From here -
http://www.mcse.ms/archive294-2005-6-1655857.html
First try launching system restore directly rather than via the button in
msconfig. There are many ways you can do this including:
a) By launching system restore using the shortcut found at Start |
Programs | Accessories | System Tools,
b) From the link in Help & Support,
c) By entering C:\windows\system\rstrui.exe in the Start | Run box and
clicking OK, or,
d) By directly double clicking the file rstrui.exe (Use Windows Explorer,
rstrui.exe is in the windows\system\restore folder).
If these confirm your previous findings then:
Do you have at least 300MB of free space on the drive containing your
windows folder?
Is the *StateMgr entry still present and checked in MSConfig | Startup?
Is stmgr.exe running? You can check this using either a process monitor
such as WinTop or TaskInfo or by using MSInfo32 (Start | Help & Support |
System Information) and checking for stmgr.exe in the section Software
Environment | Running Tasks.
If all of the above are OK then I think that the best way forward would be
to remove the _RESTORE folder and allow the state manager to rebuild the
necessary control files which have probably become corrupted. Delete the
folder as follows:
a) Boot to DOS using a floppy. Do NOT choose "Minimal Boot" from the menu
when booting from a floppy but rather choose "Start computer with (or
without) CD-ROM support" otherwise the ATTRIB command will not be
available.
b) At the DOS A:\> prompt, type:
ATTRIB -H -S -R C:\_RESTORE
then
REN C:\_RESTORE OLDREST
c) Remove the floppy
d) Reboot your PC
e) Delete the folder C:\OLDREST
f) Check that an automatic system restore checkpoint was created.
g) Finally adjust the space allocated to the restore folder:
System | Performance | File System | Hard Disk and adjust the restore
slider to your preferred setting. A figure of 2-300MB is normally more
than adequate for day to day use allowing perhaps a week of checkpoints to
be available although increasing this to perhaps 4-500MB for a few days
during periods of large installs such Microsoft Office is advisable.
It might now be a good time to test that system restore is working
correctly. You can do this by performing the following test.
a) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file.
b) Create a manual checkpoint
Could you create a checkpoint?
c) Delete the shortcut
d) Restore your PC to the checkpoint you created.
Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages?
e) Reboot your PC
Was the checkpoint retained?
