Windows 10: Windows System Restore: Monitored File Name Extensions

submitted by /u/martin_m_n_novy
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:)

 

System Restore in W10 - removes desktop shortcut?!?

For info only:

There are Microsoft docs which document that some monitored extension types of files (including .lnk) do not remain after a restore.

quote: "The following is a list of monitored file name extensions. Files with these extensions are monitored by System Restore in Windows Vista and later... "
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/win...ectedfrom=MSDN

quote: "Do not use monitored extension types for user-editable files. For example, if you name a user's personal data file using the extension .ini, the user may lose work as a result of a system restore."
"To restore a system, System Restore undoes file changes made to monitored files, recapturing the file state at the time of the selected restore point."
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...ing-the-system

Another link for ref: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\...
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/win...lesnottobackup

So, I just tried a restore after copying some random files with extension .lnk, .ini, .sys, .ocx, .bat, .out and an .exe file 'with' and 'without' any extension, to three different locations; the desktop, the documents folder and a separately created folder on C:. As a safety precaution, I then made a Macrium image.

And after a System Restore (performed following a reboot and inside Windows), all the files with the "Monitored File Extensions" did not remain where they had been copied to, in all the three locations. Of the files which I tested with in particular, all of them disappeared except the exe file without the .exe extension.

{As documented elsewhere on the web, those lost files could still be recovered using Shadow Explorer with the undo-restore that Windows creates}.

 

System Restore in W10 - removes desktop shortcut?!?

Thanks for that excellent and definitive report das10. And thanks for your efforts to acquire this information.

This clearly identifies a potential solution for the OP using Shadow Explorer and gives many of us another tool for recovering files lost during a system restore.

 

Windows XP PRO error after restore

System restore is handy when it works like it did for me 2 days ago saving the need to reinstall all of my software as well as windows, id suggest using norton Ghost 12 for an excellent system restore feature.