. Since I had my first personal computer, everyone tell me that I should not use System Restore since it simply doesn't work.

Whatever, little parenthesis on how bad the System Restore is, I think that you should do like @kerberos_20 said, it means to try the "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth" command to uncorrupt the Windows files, Explorer files included.

Then, concerning the second point you mentionned, could you tell me all the Windows apps that are broken? I, or even you, can find the Powershell commands to uninstall and reinstall the broken apps.

EDIT: Actually, most apps can be reinstalled from the Microsoft Store. And if the Microsoft Store is broken? Try this:

1. Press on Windows, and search "Windows Powershell".

2. Launch Windows Powershell as an administrator. You'll get a UAC. If you aren't an administrator, ask to your administrator to type it's password.

3. Now enter this command:

Get-AppXPackage *WindowsStore* -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

4. The Microsoft Store should be functionnal again.

Finally, about the games, you'll sadly have to reinstall them. If it is a game that doesn't transfer datas, like Half Life I think, you can find on internet where are the savefiles located. They're often located else in C:\Users\your account's 5 first letters\AppData\Roaming or in C:\Users\your account's 5 first letters\AppData\Local (Remember to activate "Show hidden files and folders" in explorer settings!). Sorry about that point.

If everything works, you should not have any problem. Else, remember that the Tom's Hardware community can still help you. 👍

@Vikko151

 

[DarthGizmo]

I don't understand why I need to re-install games, it says a System Restore won't have any effect on installed programs and files.

Strangely, the only game that got corrupted is the one that caused the whole crash in the first place.

Also, really curious, why do you have /Dism.exe /repair

instead of /Dism,exe restorehealth

Every website says "restorehealth" is what you type, I've never seen "repair" before.

Is repair better?

 

[Vikko151]

Hello again,

Also, really curious, why do you have /Dism.exe /repair

instead of /Dism,exe restorehealth

Because I potentially haven't got the source at my eyes. We can do some errors sometimes, so yea, that's my fault.

But for the games:

3. Other games I installed now have corrupt files

I thought there was more than one game. So if I said something false on that point, then sorry. Whatever, your games also got registry keys and files of course, so if there's a problem in one of those points, you got two solutions:

1. Re-install the game if it's not from a launcher. Some games or apps, like VLC, does not come from a launcher, so you might want to reinstall them. Hopefully, if you got datas on them that you potentially don't want to lose...

...you can find on internet where are the savefiles located. They're often located else in C:\Users\your account's 5 first letters\AppData\Roaming or in C:\Users\your account's 5 first letters\AppData\Local (Remember to activate "Show hidden files and folders" in explorer settings!).

2. Repair the game with the launcher (if it's corrupted, you have to backup your games' files and savefiles). If your corrupted game is on Steam for example, there are many chances that you can verify the game if there isn't anything corrupted. It's pretty fast and often works.

And about this point:

I don't understand why I need to re-install games, it says a System Restore won't have any effect on installed programs and files.

Strangely, the only game that got corrupted is the one that caused the whole crash in the first place.

Actually, it's harder than you think. The system restore impact the apps you don't want to keep, but since the System Restore is actually crap, it can damage other dependencies that are linked to the app. So, if for example, I don't want the System Restore of 2/18 to restore a game, and this game needs DirectX 9 that I installed 2 hours ago, the system restore will remove DirectX 9, and only restore the game, causing the game being lost with the graphics API. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work. In some words, do not trust this tool. 🙁

(I don't know perfectly how the System Restore works, but yes, it can corrupt apps if anything related has been impacted by the System Restore.)

In conclusion, indeed, sorry for my newbie's errors, and if you've got another question or if something doesn't work, you can always trust the Tom's Hardware community.

@Vikko151

 

[kerberos_20]

system restore doesnt remove any data, it just restores some system backups, like registry...meaning windows will forgot whatever you installed after that restore point was done...linked libraries wont be linked, new drivers will roll back to old drivers, new apps will act like not installed...its not magic, you could pretty much do manual backup of system32\config and replace it later on with older backup and it will have pretty much same effect as what system restore does...

 

[MJS WARLORD]

System restore has not worked properly for a very long time , i can remember when windows used to automatically set a restore point before a big update.

Even though system restore does not work properly it still makes restore points and takes some of your hard drive capacity every time it does it.

I dont use it but delete the points every so often to get hard drive space back.