Restore Points keep disappearing

MrBear said:

Unfortunately my issue is still unresolved after several attempts by Microsoft which lastly included an in-place OS repair/upgrade from ver. 1903 to 1909.
The only remaining steps I haven't done yet is either to do a factory reset or a "clean reinstall" of Win10 - which I downloaded from MS and saved to a flash drive.
My new Dell PC is still under the 30 day no hassle return/exchange policy - today's the last day.

Either a reset/clean re-install or a return/exchange for a new one is for me a radical step.

My question to anyone who would like to give me their advice is:
since this whole issue of System Restore being trouble prone/unreliable/buggy - should I even consider either of the above steps?
Or since so many members of this forum have this problem and some advise against even trusting/using SR - should I just let it go and learn to live without relying on SR?

If anyone would like to give me their opinion, I'd appreciate it. I'm tired of banging my head against the wall with this.

I understand your frustration completely mate. I like to rely on System Restore as a quick fix or an initial first step to solve a problem, followed by Reset PC if it doesn't work and I only use clean install a last resort. This issue has been going on for a long time. Restore points used to randomly disappear on my last PC which was a laptop as well. My current system is a Dell desktop which is 12 months old and it has been happening on this PC also ever since I first bought it. Having your PC replaced wont make any difference whatsoever. You will still have the issue. It is something at Microsofts end that has been happening for ages. I would stick with what you have. Keep an eye on your restore points and manually create new restore points on a weekly basis. That's my workaround. Hope this helps

Thank you signus21, thank you sportsfan148,

Yeah, with my luck (or lack thereof) I’d still have the issue.
Thank you both very much for your valuable advice.
Moving on and keeping this pc is probably the best choice.
Now I can spend time using and enjoying my new pc instead of wrestling with it.

Terrypin said:

Yep, I feel the same. Stay with what you have. Take regular manual SR points. Consider installing that startup SR I referenced. Remind us of the steps you’ve taken and the ‘fixes’ you’ve tried and their results. As you’ve seen, my problem appears to be this VSS/MR stuff that I only dimly understand. Yours is plainly different but I recall you saying there was VSS factor?

P.S. “Local time 16:04”, yet I posted at about 22:00? Just curious. It’s now 22:12 UK GMT.

Thank you Terrypin - I do feel much better now that everyone that has posted to my thread is saying the same thing - keep my PC and learn to live with what is a Microsoft issue.

What I did was to run the sfc /scannow utility. Turned off and back on the SR for the C drive. Increased storage space to 10% (91.53gb). Checked that the VSS service was running and start up type was "automatically".
I also contacted Dell support, but they had nothing else for me to try besides what I had already done and what Microsoft did (see below).

As for what Microsoft techs (level 2) did:
1) Downloaded a new VSS file and rebuilt the registry.
2) suspected a corrupt user profile>created a new user profile and used that to create SR point.
3) Next person felt there could be corrupt OS files - so he did an "in-place repair/upgrade which moved me from ver. 1903 to 1909.
(note that he said this would keep my files and the programs that I installed: WARNING: it changed every one of my startup programs to disabled! It also changed some services (services.msc) to disabled! I had to manually change them back to what they had been - I'm fortunate that I knew most of them and Dell helped me with "their" services).
4) Last person looked at my Bios version to see if that was outdated, but it wasn't. He then said that I'd be looking at a reset or clean install - or else get Dell to send me a new PC.

So based on the advice I've gotten back, I'll live with this. Carbonite backs up my files - and I do manual file backups myself to an external hard drive. I'll look at using MR as an imaging product and learn about their "incremental" backup options to see which version would best help me.

Unlike some folks, my restore points only seem to last not more that 4 hours - often disappearing in less than one hour.
So using SR would only bail me out if I create an SR point just before I do something or add something that I think could be a problem. Even scheduling a task to create one SRP every day won't help as they disappear so soon.

I know that using a system image restore as a replacement is a very poor alternative to SR, but that may be my only other option. I'll have to re-read the posts from the other members here about that and MR.

BTW, it's 7:19pm EST here (I had to get away from my pc for a while after that last post-lol). I think you're 5 hours ahead of me.

Thanks again for your post. I've decided to keep what I have and "move on".

MrBear said:

Thank you signus21, thank you sportsfan148,

Yeah, with my luck (or lack thereof) I’d still have the issue.
Thank you both very much for your valuable advice.
Moving on and keeping this pc is probably the best choice.
Now I can spend time using and enjoying my new pc instead of wrestling with it.

I think you've made the right choice. Enjoy your PC. Mine is a Dell too and Im very happy with it. Good Luck and happy computing mate

- - - Updated - - -

MrBear said:

Thank you Terrypin - I do feel much better now that everyone that has posted to my thread is saying the same thing - keep my PC and learn to live with what is a Microsoft issue.

What I did was to run the sfc /scannow utility. Turned off and back on the SR for the C drive. Increased storage space to 10% (91.53gb). Checked that the VSS service was running and start up type was "automatically".
I also contacted Dell support, but they had nothing else for me to try besides what I had already done and what Microsoft did (see below).

As for what Microsoft techs (level 2) did:
1) Downloaded a new VSS file and rebuilt the registry.
2) suspected a corrupt user profile>created a new user profile and used that to create SR point.
3) Next person felt there could be corrupt OS files - so he did an "in-place repair/upgrade which moved me from ver. 1903 to 1909.
(note that he said this would keep my files and the programs that I installed: WARNING: it changed every one of my startup programs to disabled! It also changed some services (services.msc) to disabled! I had to manually change them back to what they had been - I'm fortunate that I knew most of them and Dell helped me with "their" services).
4) Last person looked at my Bios version to see if that was outdated, but it wasn't. He then said that I'd be looking at a reset or clean install - or else get Dell to send me a new PC.

So based on the advice I've gotten back, I'll live with this. Carbonite backs up my files - and I do manual file backups myself to an external hard drive. I'll look at using MR as an imaging product and learn about their "incremental" backup options to see which version would best help me.

Unlike some folks, my restore points only seem to last not more that 4 hours - often disappearing in less than one hour.
So using SR would only bail me out if I create an SR point just before I do something or add something that I think could be a problem. Even scheduling a task to create one SRP every day won't help as they disappear so soon.

I know that using a system image restore as a replacement is a very poor alternative to SR, but that may be my only other option. I'll have to re-read the posts from the other members here about that and MR.

BTW, it's 7:19pm EST here (I had to get away from my pc for a while after that last post-lol). I think you're 5 hours ahead of me.

Thanks again for your post. I've decided to keep what I have and "move on".

It sounds like you've really been put through the ringer with all your time being spent with Microsoft and Dell customer support. If you have any doubts that your PC might not be set up 100% correctly now because of all the changes that you have been advised to make, I would just Reset your PC. Its a very quick process and would put your PC back to the way it was when you received it from Dell. Thats your personal choice of course..it depends whether you decide that it is really necessary or not