When is Microsoft going to fix System Restore being disabled?

Ztruker · 08 Mar 2017

On every Windows 10 install since the first IP build, Microsoft had had System Restore disabled by default. I know there have been many feedbacks on this but never a response from MS.

It makes no sense, especially since one of the recovery options via Automatic Repair is System Restore, which, if disabled, is not available. Even if the restore fails some times, that is way better then not having the choice of trying it.

dalchina · 09 Mar 2017

Agreed. Perhaps their policy is to deprecate this, given that it can be problematic.

Maybe you're supposed to use Backup and Restore (Windows 7). Oh, rats, I forgot. That's rather flimsy, difficult or impossible to sort out when it doesn't work, and a poor relation to 3rd party tools.

Macrium rules.

lx07 · 09 Mar 2017

They should not deprecate it - they should remove it to avoid confusion. Apart from the fact it doesn't currently work it was never clear what it did or even what it was supposed to do. It certainly doesn't restore your system to a previous state which restoring a system image would do.

Some (but not all) permissions are restored. Some (but not all) files are restored. It might (if it worked) get you back into a usable state but it isn't clear what is has done.

Even the previous versions functionality (that required system protection to be turned on) was superseded years ago with File History. There is no reason to use it these days.

DavidY · 09 Mar 2017

lx07 said:

Even the previous versions functionality (that required system protection to be turned on) was superseded years ago with File History. There is no reason to use it these days.

I thought File History just backed up Documents and other stuff in the Users folders. I don't think it includes anything system-related?

lx07 · 09 Mar 2017

DavidY said:

I thought File History just backed up Documents and other stuff in the Users folders. I don't think it includes anything system-related?

Indeed. Same as the "Previous Versions" functionality.

DavidY · 09 Mar 2017

lx07 said:

Indeed. Same as the "Previous Versions" functionality.

I seem to remember Previous Versions depends on the System Restore being run (for files outside the scope of File History)- is that right?

lx07 · 09 Mar 2017

DavidY said:

I seem to remember Previous Versions depends on the System Restore being run (for files outside the scope of File History)- is that right?

It requires system protection being turned on, yes. The previous version comes from the restore point(s).

I prefer File History as restore points are created/deleted in a rather random manner. I have 5 years of File History (spanning several machines). I don't tend to have more than 3 or 4 restore points before the oldest gets dropped and (unless you do it manually) restore points are not always created at a convenient time.

Ztruker · 09 Mar 2017

I have used SR successfully several times via Automatic Repair. It does work most of the time and it makes no sense to me to disable it unless you remove it as a recovery choice.

cereberus · 10 Mar 2017

Let's get one thing clear. System Restore is not and never has been a file backup system.

It is just a tool that just rewinds your pc back to previous restore points.

Of course you can emulate this functionality using an image backup system. The crucial difference is if a pc got infected with a virus since last image backup, going back with an image backup will almost certainly remove the virus (in most cases), but a system restore point may not.

I agree with statement it should be on be default and I have never seen any explanation why that is no longer the case. Equally I have heard nothing to suggest it is a deprecated feature.

Actually, this tool is often forgotten, and can often sort niggling issues that "suddenly" appear very quickly. Of course, there is never a substitute for proper image backups.

dalchina · 10 Mar 2017

I haven't heard comment of it being deprecated- that was merely my personal reading and possibly unjustified extrapolation of the fact it's turned off by default.

Imaging, as you know, does far more than emulating system restore and is a far more complete tool- even useful when the hard idsk fails or the PC is unbootable.