Cannot do System Restore on XP

[Christofer]

I am using Windows XP and i don't know whats went wrong with it. Due its strange behavior from last two days i just decided to do a system restore. But whenever i am try to do that windows gives an error saying,"System Restore cannot run until you restart the computer. Please restart the computer, and then run System Restore again." I don't know why is this happening. I just cannot do system restore on my Xp computer. Please help.

[Maq.H]

Most probably this error message occurs while trying to run System Restore if a Wininit.ini file is present in the Windows directory.To resolve this issue, restart the computer. If the error still occurs, search the hard drive for the presence of the Wininit.ini file, and then rename it. To do so, follow these steps:

• Restart your computer in Safe or DOS Mode.
  
  
• Click Start, point to Search, and then click For Files or Folders.
  
  
• In the Named box, type wininit.ini.
  
  
• In the Look in box, click Local hard drives, and then click Find Now.
  
  
• Right-click the Wininit.ini file, click Rename, type wininit.xxx, and then click OK.
  
  
• Close the Find Files window, and then run System Restore again.
  
  
• If the previous steps do not resolve the problem, run the following command to repair the damaged portions of your registry:
  
  • scanreg /fix

[Lillebror]

System Restore automatically tracks changes to your computer and creates restore points before major changes are to occur. The presence of a Wininit.ini file indicates that there has been an incomplete installation or removal of an application or system update, and system file changes are pending. The best way that I can suggest you to fix this error is to turn off system restore and then turn it back on. But doing so you'll lose all your previous points. That will make system restore work again.

If it won't work than simply try to System Restore from the safemode. Because sometimes if System Restore doesn't work in Normal Mode, it might work in Safe Mode. To use System Restore in Safe Mode, press the F8 key during reboot and choose Safe Mode. When your computer starts in either Safe Mode or Normal Mode, System Restore can be used to capture a working previous state. System Restore can't be opened unless the system is bootable into one of these modes.

[Dr. V]

If you have any trouble using system restore in normal mode when there are two accounts with administrator rights. Try booting into Safe Mode. Also make sure you have the full disk space set.If you don't have this much free space, System Restore will disable itself until the space becomes available. System Restore will create and save restore points until this space is full, and will then begin writing over itself beginning with the least recent data.