System Restore is suddenly disabled - how do I enable it?

Callender said:

Maybe check running processes just to be sure:

Process Explorer + VirusTotal (to check all processes with 50+ AV's) - Windows 7 Help Forums

Wow, that's a great addition to that tool. Thankfully, it didn't find anything, so I guess we can count this one out.

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Callender said:

Something else to try. See:

Can't enable System Restore

Thanks, already tried that one

Callender said:

Try a reboot straight after that.

Just done that, no difference.

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dalchina said:

Consider that you might have a virus on your machine. Some can disable System Restore.
This might explain why simple fixes aren't working, and the multiple changes you now find.

Otherwise try running Tweaking.com's free cautious repair tool following the preparatory steps.

Select only the repairs you might need e.g.
Remove policies set by infections
Reset service permissions
Repair Volume Shadow copy
Set Windows services to default

Did that, no difference.

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Callender said:

Also do you have any external drives connected? USB Keys?

I'm asking because recently I had a probem where an autorun.inf virus was running scripts to disable some system tools.

I do have an external drive, which I use for immediate backups (also have a cloud backup). I unplugged that and rebooted, but no joy.

No USB keys in.

Thanks again. Where do we go now?

Callender said:

Personally don't have a clue. If you like you could try a fix bundled with a program that I use. It's free but there's a nag screen when closing the program.

<snip>

Thanks, tried that, no difference.

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dalchina said:

How did you verify your system is virus-free?

I have ESET Endpoint Antivirus, which I've always understood to be one of the better ones. Apart from the ongoing watch it keeps on my computer, I did a manual scan following your ideas, and that also showed up clean.

dalchina said:

If you create a new user for test purposes, do you have the same problem?

Before I do that, will this cause me any problems? I seem to remember with a previous version of Windows (can't remember exactly which one) that if you did this, the original Administrator user disappeared. As I only have the one user on the machine, and that's the one set up for my work, I don't want to risk anything going wrong.

dalchina said:

If you do, but not otherwise, try an in-place upgrade repair install which keeps all progs, data and most settings. Tutorial available.

Why can't I try this without creating a new user? As it happens, the thought occurred to me whilst UVK was doing its scan. Not sure how a new user would make any difference.

Thanks again

dalchina said:

No.


You can. But you haven't yet grasped the logic.

An in-place upgrade repair install almost certainly does not repair things specific to a user profile. Therefore it follows that if you care to establish whether the problem is common or not to two user profiles, and it turns out that it is not, you would have saved yourself the trouble of performing an in-place upgrade repair install which would have been a waste of time.

This is well understood by most members here, and is my common practice.

You're right, I didn't grasp that one! Makes a lot of sense.

Will try and it report back. Thanks again.