Solved system restore not working on Win 8.1

Came with Win 8.1 64bit

I have tried 2 times to do a system restore with 2 different points.
Once started system gets to screen saying system restore initializing, and it just stays at that point with circle spinning. I have to hold down power button to turn off and than restart back to desktop saying restore failed.
What could possibly be wrong?

Hello, Johnf. Sorry to read your having problems.

I just restored mine yesterday. It does take quite a long time. I do remember the busy circle, but I can't for the life of me remember if it changed to a different screen after a while. that sequence took approximately 10 to 15 minutes. It eventually stated it was restarting, the screen went dark, and I could see it working again for approximately 5 minutes. It then booted again and worked again for another 5 minutes before I got a lock screen, then after hitting a key, a sign-in screen.

How long did yours run with the busy circle before you hard reset it? Also, I think it not to be a good idea to hard reset while it's in that mode, but obviously it rebooted to do it again.

Ya, I'am not one that would usually reset on system restore or updates. I did wait a while, maybe I should have given it more time. My old laptop Win 7, never took that long. I'll give it another shot, and see if it works. Either way, I'll come back to post results
Thanks for responding

One thing that will stop system restore in its tracks is an Active Anti-Virus program running.
Maybe not all AV programs, but AVG 2014 FREE, or Pro, will stop it every time.

So when I'm wanting to do a System Restore on any PC running AVG, FREE or Pro (makes no difference), I right click on the system tray AVG icon and then click the line that says "Temporarily Disable AVG Protection", then in the resulting windows, tell it to stay down till you restart the PC. Works every time.

But first off, you need to make sure that System Restore is turned ON and that there is a restore point to Restore to. Eh?

I rely heavily on System Restore to save my Bu** in case of problems, so I run a little script in my Startup folder, that forces a restore point to be created every time I turn on or reboot my PC.
You can download that little script here: (for windows 8.1)
https://app.box.com/s/v0s7fhxx7yah6wgynik2
Just put it in your Startup folder, or as a desktop program and then run it when you want.

The restore points only stack up just so high and then drop off into the ol' bit bucket, so they will never take over you entire hard drive.
(that really has not happened since Windows ME)

I hate it, when I go out on a service call, knowing darn well that all I have to do to fix the PC is run a System Restore, and then I get there and find out that some S** has turned OFF System Restore. Grrrrrr!

Happy Computing!
TechnoMage

Thanks for the reply TechnoMage, I'll be trying system restore today, it is on and plenty of restore points to select from. I'am using Norton 360 and haven't heard about any problems running system restore with it. And yes, I do have a system image with all installed programs. Learned that lesson long time ago.

You're welcome and good luck today.

Well that didn't go well :shock: . Waited 1/2 hour, stuck at Please wait while your Windows files and settings are being restored
System Restore is restoring the Registry
Finally had to shut down & restart, then came up saying repairing PC, then changed to grey screen and remained there.
Shut down after a while and restarted. This time came back to desktop and said system restore failed. (oh really )
Anybody with any ideas on what to do next?

Sorry to read that. Frustrating, I know. Did you look into TechnoMage's advice on the AV?

Is there a reason as to why you don't use your mirror? It seems to me that would be quicker at this point anyway.

Have you tried Windows 8 Action Center Troubleshooter? Also, you might look at running SFC, DISM and DSKCHK to make sure all Windows Files are intact with no corruption. A tutorial on this is at:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/3047-sfc-scannow-command-run-windows-8-a.html?ltr=S&filter[1]=Performance%20Maintenance

Good Luck!

I had run sfc /scannow already and it found no problems. And I use Norton so problem with AVG doesn't apply.

Finally restored from system image, everything seems OK. Just have to load a few programs back to system. Was trying to avoid doing that all along. After I'am done loading programs, I'll do another system image so it's up to date.
I guess I'll delete old system restore points, since it's from older image now. Will create new restore points. Hopefully they will work if needed.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

I just went through a crash and finally had to do a refresh with dell factory discs. I had 5 restore points and all gave me the message that they could not be recovered because a virus protection program prevented creating the point. No error message when at the time I created the points. Hence the factory discs.
My plan is to disconnect from the internet, disable or stop the virus protection program (Norton 360). Then create a restore point. Think that will work? Is there any way I can be sure I have the point without the surprise when I need it?

Only way to be sure is to restore it once it's created.

Take a image backup first of course