[HOW-TO]System Restore under Server 2003

[gosh]

How to install System restore on server 2003

This thread describes how to install system restore on server 2003. It is not a thread for talking about WHY you might want to do this, that belongs to another thread :)

Below i will show how to do this after server 2003 is installed. I haven't tried slipstreaming this, but i imagine it could be done easily. If there's enough interest i might show how to slipstream system restore into server 2003.

Before we begin, you'll need an XP CD. Doesn't matter if it's home or pro. It shouldn't matter if it has a service pack on it, since all the files will be the same source. In testing i used a slipstreamed cd that already had sp1 on it.

In XP, system restore is installed in syssetup.inf under the inf.always section. If you have XP installed, you can open up %windir%\inf\syssetup.inf and search for [infs.Always], you'll see the section xp looks at for installing system components. You'll notice it has sr.inf, this is the inf for system restore. For server 2003, if you look at syssetup.inf you won't find sr.inf. This doesn't mean system restore won't work in server 2003, it just means they didn't install it.

So first what we're going to need to do is right click on sr.inf and select 'install', to install it on server 2003. If you have xp installed on another computer/partition you can just right click on it. If you don't, then extract \i386\sr.in_ from the XP cd to your desktop, then right click on it and select 'install'. It'll prompt you were the files are, point it to the XP CD. Once done, it'll prompt to restart, say yes.

That was easy, the next part is the tricky part. After restarting you'll get an error saying the service couldn't start. Specifically the error is error 1068. I searched google and found this link - http://www.aerdyne.com/Kbase/article_000005.htm. The error basically means it cannot run under the service it's on. In system restore's case, it runs under the network service. I know this because in services.msc, for path to executable, it says this: C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs. This got me thinking so i opened up sr.inf, and found this line:

[sRSvc_delreg]

HKLM,"Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost","SRGroup"

I opened up regedit, and this registry key didn't exist. So it seems the sr.inf doesn't register system restore to run under the network services group. Using the above registry key as an example, i opened regedit and went to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost

On the right hand side i saw netsvcs. I double clicked on it, but saw SRService no where (SRService is the name for system restore). On a hunch, at the bottom i added SRService, rebooted, and this time got no error on startup. I opened up rstrui.exe, and system restore opened fine. I also had a System restore tab in system properties now too. I was able to make a restore point fine, then restore the computer to it without any problems. So in the above key, you want to double click on netsvcs, and at the bottom of the list, you want to type in SRService (probably case sensitive).

If you're not good with the registry you can save the following as a whatever.reg file and import it, but because it's binary i can't say if it'll work. I recommend manually adding SRService to the netsvcs key.

---copy below to whatever.reg then double click on it -----

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost]

"netsvcs"=hex(7):41,00,70,00,70,00,4d,00,67,00,6d,00,74,00,00,00,41,00,75,00,\

64,00,69,00,6f,00,53,00,72,00,76,00,00,00,42,00,72,00,6f,00,77,00,73,00,65,\

00,72,00,00,00,43,00,72,00,79,00,70,00,74,00,53,00,76,00,63,00,00,00,44,00,\

4d,00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,00,00,45,00,76,00,65,00,6e,00,74,\

00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,00,00,48,00,69,00,64,00,53,00,65,00,\

72,00,76,00,00,00,49,00,61,00,73,00,00,00,49,00,70,00,72,00,69,00,70,00,00,\

00,49,00,72,00,6d,00,6f,00,6e,00,00,00,4c,00,61,00,6e,00,6d,00,61,00,6e,00,\

53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,65,00,72,00,00,00,4c,00,61,00,6e,00,6d,00,61,00,6e,\

00,57,00,6f,00,72,00,6b,00,73,00,74,00,61,00,74,00,69,00,6f,00,6e,00,00,00,\

4d,00,65,00,73,00,73,00,65,00,6e,00,67,00,65,00,72,00,00,00,4e,00,65,00,74,\

00,6d,00,61,00,6e,00,00,00,4e,00,6c,00,61,00,00,00,4e,00,74,00,6d,00,73,00,\

73,00,76,00,63,00,00,00,4e,00,57,00,43,00,57,00,6f,00,72,00,6b,00,73,00,74,\

00,61,00,74,00,69,00,6f,00,6e,00,00,00,4e,00,77,00,73,00,61,00,70,00,61,00,\

67,00,65,00,6e,00,74,00,00,00,52,00,61,00,73,00,61,00,75,00,74,00,6f,00,00,\

00,52,00,61,00,73,00,6d,00,61,00,6e,00,00,00,52,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,74,00,\

65,00,61,00,63,00,63,00,65,00,73,00,73,00,00,00,53,00,61,00,63,00,73,00,76,\

00,72,00,00,00,53,00,63,00,68,00,65,00,64,00,75,00,6c,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,\

65,00,63,00,6c,00,6f,00,67,00,6f,00,6e,00,00,00,53,00,45,00,4e,00,53,00,00,\

00,53,00,68,00,61,00,72,00,65,00,64,00,61,00,63,00,63,00,65,00,73,00,73,00,\

00,00,54,00,68,00,65,00,6d,00,65,00,73,00,00,00,54,00,72,00,6b,00,57,00,6b,\

00,73,00,00,00,54,00,72,00,6b,00,53,00,76,00,72,00,00,00,57,00,33,00,32,00,\

54,00,69,00,6d,00,65,00,00,00,57,00,5a,00,43,00,53,00,56,00,43,00,00,00,57,\

00,6d,00,69,00,00,00,57,00,6d,00,64,00,6d,00,50,00,6d,00,53,00,70,00,00,00,\

77,00,69,00,6e,00,6d,00,67,00,6d,00,74,00,00,00,77,00,75,00,61,00,75,00,73,\

00,65,00,72,00,76,00,00,00,42,00,49,00,54,00,53,00,00,00,53,00,68,00,65,00,\

6c,00,6c,00,48,00,57,00,44,00,65,00,74,00,65,00,63,00,74,00,69,00,6f,00,6e,\

00,00,00,68,00,65,00,6c,00,70,00,73,00,76,00,63,00,00,00,75,00,70,00,6c,00,\

6f,00,61,00,64,00,6d,00,67,00,72,00,00,00,57,00,6d,00,64,00,6d,00,50,00,6d,\

00,53,00,4e,00,00,00,53,00,52,00,53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,\

00,00,00,00

--- copy above --------------------------------------------------------

That's it! Remember to restart both times.

Enjoy,

-gosh

[Joswin]

Mint :D Cheers for that - Very Helpful.

You know we could make this thread sticky and people could post other stuff like this in here... :yes:

[John Veteran]

sounds good, i'll try it when i reboot next. and guys, please don't post "this is stupid" or "why would you ever do this?" because he told me he did it and i wanted to know how. :p

[Joswin]

Ok i just did a bit of editing. You know the system restore icon, looks a bit naff dont it? Kinda looks like Microsoft didnt have time to finnish it.... anyway i personally think the icon from Windows Me looks a lot nicer (i requested this icon it in another thread but its ok i found it now).

Anyway i extracted the icon group from the file, then used resource hacker to integrate the new icons into the original file. I thought id share just incase you want to use it :) just pop it in the \system32\restore\ folder.

rstrui.2k3.zip

rstrui.2k3.zip

[raid517]

Please can someone make this a sticky? It is one of the most regularly asked questions on this forum.

Q

[Joswin]

Ok i just did a bit of editing. You know the system restore icon, looks a bit naff dont it? Kinda looks like Microsoft didnt have time to finnish it.... anyway i personally think the icon from Windows Me looks a lot nicer (i requested this icon it in another thread but its ok i found it now).

Anyway i extracted the icon group from the file, and i thought id share just incase you want to use it :).

rstrui.2k3.zip

rstrui.2k3.zip

[raindrop]

Thanks man, it is working Great!!!!

You are the MAN!

[raid517]

As for slipstreaming. Yes Please. Can you show us how?

Q

[gosh]

To slipstream you would just need to add the registry key for netsvcs then copy the files for system restore into the i386 folder.

For instance in the hivesft.inf for xp youll see this:

HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost",netsvcs,0x00010000,\

"6to4",\

"AppMgmt",\

"AudioSrv",\

"Browser",\

"CryptSvc",\

"DMServer",\

"DHCP",\

"ERSvc",\

"EventSystem",\

"HidServ",\

"Ias",\

"Iprip",\

"Irmon",\

"LanmanServer",\

"LanmanWorkstation",\

"Messenger", \

"Netman",\

"Nla",\

"Ntmssvc",\

"NWCWorkstation",\

"Nwsapagent",\

"Rasauto",\

"Rasman",\

"Remoteaccess",\

"Schedule",\

"Seclogon",\

"SENS",\

"Sharedaccess",\

"SRService",\

"Tapisrv",\

"TrkWks",\

"W32Time",\

"WZCSVC",\

"Wmi",\

"WmdmPmSp",\

"winmgmt"

In hivesft.inf for server 2003 youll see this:

HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Svchost",netsvcs,0x00010000,\

"AppMgmt",\

"AudioSrv",\

"Browser",\

"CryptSvc",\

"DMServer",\

"EventSystem",\

"HidServ",\

"Ias",\

"Iprip",\

"Irmon",\

"LanmanServer",\

"LanmanWorkstation",\

"Messenger", \

"Netman",\

"Nla",\

"Ntmssvc",\

"NWCWorkstation",\

"Nwsapagent",\

"Rasauto",\

"Rasman",\

"Remoteaccess",\

"Sacsvr",\

"Schedule",\

"Seclogon",\

"SENS",\

"Sharedaccess",\

"TrkWks",\

"TrkSvr",\

"W32Time",\

"WZCSVC",\

"Wmi",\

"WmdmPmSp",\

"winmgmt"

So just edit the server 2003 hivesft.inf file, and add SRService in that list. Then copy the files listed in sr.inf to the 2003 i386 folder. Finally, find some way to run the install. One way you could do this is with an unattend file, and have it run this command:

rundll32.exe setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 132 sr.inf

Just change the path to sr.inf. That's the basic idea! That should work but untested.

-gosh

[Guest Beh]

excellent guide that just filled in the last gap that made windows server 2003 a workstation

[raid517]

Well not quite, someone has to still get the welcome screen back up and the little user photo in the start menu. Once we have that, we will all trully have something unique. ;) Even better still if someone could pool all the hacks here (at least this kind) on this forum into an installable .exe conversion pack.

Q

[John Veteran]

i think both of those are part of the welcome screen. and from gosh's post, i would assume you could install it with some inf file on the xp cd.

[Arpit]

can anyone tell me why did MS take out the system restore to begin with..?

[Twink]

because its a server os, and you would likely use something more powerful then system restore.

[RadishTM Veteran]

Syntax Error - Microsoft didn't put System Restore on a Server OS because if the end user were to use it ( e.g. due to installing a faulty program .... ), it would cause data replication on the system - which is not good for a server in a production enviroment ....

Radish.

[Steven]

How are we so sure, that doing this, will make System Restore Work as its indented too?

Does it actually create "System Volume Information" in which it really does save the restore points?

or is this just some registry hack to make the application appear to work.

[John Veteran]

i'm too busy now, but tomorrow i'm planning on doing all this and doing some tests with system restore. then i'll post the results. from just installing the inf file, the tab appears in system properties, and it puts an icon in the start menu, in accessories\system tools. it seems pretty real to me.

[gosh]

Even without system restore you have a system volume information folder. In my original post i put that i was able to make restore points, then restore my computer to that restore point. Your just mad because you said it was "impossible" to do this, and i did it in 5 mins ;p

-gosh

[raid517]

No he's asking if it automatically creates periodical restore points, or whether you have to add them manually. Either way its good.

Q

[John Veteran]

make a list of questions you want me to answer about it tomorrow, i'll try to answer as many of them as possible. dunno about that automatic restore points though, cause that's every 24 hours windows is running, and i'm not using that install of windows nearly as much as xp. :/

[raid517]

Ok, number 1 can you lay out your guide a little more clearly minus superflous points, just action/outcome action/outcome sort of thing. (eg. Go to this directory do this, go to that directory do that, all in list format). Not that I'm sying its hard to follow, just that it could use a little cleaning up. BTW is that reg key all we need? Or is anything else required? If that's so can you post it in .reg format (I know its easy to do with notepad and change the extension, but its nice to just collect all these keys - and as I said, hopefully some day someone will get round to making an installer that will reisntate all these keys and hacks).

Q

Edited July 6, 2003 by raid517

[uniacidz]

Gosh.

All i can say is great work, You have been able to do something that has not been able to be done and that has been known as 'impossible' from the likes of myself and others.

Great guide you made there also, nice and thorough and easy to understand.

I appreciate your time in creating that guide.

Thank you so much for this.

Cheers

:D

[John Veteran]

it's not just a few reg entries raid, you have to install the inf which copies a few files, registers them, installs the service, and adds some registry entries.

[raid517]

Sorry I didn't make myself very clear, I've modified my post a little.

Anyway, great work all in all. I don't understand why people are saying its a bad thing though. Data replication in a server may be bad (why though?) but if your using it as a work station, is it still a bad idea?

Q

[John Veteran]

you don't want the wrong data to be replicated ;)

and no comment on using it as a workstation :shifty: