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How to restore or roll back a Windows XP system. Rolling back the Windows XP operating system to a restore point How to roll back an xp system

Launching every day Personal Computer, you inevitably bring something new to it. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re just surfing the Internet or installing new programs. After all, by visiting any web page, you may well catch a virus there or install it without knowing it. malware. Today we will talk about how to roll back Windows XP.

Forewarned is forearmed

A fairly well-known saying takes on a very clear and specific meaning in the context we are considering. Remember, there is only one way to restore your system, and it requires mandatory preliminary preparation. This tool is the System Restore utility built into the OS. But, in order to use it to return the computer to its previous state, you need to ensure in advance that such a point exists. Many users find that system backup takes up a lot of hard drive space. This is partly true, but all discontent disappears at once when a situation arises in which restoration may soon be required. Therefore, before rolling back the Windows XP system, let's clarify how to create a restore point.

Starting position

As already mentioned, we will need to create a specific starting point to which we would like to return our computer if it breaks down or becomes infected with a virus. Of course, you can choose when to install the OS on your computer, but what's the point if it would be easier to reinstall the entire system?

So, to create a restore point, do the following. Go to the "Start" menu - "Programs" - "Accessories" - "Utilities". There, select "System Restore". In the interface that opens, select creating a restore point and wait until the computer completes the entire operation. Now you will have somewhere to return in case of problems with your computer.

If you are a user of a newer generation OS, for example, Windows 7, then you should not be concerned about this point in the question of how to roll back the system. Windows XP, unlike Windows 7, does not create copies automatically and does not include automatic creation similar reserve states.

Recovery

Finally, we got directly to the question of how to roll back Windows XP. To do this, you will need to repeat all the steps specified in the previous paragraph, with the exception that you will need to select the sub-item “Recover more than early state computer." In this case, you will be offered a list of all available states over time. How to roll back a Windows XP system? You need to select the appropriate state. By default, the most recent available position will be highlighted in bold. Having selected the required item, click "Next" - "Ready".

In fact, no one knows what guides a personal computer when restoring a system. He can delete installed programs, or maybe leave it. Your recent photos will disappear... Or they won't. Anyway, don't forget to back up your files. This, by the way, is another way to roll back the system. Windows XP Professional allows you to use third-party utilities to save the system state.

Independent programs

  1. Data backup. There are many programs designed both for saving some of your computer files and for creating images hard drives generally. For example, "Acronis". By saving data with it, you can reinstall the entire system at any time, and then restore the contents of your hard drives.
  2. Special programs for recovering deleted files. Of course, with their help it is impossible to restore the system to its true value, but it is very possible to return some files. It is recommended to use File Rescue Pro.

System disk

If you still have the installation disk of your operating system, you can perform a system restore using it. To do this, insert it into the drive and restart the computer from the disk. The operating system installer screen should appear in front of you. How to roll back the system? Windows XP itself suggests a solution. At the bottom of the screen we see the inscription “R - restore”. Click the corresponding button.

The computer will search for installed operating systems. After this, a menu will appear in which you must select the system to be restored. We indicate the OS we need to restore, enter its number and press Enter.

After that, enter the password, if necessary, and proceed to recovery. To do this, we need to enter the command to restore Fixmbr partitions. We confirm the action. Then we need to restore the boot area with the Fixboot command. After that, enter exit and reboot.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that if you are looking for instructions on how to roll back a Windows XP system via BIOS, then know that this is in no way possible. Any changes you could make using the BIOS will not directly affect the OS. The maximum that can be advised is to pull it out motherboard battery - "tablet". In this case, all BIOS settings will be reset, the computer password will be lost, and some recent changes will disappear.

Windows XP System Recovery – this is one of the most optimal ways to eliminate problems associated with computer freezing or problematic system loading that appeared after the computer was infected virus programs or unsuccessful driver installation. To perform a Windows XP rollback, you do not need to be a programmer or a very experienced user; you should follow a few simple steps, which are described below, since this process is automatic.

There are three ways in which you can do Windows XP system recovery:

  • rollback from the working system;
  • recovery via console;
  • rollback using the installation disk.

Rolling back a Windows XP system using a system utility

This method Windows recovery XP can be used only if the system is not completely damaged and it can boot. In order to spray down a Windows XP system using this method, you must do the following:

  • insert the installation disk with Windows XP into the drive and select “Startup”;

  • After this, a window with a list of actions will appear on the computer screen. You should select " Windows installation XP";

  • in the “Windows Setup” window that opens, select “Update (Recommended)” as the installation type and click “Next”. After this, you need to do all the same steps as during a normal system installation.

Restoring Windows XP without booting the system

This method can be used even in cases where Windows XP won't boot. To implement it you need to do the following:

  • insert the installation disk into the drive and set the boot priority to DVD drive. After you restart your computer, the system installation process will begin;

    • in the window that appears, you need to select “Install Windows XP”; to do this, press the “Enter” key;

  • now you need to read the license agreement and use the F8 button to accept it;

  • in the next window you will be prompted to try to restore or install a new one copy of Windows XP, you should select the first option. To do this, press the “R” key;

There are cases when there is no Windows system recovery fileXP and this item is not in the system. This is usually due to the fact that the operating system installed on your PC is not genuine. In this case, the only option to solve the problem is to install a new operating system using a licensed Windows disk HR.

In terms of time, rolling back a Windows XP system is the same as installing, since the system needs to replace old system files with new ones.

Rollback Windows XP via console

In some cases, it is possible to avoid time-consuming replacement of all system files to new ones, for this, system recovery must be performed through the console. One of the most pressing cases to use this option is damage to the hard drive boot record (MBR), which can only be restored using the fixmbr and fixboot commands. For Windows XP system recovery In this way you need to do the following:

  • launch the installation disk of the operating system and in the menu that opens at startup, select “Restore the OS using the recovery console”; to do this, press the “R” button;
  • After this, the installation program will search for available operating systems and display a list of them. If your device has several operating systems, then to select the one you need, enter its serial number and press the “Enter” key;

  • Now you will be asked for the administrator password on your screen, enter it into the console, if you don’t have a password, just press “Enter”;

  • You will have a recovery console into which you can enter any commands to check the health of the system and restore it. The most used commands are Fixboot - rewrite the boot sector to a new one and Fixmbr - replace or fix the master boot record of an SSD or HDD;

  • We will begin rolling back a faulty partition table by executing the fixmbr command, which will replace the master boot record with a new one;

  • After entering this command, a warning window will appear on your computer screen that the command may harm the existing partition table. In order to continue the recovery, you need to enter the character “Y” and press the “Enter” key;

  • if you want to overwrite boot sector, then you should enter the command fixboot;

  • After entering the command, a question about overwriting the boot sector will appear on the screen. To start overwriting, enter the symbol “Y” and press the “Enter” button;

  • Now you will see a line on your screen saying that the rewrite was successful. After this, you can exit the recovery console by entering the “Exit” command and pressing “Enter”;

  • Your computer will automatically reboot and you will have a working operating system. Windows system HR.

Restoring (rolling back) Windows XP

1. Introduction
The more you work with Windows, trying to get the most out of it and customize it to suit your needs, preferences and tasks, the more it confirms the half-joking concept that Windows should be considered one big glitch. After all, it often happens that a function that worked great yesterday, today either doesn’t work at all, or works completely differently than before.

Each Windows problem caused by objective reasons: changes in Windows registry, in system files, settings, boot options, drivers, the consequences of malicious and simply poorly written programs. Even small changes to the system can make it impossible Windows boot XP, one of the most stable Windows in the world. That’s why in the section (Frequently Asked Questions) questions often arise about what to do if something in the system suddenly begins to work differently than before.

In some cases, you can assume the source of the problem, check, find and eliminate it, but very often it turns out that it is faster and easier to reinstall the system than to waste time studying registry errors (the size of which is usually about tens of MB), system files, their versions, system settings, etc.

Reinstalling Windows XP, if you have its distribution kit at hand and some experience, usually takes no more than an hour. However, installing additional drivers, programs, setting them up, as well as organizing work in accordance with user preferences may take more than one hour, and possibly more than one day. This procedure is routine, and you can simply forget what these or those settings and parameters were before.

This article contains information about ways to return the system to a previously known good state, with the necessary settings and in full accordance with individual preferences. This procedure is usually called “system rollback” (in English - “rollback”) or “system restore”. Below we consider rolling back changes to Windows XP (hereinafter we mean Windows update XP 32 bit Professional SP2), as the most popular home PC system.

Windows Vista, released at the end of 2006, did not live up to expectations and turned out to be less reliable in terms of data storage security, as a result of which it is not optimal. Release next Windows versions for home PCs, which currently has a code Windows name Vienna, planned no earlier than 2010. Therefore, it is obvious that Windows XP will remain relevant at least until 2010-2011.

2. Built in Windows programs, used for recovery
Windows has several such programs:

- System Restore Application- system recovery program, the full path to which C:\WINDOWS/System32/Restore/rstrui.exe(hereinafter in the text it is assumed that the system is installed in the “default” directory - on drive C: in the “WINDOWS” folder);

- Windows Backup Utility- archiving program Windows data, the full path to which C:\WINDOWS/System32/Restore/ntbackup.exe;

- System File Checker- a program located like C:\WINDOWS/System32/Restore/sfc.exe. Checks versions of protected system files, and, if they are replaced or damaged, restores them source files from a special folder C:\WINDOWS/System32/dllcache. You can read more about this program;

Dr. programs with a very narrow application profile.

Shortcuts to the first two of the above programs can also be found in the main menu (Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools), unless, of course, you deleted them from there. The original location of system recovery program shortcuts in the "Standard" menu group is deeply symbolic. It seems that when creating Windows XP already implied that problems and rollbacks in the system would be a frequent occurrence. Shortcut for System File Checker If desired, you can create it yourself in the start menu.

In addition, it is possible to restore Windows configuration(but not the entire OS!) to the state it had at the time of the last successful boot. To do this, you need to press the "F8" key after turning on the computer, immediately before the moment when the Windows boot logo and the boot identifier line (a running white stripe at the bottom of the screen) usually appear. If you have several operating systems installed on your computer, then the “F8” key can be pressed when the OS selection menu to launch appears. If the above steps are performed correctly, a menu will appear on the screen with a list of additional Windows boot options, in which you need to select " Last Known Good Configuration" and confirm your choice by pressing the "Enter" key. More detailed information O this method OS recovery can be read on the Internet at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307852.

The described method helps if you have just installed:

A faulty driver that prevents normal loading of the OS;
- the second antivirus that began to conflict with the previously installed one, preventing it from working normally under the OS.

Strictly speaking, there is another Windows tool created for the most extreme case, when the problems are so serious that it is no longer possible to boot the system. This tool is the Recovery Console located on installation disk with Windows XP. However, the Recovery Console is too limited opportunities and only works from command line, therefore it can only be used by qualified personnel. You can read more about the Recovery Console.

2.1. Windows Backup Utility
Unfortunately, the means Windows Backup Utility very far not only from the ideal, but even from the wishes of an undemanding user. In practice, it can only be used as an archiver of individual user files. The archives obtained as a result of this program are saved in files with the "BKF" extension, which other programs cannot work with. There are other significant drawbacks, including the inability to restore the system from an archive when the latter “does not boot” and the low degree of data compression. Therefore, archivers are much better suited for creating backup copies of individual user files. third party manufacturers- for example, widely known WinRar, and the lesser known free 7-Zip File Manager.

2.2. Built-in system recovery program
(System Restore Application)
Archivers that are convenient for creating copies of user files cannot be used for Reserve copy current state of the OS. The reason, in particular, is that running Windows XP will not allow the archiver to read the contents of many system files to create them backup copy, not to mention replacing system files under the active OS. In addition, some files and system data are located in strictly defined areas hard drive; when restoring, their location must very strictly coincide with the original one (before restoration), and archivers do not have this ability.

Where archivers are unsuitable, system rollback (restore) programs work successfully. First of all, it is a program built into Windows XP System Restore Application, already mentioned above and described in detail.

Since the installation of the OS, the service Windows recovery(service name - srservice) is automatically included in working with hard disk partitions whose format is supported by Windows XP. During Windows operation this service tracks:

Changes in the registry and system configuration files;

Changes in OS modules, including changes that occurred as a result of installation system updates and "patches";

Some other changes that Windows developers found necessary to monitor for later recovery initial state OS using System Restore Application.

If any of the above changes take place, the data necessary to undo them, original copies of files and additional service information are written to special folders named “System Volume Information”. Such folders are created in the root of each hard section disk that is being monitored.

See if it works for you System Restore Application, as well as manage this program, you can right-click on the “My Computer” icon, select “Properties”, and then the “System Restore” tab:

After a certain period of time, as well as during serious system events (more precisely, immediately before them), a so-called “return point” is created, relative to which changes are recorded. As a rule, such an event is installation (installation) new program or batch update.

The command to create a recovery point can also be called manually, specifying a description of this point, so that after a while you yourself do not get confused why the latter was created and what state the system was in at that time:


If necessary, you can return to one of the previously saved system states (to one of the saved restore points):




In this case, service data for recovery is read from the above backup folder (System Volume Information), and then Windows is put into a special state when some of its auxiliary functions are disabled and the protection of replaced system files is deactivated. Then the files and data needed for recovery are restored from the specified folder. After automatic reboot computer, the system should be restored (ideally) to the state recorded at the specified restore point. However, the picture of the restored system obtained in practice does not always fully correspond to the desired one.

In particular, the cause of the errors is the not entirely successful idea of ​​dividing files into “necessary” and “useless” (depending on their extension) for system recovery. This idea is as follows:

Files whose extensions correspond to user documents (for example, "DOC", "XLS", "PPT", etc.) are not tracked or restored;

Files whose extensions correspond to “system” files (for example, “EXE”, “DLL”, “SYS” and a number of others) are monitored, and all changes made to them are controlled, and when the system is restored, the latter are returned to their original state.

If you look at it, dividing files by extension can often lead to errors. Let's consider a small example of such an error: on Monday a system backup is created, and on Tuesday the user moves his office documents to a self-extracting archive, while deleting the source files as they are no longer needed. Then, for example, on Wednesday, the user notices errors in the operation of the computer and therefore decides to roll back the system state to the last known working state, i.e. to the restore point made on Monday. In this case, the archive with documents will be lost, and the original document files, as we remember, were deleted by the user himself.

Why did it happen? It's very simple: a self-extracting archive has an "EXE" extension. According to this criterion, it is classified as a “system” file and, as a result, is deleted when the system is restored, because. in accordance with the rules described above, it is superfluous in the OS, because on Monday it was not yet there. Office files are not restored because their extension determines that they are not needed by the OS.

In such a situation, to restore documents, the user will need to return the OS state to the “future” - to the state on the environment, and then the lost archive will return. You will have to extract the original documents from it, and then, to restore the system to a working state, you can return to the “past” again - to the restore point containing records of the system state for Monday.

The system recovery program built into Windows has a number of other disadvantages, including the following:

After a system rollback, some types of files may have their duplicates; for example, in addition to the file “file”, “file(1)”, “file(2)”, etc. may appear in the same folder;

When running a service that monitors the system, additional computer RAM resources are used, which causes a decrease in computer performance;

Active operation of the specified service with hard drive not only slows down the work of other programs on the same disk, but also quickly leads to fragmentation of the latter, which leads to an even greater decrease in performance (this is especially noticeable on laptops, where hard disk performance is one of the bottlenecks);

If such global changes have been made to the OS that it has become impossible to boot, then you will not be able to use the recovery program.

It seems very risky to store the data needed to roll back the system in a folder located on the same partition of the same disk as the protected data. If there are problems associated with a violation of the file structure of the disk, the contents of this folder are likely to suffer the same problem as the files to be recovered. Therefore, it will be impossible to roll back the system to a working state using the program in question. A similar loss of data necessary for system recovery can also occur as a result of the destructive actions of viruses.

3. Conditions and means of reliable system rollback
So, rolling back the Windows XP system, implemented in System Restore Application, very far from perfect. But it can also be performed using other third-party programs. Most of these programs are created taking into account the above-mentioned shortcomings of the recovery tools built into Windows.

3.1. Separation of system and user data
To prevent the program from having to divide files into system and user files, which will inevitably lead to errors, the right to separate data should be given to a person. In practice, data division can be done like this: select a partition on a physical disk with a capacity of about 10-20 GB, which will be intended for use by the system (usually this is the system partition C:). In this case, another partition is allocated for the user’s files, for example, logical drive D:, or folder D:\ Documentation, located on it.

It is advisable to leave the “My Documents” folder offered by the system, located on the system drive, in place. Let the files and subfolders that some programs like to leave in “My Documents” without the user’s knowledge go there, and the user’s new “Documents” folder will be automatically rid of such garbage.

To avoid confusion with two similar folders, you can remove the “My Documents” shortcut from the Desktop, and instead create a shortcut to the D:\ folder there. Documentation.

Office programs from Microsoft, system utilities, editors that do not take up very much disk space, as well as most other programs, can be installed on the system partition in the default folder - “C:\Program Files”. The exception is for programs that occupy a significant amount of disk space - approximately hundreds of MB or more. These include: games, voluminous reference books, and other “monsters” that occupy the hard drive, especially if the latter do not require storing their settings in the registry to operate. Such programs can be placed, for example, inside the D:\ folder Soft.

With this division, to roll back Windows, it will be enough to return only one small system partition to the desired state. This will take significantly less time than a full recovery, and will not affect either user data or programs on another partition. In addition, after the proposed separation, you can safely format the system partition and new installation systems to a clean partition without the risk of losing necessary files user. Such actions may be required, for example, if the file system on the system partition is damaged or after an unsuccessful recovery.

3.2. Hard drive partitioning process
As noted above, for optimal system rollback it is advisable to have HDD, broken (i.e. divided) into several sections. Additionally, you may need a separate partition to store system state backups.

To avoid possible data loss, it is advisable to partition the hard drive before installing the system and before moving any useful data to it. For partitioning, the most effective, in my opinion, are programs Acronis Disk Director Suite 10 and Partition Magic version 8.0 or higher.

Even the most best program when partitioning, it is capable of making an error, which can lead to irretrievable loss of data. Therefore, in cases where partitioning has to be carried out in the presence of an installed “live” system, it is necessary to first create copies of all important files on additional external or internal media. Such media can be a network or local drive, CD/DVD, flash memory, etc. Partitioning should only be carried out under the guidance of a person with the necessary knowledge and experience in the field of OS recovery.

When partitioning, the question often arises: which file system to choose for the partition - FAT32 or NTFS. From the point of view of storage security and optimality for most tasks performed under Windows XP, preference is often given to NTFS, as it is more modern, self-healing, and protected from the point of view of data access control. On the other hand, FAT32 is much simpler and preferable in terms of performance, especially in the case of an older computer with 128 MB of RAM or less. In addition, if the system cannot boot for some reason, access to data to correct problems on a FAT32 partition can be obtained using a regular MS-DOS boot floppy disk. In the case of NTFS, this will be more difficult to do, because will require running a cumbersome driver. At the same time, for a fully comfortable user experience with files, you will need a Live CD or DVD based on Windows PE(Windows Preinstallation Edition), which will perform a number of OS functions without requiring the latter to be installed on the hard drive, but its files will take up a considerable part of the computer’s RAM.

3.3. Third party programs system rollback (restore)
Writing system rollback (restoration) programs is a responsible process, because... mistakes made during development can be very costly for users. Creating such programs requires the work of many specialists who have deeply studied the system and equipment, both in theory and in practice, so this task is only within the capabilities of leading large software companies and, as a result, there are not so many such programs.

Can be determined standard features, which are available in all modern system recovery programs:

The ability to restore the entire system partition, or only selected folders and files, or only files;

The ability to create backup copies of the system state on another (non-system) physical or logical disk, on the network, on removable media (CD, DVD, flash) with automatic splitting of these copies into parts;

Recovery from all of the above media types;

Supports all file systems used by common operating systems on hard drives: FAT16/32, NTFS, Ext2/3FS, etc.;

Possibility of data recovery even if the OS does not boot;

The ability to make a backup or restore (rollback) without installing the program - from a bootable CD that supports access to disks with file systems FAT16/32, NTFS, Ext2/3FS and CD/DVD-ROM drives;

Opportunity differential copy data, in which not all data is recorded, but only changes made since the previous complete copy of the data.

The table below is a list of some well-known OS recovery programs given at the time of writing this article (December 2007 - January 2008):

Program name

Price

Developer's website

Paragon Drive Backup 8.51

Acronis True Image Home RUS 11.0

Manufacturers ShadowUser pay attention to main feature your program: the ability to create a “layer” between the file and operating systems. When activated ShadowUser file changes are written to free place on the disk, and after a reboot can be destroyed. That's why this program It is more suitable for using the computer in Internet shops, for those who like to experiment with various “experiments” on the system, as well as for using the computer by a child or other person who cannot ensure the safety of important data on the hard drive.

ShadowUser, like the more famous program Norton GoBack, uses free space on protected partitions to store its recovery data. System recovery tools like ShadowUser, have a number of the above-mentioned disadvantages of the recovery program built into Windows, the main one of which is the slowdown of the computer when the OS is running due to the continuous recording of all changes that occur.

As can be seen from the information provided on the developer’s website APBackup, the program, frankly speaking, is weak, and even uses ZIP files to store copies of the system state, which is clearly not intended for this purpose. The program installer available for download is very small (size is just over 3 MB), so it will be easy for everyone to check in practice the validity of my opinion about the program. Numerous other programs of this kind, which are only more or less successful archivers, are absolutely unsuitable for complete OS recovery.

4. System rollback using Acronis True Image Home as an example
Job Description Below Acronis True Image(we have considered the version of Acronis True Image Home 10, which in the following text we will simply call " Acronis") has much in common with the work of other programs, such as, for example, Norton Ghost And Paragon Drive Backup.

Work with Acronis It is especially convenient due to the fact that the program has an interface and built-in reference materials in Russian. It also adds special functions that Russian-speaking PC users need. For example, in cases where the program is launched from a bootable CD without the need to boot into Windows, a switch for Russian and English keyboard layouts appears on the screen, very similar to the switch found in Windows.

By examining the main menu of the program below, you can familiarize yourself with its main functions:


A PC user who has some experience with other similar programs can easily start working with Acronis immediately after installing it on Windows OS, because The program interface is intuitive, and the execution of individual functions is carried out using thoughtful step-by-step “wizards” that will not allow the user to “go astray.” Convenient "wizards" are used even in loading cases Acronis from a CD or from a security area. However, due to the responsibility of the assigned tasks, it is necessary to study the functionality of the program in more detail using, for example, reference materials built directly into Acronis.

4.1. Creating a copy (archive)
First task Acronis- creating a backup copy of the OS. Created by the program a backup copy of data is called an “archive”, so we will continue to refer to it by this term throughout the text.

The archive can be created in the "background" mode - without interrupting the operation of the system and individual programs. In this case, the “control point” for the created archive will be considered the state of the OS immediately at the moment when the archive creation process starts in the Acronis program. Therefore, changes made (for example, adding or deleting files) that will be made after the specified point are no longer made to the created archive.

We suggest copying "My Computer":


In the next step, select the partition with the OS:


Next, indicate the location where the created archive will be saved. This could be another partition of the same hard drive, another hard drive, a location in a network environment, removable media, a location on the Internet accessible via an FTP connection, or a security zone (about the security zone, see paragraph 4.3 of this article ):


Next you are asked to choose to create a full, incremental or differential archive:


A “full” archive contains all the copied information, and an “incomplete” (differential or incremental) archive contains only changes that occurred in relation to the previously created full archive. Therefore, these archives will occupy a smaller volume compared to a “full” archive, which is their advantage.

In incremental archives, each new archive adds another file to the existing “chain”, taking into account the entire logical sequence of previous archives. Therefore, to restore from it you will need the original "full" archive and all previous "incremental" archives.

The differential archive contains all changes that occurred after the full backup was created. Therefore, incremental archives will take up less space than differential ones, and to restore from a differential archive you will only need this archive and the original “full” archive. In addition, restoration from a differential archive will be faster than from an incremental one.

If from the moment of complete archiving until the moment of creating an incomplete archive on the copied disk partition, the defragmentation program works seriously, then the location of the files will be greatly “shuffled”. Therefore, the "incomplete" copy will be comparable in size to the "full" one and, therefore, will lose its advantages. Taking this into account, it is more rational to create a new “full” archive.

Next, you are asked to select copying parameters (in my opinion, in most cases it is better to leave them “by default”) and enter a comment for the archive. After clicking the "Proceed" button, the archive creation procedure starts.

It should be noted that the creation of archives in Acronis produced very intelligently. For example, paging and hibernation files, which do not carry useful information. The copied data is compressed (“by default”), which makes copying even faster than without compression. To completely copy the system partition, which takes up about 5-10 GB of space, a few minutes are enough.

4.2. System recovery (rollback)
After selecting the recovery command, you are prompted to specify the location of the archive from which you want to restore data:


In this case, you can choose to restore disks, only certain partitions, or individual files on them:


If you need to view or copy individual archive files, it is more convenient to do this by simply opening the archive file from under Acronis, after which you can “enter” this archive as a regular folder. Moreover, you can connect an image of a partition or disk located in the archive. As a result of the connection, a new virtual disk with the contents of the archive image, which is practically no different from ordinary (real) disks or partitions in its operation, but will be read-only. This disk will exist either until the image is disconnected through the program Acronis, or until the computer is rebooted.


Please note that in addition to restoring the system partition, it is also possible to restore the MBR (Master Boot Record). Acronis True Image includes the MBR in the archive, despite the fact that the user did not issue such a command when creating the archive. Obviously, this unplanned user action occurs for the following reasons:

The MBR occupies an obviously insignificant size in the archive, while its copy contains critical data about the disk;

MBR corruption leads to serious consequences. In most cases, after such distortions, to restore system functionality, partition recovery alone will not be enough and preliminary MBR recovery will be required (this is where a copy of this record, prepared in advance, comes in handy Acronis True Image).

MBR recovery can (and should) be done only if the data in the MBR is obviously erroneous. It is important to remember: if during the period from the moment the archive was created to the moment the recovery procedure was launched, the position of the partitions on the physical disk changed, then restoring the previous MBR will most likely lead to damage to the partitions whose physical location on the hard disk has been changed.

Select the desired system partition as the recovery location. You can restore a partition to a place other than its “native” location, if there is enough free space for this in the new recovery location.

In subsequent dialog boxes you can change the type of partition to be restored, the space before and after the partition to be restored, assign a letter to the partition (a new name), and also change some other parameters. In all these windows, the parameters initially correspond to the initial properties of the partition - for example, the previously existing partition type and its letter (name) are indicated. Therefore, it is not advisable to make any changes to the parameters (relative to the parameters initially set in the dialog boxes) unless absolutely necessary.

While Windows continues to run, it is impossible to recover the partition on which its files are located (the system partition). Therefore, while the OS is running, actions to restore it can only be planned. After clicking the "Proceed" button, the computer will restart; while in RAM component will be loaded Acronis, which works without the need to boot Windows, which will carry out the planned recovery actions.

Restoring a system partition with occupied space of about 5-10 GB takes approximately 5-15 minutes. Then you need to reboot the computer again, after which the restored OS will be ready for use.

4.3. Using Acronis Secure Zone and booting the program from a CD
Security zone Acronis- this is a place on a physical disk that is a partition that is not connected to the OS. It is inaccessible to Windows (“invisible”), so the risk of intentional or accidental deletion, as well as modification of the data contained on it by the user, other programs or viruses, is practically excluded.

How can I Acronis works with security zone? A special driver is used for this Acronis, which allows you to access data on a disconnected partition, bypassing OS tools. Theoretically, it is possible to create a virus that contains a driver similar to that used in Acronis so that the virus can gain access to the security zone. However, information about the emergence of viruses with such capabilities is not yet available in any of the official sources was not recorded. The fact is that driver development is technically complex, and creating such viruses is practically pointless. It's easier to develop malicious code, which deletes all information from physical disk(all partitions along with all the data located on them), which will be no less “effective” than creating a highly specialized virus with a complex driver.

In the security zone you can store not only archives, but also files necessary to download the program itself Acronis without using Windows. If this function is enabled, then when the computer starts, you will be prompted for a few seconds to press the "F11" key to boot Acronis. If the "F11" key is not pressed, Windows will begin loading.

Implementing this feature requires changes to the MBR. Such changes may be blocked if modification of the MBR is prohibited in BIOS settings. In addition, incorrectly changing the MBR can lead to complete loss of data on the computer, so this type of procedure must be performed with extreme caution.

Another dangerous operation performed Acronis- this is the creation of a safety zone, because at the same time it is formed new section either by allocating part of the space occupied on the hard disk by existing partitions, or by using the space remaining unallocated among partitions (unformatted areas). Those. In fact, a new disk partition occurs. Possible negative consequences of errors during partitioning have already been discussed in paragraph 3.2 of this article.

Download option Acronis from CD without need Windows startup very useful in cases where for some reason the latter turns out to be inoperative. In this case, using Acronis It is also possible to restore a damaged MBR. As with booting from the security zone, the user will be presented with a windowed interface very similar to that implemented in Acronis for Windows XP. The main menu and the order of individual operations are also very similar to those implemented in Acronis for Windows.

5. Conclusion
In some cases it is sufficient to use standard program recovery built into Windows XP, especially in situations where user data, settings and system performance are not very important for the person working at the computer (for example, if the computer is used as a gaming machine).

In cases where the system operates under conditions of frequent experimentation and can be damaged at any time, or when fast and more reliable data recovery is required, paid programs from third-party manufacturers are used. In such cases, to increase performance and avoid duplication of copy functions, it is advisable to completely disable standard system recovery along with the corresponding Windows service. It should be borne in mind that working with such programs requires special care and caution, and the user, of course, must be competent in this matter and have a clear understanding of what the program he is using does and how it does it. Otherwise, recovery attempts are more likely to result in data loss than useful results.

No recovery (rollback) method guarantees a 100% recovery result. Therefore, in all cases, it is necessary to regularly archive user data on external storage media.

The last non-obvious tip: before restoring data, it is advisable to make an additional copy of the current state of the OS. If this precaution is taken, it will always be possible to return to the state that existed before recovery. This can be very useful in the event that the rollback procedure suddenly went wrong, and further aggravated the current situation.

Sometimes a situation arises when it is necessary to quickly undo unwanted changes to the system: for example, after updating software, installing drivers or cleaning the registry, problems with stability began Windows. However, not all users know How do a rollback How And When making rollback points yourself, and in what cases the OS makes them in auto mode - in general, I will try to compactly answer all pressing questions on this important topic in this note.

Let's start by checking if the System Restore service is running (process rstrui.exe ). To do this, use the button " Start", right-click on " Computer"→ next, in the drop-down menu select " Properties" → "System protection ". The Security Options area displays the available local disks and the degree of their protection. By default, System Restore is enabled for the drive where you installed Windows (C:\). However, you can enable it for any other drive by checking the desired one (for Vista this is all manipulation!) and pressing the button " Tune" (first screenshot).

In the window that opens, activate " Restore system settings and previous versions files" and confirm the changes with the " button OK". Besides, in Windows 7 the ability to manage disk space for system recovery has returned, as was the case in XP, but for some reason it was “forgotten” in Vista(screenshot below).

When Windows itself (automatically) creates restore points ?

This happens in the following cases:

  • when installing programs and drivers;
  • when installing OS updates via the Internet;
  • according to schedule (every 24 hours in Windows Vista and every 7 days in the "seven");
  • when the system is rolled back to one of the earlier restore points.

Of course, the user can independently create a rollback point before any potentially dangerous actions (such as changing system files) according to the principle " more - no less".

How to perform a system rollback ?

All restore points Windows are in hidden system folder C:\System Volume Information. You can independently “roll back” to the desired point in several ways, for example:

  • via the button " Start", click " Help and support " → "Undoing changes using System Restore " → "Restoring your computer to an earlier state " And " Further" (For Windows XP);
  • through " Start", click " Control Panel " → "System Restore " (or "Recovery") → " Running System Restore " → in the final, select the desired rollback point (screenshot);
  • via hotkey combination " + R" → in the box enter rstrui → "OK" (the most convenient option for Windows 8).

A few important notes

  • I quote the help article from the Microsoft website: " System Restore does not protect drives with the FAT32 file system and other FAT file systems because such drives do not support shadow copies". IN XP When creating a rollback point, only key system and program files were tracked, unlike Windows Vista / 7 / 8 , where, thanks to Volume Shadow Copy Service Volume Shadow Copy Service or VSS), changes are recorded throughout the section. In any case, personal files are not included in OS restore points, i.e. all your documents and photos will not disappear after the rollback.
  • If you encounter any problems with the loading and stability of Windows, you should use last point recovery created shortly before the date and time when the problems started. If the situation has not changed, you can always choose another (earlier) rollback point.
  • I recommend that beginner computer scientists read my

Theoretically, any updates are designed to optimize system performance and certain programs. However, in practice it happens that everything does not go as the user wanted, and the system fails. This can also happen when installing a new one. software. What to do in such a situation? Some users believe that the solution is to reinstall the operating system. In fact, everything is much simpler, especially if you know how to roll back a Windows XP system to a day ago or any other period when the OS was working normally.

What will you need?

Some users believe that third-party utilities are needed to return to the rollback point. This is partly true. But the system also has built-in tools that will help us restore a successful configuration.

The first thing you need is a restore point. By default in Windows these points are made automatically. Typically, such an operation occurs before any significant events affecting the system, for example, before cleaning the registry or installing new applications, etc. Actually, this procedure in terms of complexity is almost the same as checking the authenticity of Windows 7 online, so there is a point for a rollback you can create it yourself.

Rollback Windows XP

In order to reset the system to previous state, first you need to log in with account administrator. Next, click Start and follow the All programs link. Here we are interested in standard and utility utilities. In them, click on the System Restore command. Check Restore previous state and confirm by clicking Next. After that, in the window that opens, you need to select a restore point. The last stage is to confirm your choice and start the process.

After the operation is completed, the computer will reboot. Actually, in the future there should be no problems with the operation of the system. However, if the computer does not start, you may need to cancel the OS restore.

Please note that files that were saved on your computer after the selected date will be deleted. Therefore, if necessary, make sure to have a backup copy of them. Some users prefer to use third-party utilities to roll back the system to the desired state. In principle, this is also a good solution, but it is not recommended for beginners to use the programs, since they are not as easy to use as they seem.