Problems with C:\System Volume Information\tracking.log

I am an ordinary user of XP Pro with no special technical knowledge. I'm
encountering a problem that I can't find discussed anywhere on the internet.

The Problem:
Any program that tries to access C:\System Volume Information\tracking.log
hangs up and has to be shut down using Task Manager. Even just attempting to
view the file properties causes Windows Explorer to hang up. Anti-virus and
-spyware programs scanning my computer get stuck when they try to read the
file.

Does anybody know what is causing this and what I should do? Or, should I
erase the hard drive and start over?
-------------
My system info and steps taken:
I made a clean install Windows XP Pro SP2 onto my new Dell Vostro laptop
hard drive [108 GB] after my old laptop died. I installed programs (including
Zone Alarm and Spyware Doctor) and documents manually. I set the System
Restore allocation to 3% of my hard drive space (= 2.8 GB). I essentially
rebuilt my old laptop's software configuration on the new computer.

XP Pro was fully updated before encountering this problem.

After installing/updating Windows & appropriate drivers, I installed Zone
Alarm Security Suite and Spyware Doctor. Both programs were able to run full
scans of my hard drive without problem.

After installing other software applications and moving my backed-up data
onto the new drive, I tried to run scans again with Zone Alarm and Spyware
Doctor. Both programs hung up while reading C:\System Volume
Information\tracking.log. When I opened the System Volume Information
folder, I could not either open the tracking.log txt file [file size
displayed as '20 kb'] or view File Properties without causing Windows
Explorer to hang up. (I restarted my computer between each of these attempts.)

The System Volume Information folder already takes up the full 2.8 GB
allocated to it. There is one Restore folder [2.8 GB] and a file
'MountPointRestoreDatabase' [file size shown as 0kb].

I tried doubling the System Restore allocation to 6% of disk space and
restarting the computer. I still have the same problems.

Windows Explorer now also hangs up when I try to change the security
permissions of the System Volume Information folder. I was originally able to
ADD Administrators to the permissions, but I am now unable to REMOVE them.
-------

Why set system volume to 2.8GB total space.As far as file system info,go to
run,type:cmd In cmd type:DiskPart In DiskPart,type:list disk Type:list
volume
Type:HELP For all cmds...Also,open event viewer to get specific OS info
click
on the errors/warnings.

"Xiaomai" wrote:

> I am an ordinary user of XP Pro with no special technical knowledge. I'm
> encountering a problem that I can't find discussed anywhere on the internet.
>
> The Problem:
> Any program that tries to access C:\System Volume Information\tracking.log
> hangs up and has to be shut down using Task Manager. Even just attempting to
> view the file properties causes Windows Explorer to hang up. Anti-virus and
> -spyware programs scanning my computer get stuck when they try to read the
> file.
>
> Does anybody know what is causing this and what I should do? Or, should I
> erase the hard drive and start over?
> -------------
> My system info and steps taken:
> I made a clean install Windows XP Pro SP2 onto my new Dell Vostro laptop
> hard drive [108 GB] after my old laptop died. I installed programs (including
> Zone Alarm and Spyware Doctor) and documents manually. I set the System
> Restore allocation to 3% of my hard drive space (= 2.8 GB). I essentially
> rebuilt my old laptop's software configuration on the new computer.
>
> XP Pro was fully updated before encountering this problem.
>
> After installing/updating Windows & appropriate drivers, I installed Zone
> Alarm Security Suite and Spyware Doctor. Both programs were able to run full
> scans of my hard drive without problem.
>
> After installing other software applications and moving my backed-up data
> onto the new drive, I tried to run scans again with Zone Alarm and Spyware
> Doctor. Both programs hung up while reading C:\System Volume
> Information\tracking.log. When I opened the System Volume Information
> folder, I could not either open the tracking.log txt file [file size
> displayed as '20 kb'] or view File Properties without causing Windows
> Explorer to hang up. (I restarted my computer between each of these attempts.)
>
> The System Volume Information folder already takes up the full 2.8 GB
> allocated to it. There is one Restore folder [2.8 GB] and a file
> 'MountPointRestoreDatabase' [file size shown as 0kb].
>
> I tried doubling the System Restore allocation to 6% of disk space and
> restarting the computer. I still have the same problems.
>
> Windows Explorer now also hangs up when I try to change the security
> permissions of the System Volume Information folder. I was originally able to
> ADD Administrators to the permissions, but I am now unable to REMOVE them.
> -------
>
>
>
>
>
>

Hi,

The System Volume Information (SVI) folder is where System Restore holds
it's restore points. Encrypting File System and the Indexing Service also
stores information there also.

Zone alarm has been know to cause problems with System Restore.
Did this version of ZA work on the old laptop?

ZA Free bloats System Restore - ZoneAlarm User Forum:
http://forum.zonelabs.org/zonelabs/b...ssage.id=34871

I would suggest deleting the contents of he SVI folder.

Disable System Restore and use these instructions to empty the SVI folder.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/tips.html#14

How to Disable and Enable System Restore:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/disablesr.html

Then enable System Restore and check to see if the problem remains.

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

Xiaomai wrote:
> I am an ordinary user of XP Pro with no special technical knowledge. I'm
> encountering a problem that I can't find discussed anywhere on the internet.
>
> The Problem:
> Any program that tries to access C:\System Volume Information\tracking.log
> hangs up and has to be shut down using Task Manager. Even just attempting to
> view the file properties causes Windows Explorer to hang up. Anti-virus and
> -spyware programs scanning my computer get stuck when they try to read the file.
>
> Does anybody know what is causing this and what I should do? Or, should I
> erase the hard drive and start over?
> -------------
> My system info and steps taken:
> I made a clean install Windows XP Pro SP2 onto my new Dell Vostro laptop
> hard drive [108 GB] after my old laptop died. I installed programs (including
> Zone Alarm and Spyware Doctor) and documents manually. I set the System
> Restore allocation to 3% of my hard drive space (= 2.8 GB). I essentially
> rebuilt my old laptop's software configuration on the new computer.
>
> XP Pro was fully updated before encountering this problem.
>
> After installing/updating Windows & appropriate drivers, I installed Zone
> Alarm Security Suite and Spyware Doctor. Both programs were able to run full
> scans of my hard drive without problem.
>
> After installing other software applications and moving my backed-up data
> onto the new drive, I tried to run scans again with Zone Alarm and Spyware
> Doctor. Both programs hung up while reading C:\System Volume
> Information\tracking.log. When I opened the System Volume Information
> folder, I could not either open the tracking.log txt file [file size
> displayed as '20 kb'] or view File Properties without causing Windows
> Explorer to hang up. (I restarted my computer between each of these attempts.)
>
> The System Volume Information folder already takes up the full 2.8 GB
> allocated to it. There is one Restore folder [2.8 GB] and a file
> 'MountPointRestoreDatabase' [file size shown as 0kb].
>
> I tried doubling the System Restore allocation to 6% of disk space and
> restarting the computer. I still have the same problems.
>
> Windows Explorer now also hangs up when I try to change the security
> permissions of the System Volume Information folder. I was originally able to
> ADD Administrators to the permissions, but I am now unable to REMOVE them.
> -------
>
>
>
>
>
>

Hi Andrew,
I had reduced the disk allocation to 3% because System Restore had taken up
16 GB of my old 80GB hard drive. I've never used System Restore and hadn't
even heard of it. I'm actually deliberating whether having System Restore is
worth all the disk space it uses.

I get the message "DiskPart was unable to process the parameters"

Any idea what that might indicate?

Thanks

"Andrew E." wrote:

> Why set system volume to 2.8GB total space.As far as file system info,go to
> run,type:cmd In cmd type:DiskPart In DiskPart,type:list disk Type:list
> volume
> Type:HELP For all cmds...Also,open event viewer to get specific OS info
> click
> on the errors/warnings.
>
> "Xiaomai" wrote:
>
> > I am an ordinary user of XP Pro with no special technical knowledge. I'm
> > encountering a problem that I can't find discussed anywhere on the internet.
> >
> > The Problem:
> > Any program that tries to access C:\System Volume Information\tracking.log
> > hangs up and has to be shut down using Task Manager. Even just attempting to
> > view the file properties causes Windows Explorer to hang up. Anti-virus and
> > -spyware programs scanning my computer get stuck when they try to read the
> > file.
> >
> > Does anybody know what is causing this and what I should do? Or, should I
> > erase the hard drive and start over?
> > -------------
> > My system info and steps taken:
> > I made a clean install Windows XP Pro SP2 onto my new Dell Vostro laptop
> > hard drive [108 GB] after my old laptop died. I installed programs (including
> > Zone Alarm and Spyware Doctor) and documents manually. I set the System
> > Restore allocation to 3% of my hard drive space (= 2.8 GB). I essentially
> > rebuilt my old laptop's software configuration on the new computer.
> >
> > XP Pro was fully updated before encountering this problem.
> >
> > After installing/updating Windows & appropriate drivers, I installed Zone
> > Alarm Security Suite and Spyware Doctor. Both programs were able to run full
> > scans of my hard drive without problem.
> >
> > After installing other software applications and moving my backed-up data
> > onto the new drive, I tried to run scans again with Zone Alarm and Spyware
> > Doctor. Both programs hung up while reading C:\System Volume
> > Information\tracking.log. When I opened the System Volume Information
> > folder, I could not either open the tracking.log txt file [file size
> > displayed as '20 kb'] or view File Properties without causing Windows
> > Explorer to hang up. (I restarted my computer between each of these attempts.)
> >
> > The System Volume Information folder already takes up the full 2.8 GB
> > allocated to it. There is one Restore folder [2.8 GB] and a file
> > 'MountPointRestoreDatabase' [file size shown as 0kb].
> >
> > I tried doubling the System Restore allocation to 6% of disk space and
> > restarting the computer. I still have the same problems.
> >
> > Windows Explorer now also hangs up when I try to change the security
> > permissions of the System Volume Information folder. I was originally able to
> > ADD Administrators to the permissions, but I am now unable to REMOVE them.
> > -------
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >

Hi Bert,
I ran into even worse problems - now I can't start up Windows except in Safe
Mode.

(See bottom of message for results from checking Event Viewer)

I created a Test Restore point following your directions, created a test
shortcut, and then did a System Restore in Safe Mode to the Test Restore
point. That task completed and Windows automatically shut down and restarted
- so far, everything looks fine.

When restarting, the Windows loading screen appears and then the screen goes
blank. Normally, this would soon be replaced by the logon screen. Instead, it
just stays blank and hard drive activity stops. I had to do a forced
power-off. When the computer rebooted, I got the Windows advanced boot
options menu. I tried using the Last Good Configurations option, but that
didn't work either.

Safe Mode DOES start up. When I booted up in Safe Mode with GUI, I got a
"restore successful" message and, sure enough, the "Test" shortcut that I had
created per your instructions had disappeared. It's just that I can't start
up in Normal Mode anymore.

EVENT VIEWER REPORTING:
I checked this first before attempting System Restore. Under Application
Events, there were able 60 instances of an Information message from HHCTRL of
event "1904", category "none" all posted at 1:12 pm yesterday afternoon.
When I double-click on any of them, I get a message that Event Viewer can't
access the details. The last message on the Viewer that IS accessable was
posted at 1:08pm from MSSQL server. The last event logged under System
Events was on Aug 23, Information Event from Service Control Mgr, event ID
"7036".

Even after I attempted the System Restore described above and opened Event
Viewer in Safe Mode, there STILL were no messages more recent than those
listed in the paragraph above.

(This message was written after my reply to your first post)

Partial success: I found out how to get my computer to start up again in
Normal mode, but I haven't resolved the original problem. Yes, Zone Alarm is
involved somehow.

Details:
---------------
1. Zone Alarm (ver. 7) worked fine on my old system. On my new system, it
had slowed down my computer and caused it to hang up during System Shutdown.
(This was 2-3 days ago.) Per ZA's own recommendation on the ZA Forum site, I
turned off On-Access Scanning - has something to do w/ the current build that
they say will be fixed in the next program update. I haven't had any problems
since, until I ran into the tracking.log problem. See #4 below

2. While in Safe Mode (GUI) I was able to access the tracking.log file
Properties and open the file with Notepad. No problem, though the file itself
looks mostly like gibberish.

3. Turned off System Restore. Rebooted. Same problem as before when trying
to boot up into XP Normal mode. (Black screen, hard drive activity stops)

4. Rebooted Safe Mode. Uninstalled ZoneAlarm Suite. You were right - it is
part of the problem. Windows booted up normally. Except now, of course,
without ZA, which I will need in the future.

5. Turned System Restore back on.

6. Tried reading the Properties for the tracking.log file. Again, it caused
Windows Explorer to hang up and I had to force it to close, once again, using
Task Manager.

7. Checked the Event Viewer log. No new entries have been posted to System
or Applications despite all the changes that have happened.

8. Unstalled a media codecs converter program called "Super (C)" that I'd
installed yesterday afternoon. This was the only program -- other than MS XP
Powertoys -- that I hadn't had on my old laptop system. (I had installed it
about the time that the last messages were logged onto Event Viewer.) Still
unable to read the Properties of the tracking.log file.

So, I'm back where I started, sort of. While the problem hasn't been
resolved, we do know:

A. Whatever causes applications to hang up when accessing tracking.log IS
NOT present in Safe Mode.

B. ZoneAlarm is involved somehow, but secondarily, as it seems.

Xiaomai wrote:

> Hi Andrew,
> I had reduced the disk allocation to 3% because System Restore had
> taken up 16 GB of my old 80GB hard drive. I've never used System
> Restore and hadn't even heard of it. I'm actually deliberating
> whether having System Restore is worth all the disk space it uses.


System Restore is a valuable tool that can be be used to solve many
problems. Turning it off would be a serious mistake.

But the default (and maximum) of 12% of the drive that System Restore takes
is a very poor one. In practice you can seldom go back more than a week or
two, because any more than that and your registry gets out of synch with
everything else. So allocating space for more than a dozen or so restore
points is a waste. All you need for that is 1-2GB at the most.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

(continued)

9. I shut down my laptop after uninstalling the Super (c) program. When I
restarted in normal mode several hours later, I was finally able to access
the Properties of the tracking.log file and also to open it in Notepad.
Progress!

10. I re-activated Spyware Doctor, which I'd deactivated when this problem
first cropped up. I ran a Full System Scan, and this time -- unlike yesterday
-- it had no problems with the tracking.log file and the scan completed
sucessfully. More progress.

11. After restarting the computer, I re-installed ZoneAlarm. After
completing the install, the ZA requires the system to restart. BUT this time,
the computer couldn't start in normal mode. It got locked up in a blank
screen like it did earlier today.

12. I booted in Safe Mode and uninstalled Zone Alarm, and the computer was
able to boot up in Normal Mode again. I didn't have a problem booting up with
ZoneAlarm before I encountered the problem with tracking.log yesterday.

13. I'm still able to open/access the tracking.log file, which still looks
like gibberish. Since I had cloned my drive onto an external drive 2 days
ago, I opened the cloned copy and it looked the same as my current copy.

14. There are still no new entries to the Event Viewer log whatsoever, which
I find rather fishy.

15. Tried updating with Windows Update instead of Microsoft Update, as
suggested. Windows Update redirects to MS Update anyway, so no clues there.

So, part of the problem has been solved, since security software can now
scan the tracking.log file without hanging up. But there seems to be more to
it than that, and ZoneAlarm is still having problems that it didn't have when
I installed it last week. The Super (c) program seems to have been involved
somehow, but I don't know how.

Does that give you or anyone any clues as to what's causing this? With ZA
having problems that didn't exist on my system before, there still seems to
be a problem.

Thanks, Bert, for the advice on Safe Mode and the links. They've been quite
helpful even though the problem isn't completely resolved yet.

Hi Ken,
Thanks, it's good to know what a practical size for allocation would be.
I've set my allocation back to 3% (2.8 GB)

Even after I've been able to access the tracking.log file in Normal mode
(see my replies to Bert's posts below), I still get the same "DiskPart was
unable to process the parameters" when I try to follow Andrew's suggestion to
run DiskPart. Does that mean anything to anyone here?

Xiaomai wrote:

> Hi Ken,
> Thanks, it's good to know what a practical size for allocation would
> be. I've set my allocation back to 3% (2.8 GB)


You're welcome. Glad to help.

Good that you've lowered the allocation. You could probably make it even
smaller.


> Even after I've been able to access the tracking.log file in Normal
> mode (see my replies to Bert's posts below), I still get the same
> "DiskPart was unable to process the parameters"


I'll leave you in Bert's capable hands. He knows much more about this than I
do.

> when I try to follow
> Andrew's suggestion to run DiskPart. Does that mean anything to
> anyone here?


Andrew E.? Sorry to be rude to another poster, but I believe in calling a
spade a spade. Andrew E. is an idiot, and a troll. What he posts is at best
useless, and is often downright harmful. You would be well advised to ignore
everything he says.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

Nice testing and documentation, Xiaomai.

The events going on here are unusual, to say the least.

The Super (c) program is the most likely suspect so far. Considering the
unusual events I would suggest leaving it off the system. And if is not,
uninstall ZA at least for now.

I would then suggest reinstalling Windows XP to repair anything else Super
(c) may have messed up. The repair install should not effect any installed
applications. You will want to run MS Update afterwards.

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install by Michael Stevens MS-MVP:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

How to perform a repair installation of Windows XP if IE 7 is installed
http://support.microsoft.com/default...en-us%3b917964

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


Xiaomai wrote:
> (This message was written after my reply to your first post)
>
> Partial success: I found out how to get my computer to start up again in
> Normal mode, but I haven't resolved the original problem. Yes, Zone Alarm is
> involved somehow.
>
> Details:
> ---------------
> 1. Zone Alarm (ver. 7) worked fine on my old system. On my new system, it
> had slowed down my computer and caused it to hang up during System Shutdown.
> (This was 2-3 days ago.) Per ZA's own recommendation on the ZA Forum site, I
> turned off On-Access Scanning - has something to do w/ the current build that
> they say will be fixed in the next program update. I haven't had any problems
> since, until I ran into the tracking.log problem. See #4 below
>
> 2. While in Safe Mode (GUI) I was able to access the tracking.log file
> Properties and open the file with Notepad. No problem, though the file itself
> looks mostly like gibberish.
>
> 3. Turned off System Restore. Rebooted. Same problem as before when trying
> to boot up into XP Normal mode. (Black screen, hard drive activity stops)
>
> 4. Rebooted Safe Mode. Uninstalled ZoneAlarm Suite. You were right - it is
> part of the problem. Windows booted up normally. Except now, of course,
> without ZA, which I will need in the future.
>
> 5. Turned System Restore back on.
>
> 6. Tried reading the Properties for the tracking.log file. Again, it caused
> Windows Explorer to hang up and I had to force it to close, once again, using
> Task Manager.
>
> 7. Checked the Event Viewer log. No new entries have been posted to System
> or Applications despite all the changes that have happened.
>
> 8. Unstalled a media codecs converter program called "Super (C)" that I'd
> installed yesterday afternoon. This was the only program -- other than MS XP
> Powertoys -- that I hadn't had on my old laptop system. (I had installed it
> about the time that the last messages were logged onto Event Viewer.) Still
> unable to read the Properties of the tracking.log file.
>
> So, I'm back where I started, sort of. While the problem hasn't been
> resolved, we do know:
>
> A. Whatever causes applications to hang up when accessing tracking.log IS
> NOT present in Safe Mode.
>
> B. ZoneAlarm is involved somehow, but secondarily, as it seems.

The next smallest allocation is 1% (1.2 GB). Is that enough?

Thanks,
Robert

Followed instructions & the Repair Install itself went fine. That was the
good part.

Unfortunately, the system encountered an error attempting to install the 82
most essential windows update. (The error message appeared as soon as XP
tried to install the first of 82, and all 82 failed simultaneously.)

STILL no new entries in the Event Viewer logs. You'd think a Repair Install
would get noted, right? Not this time.

The failed updates was the last straw for me. I did a clean install and am
currently re-installing my software. At this point, that's probably the most
time-efficient option, and everything I have is backed up anyway.

Will monitor the Event Viewer and the tracking.log file. My main
disappointment at this point is that the cause of the problem was never
definitevely identified. But given that my my old laptop had no problems and
the only difference in software installed was:

A. I installed more Windows Powertoys (I doubt these would be the problem) and
B. the Super (c) audio program, and the last event logged was about the same
time I installed it,

I think it's quite reasonable to believe that the Super (c) was the cause of
it. And if it does turn out to be Zone Alarm, this saga will continue on
their message board.

Thanks for your help!

"Xiaomai" <Xiaomai@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:90A989DA-F1E1-490D-AF66-0E0027BE209C@microsoft.com...

> The next smallest allocation is 1% (1.2 GB). Is that enough?


Yes, that should be enough.


--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

Thanks for the feedback.

Now that the system is installed clean, I would suggest creating a restore
point after every new install. Avoid installing any hardware driver updates
from Windows Update. If XP does not have a needed driver, download it from
the manufactures web site.

I would also suggest running Memtest to check the insalled RAM to make sure
there are no errors.

Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

As far as ZA goes, how are you connecting to the internet, and is there a
router involved?


Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org


Xiaomai wrote:
> Followed instructions & the Repair Install itself went fine. That was the
> good part.
>
> Unfortunately, the system encountered an error attempting to install the 82
> most essential windows update. (The error message appeared as soon as XP
> tried to install the first of 82, and all 82 failed simultaneously.)
>
> STILL no new entries in the Event Viewer logs. You'd think a Repair Install
> would get noted, right? Not this time.
>
> The failed updates was the last straw for me. I did a clean install and am
> currently re-installing my software. At this point, that's probably the most
> time-efficient option, and everything I have is backed up anyway.
>
> Will monitor the Event Viewer and the tracking.log file. My main
> disappointment at this point is that the cause of the problem was never
> definitevely identified. But given that my my old laptop had no problems and
> the only difference in software installed was:
>
> A. I installed more Windows Powertoys (I doubt these would be the problem) and
> B. the Super (c) audio program, and the last event logged was about the same
> time I installed it,
>
> I think it's quite reasonable to believe that the Super (c) was the cause of
> it. And if it does turn out to be Zone Alarm, this saga will continue on
> their message board.
>
> Thanks for your help!
>