REGISTRY BACKUP v.1.6.9 doesn't allow VOLUME SHADOW COPY to be implemented

[STLTweaking]

It seems that REGISTRY BACKUP v.1.6.9 (compared to v.1.6.8) doesn't allow VOLUME SHADOW COPY to be implemented/turned on (even though it is enabled in Windows 8's Administrative Tools . . . both "Microsoft Software Shadow Volume Copier" and "Volume Shadow Copy" are checked and set to "Automatic" and "Running" before running REGISTRY BACKUP 1.69). This is with both the Installer version and the Portable version. Yet Version 1.68 works ok for this purpose.

So it "appears" that there "might" be a bug in the implementation or coding or Version 1.69 . . . unless this issue is not reported by anyone else & is just unique to me. I could be wrong but I am a high-level advanced computer techie/nerd/geek for over 30 years now. And it is the same result if I run Version 1.69 (versus Version 1.68) on my Sony Vaio laptop or on my MacBook Pro (both running Windows 8 Pro). For the time-being, I have reverted to using Version 1.68.

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Another issue:  On my Sony laptop, doing a REGISTRY RESTORE worked fine to get me back to where I wanted it to be. Yet on my MacBook Pro (running Windows 8 Pro), I restored a backup from Nov. 2013 and it didn't appear to change (or hardly change) the system from what it was presently. For instance, new icons that I had put on the Windows TaskBar today (but definitely weren't there back in Nov. 2013) are still there after having done a restore, shutdown and rebooted. Why?

[Shane]

The only code changes in the new version was to strip out chars that cant be in a folder name for the backup folder. Nothing else was changed. And the program itself doesnt make the vss copy, the exes in the files folder do, and as you can see in the screen shot those exes havent been changed in a while, havent need to change them

So something else seems to be going on, what does the logs show in the backup folder?

I restored a backup from Nov. 2013 and it didn't appear to change (or hardly change) the system from what it was presently. For instance, new icons that I had put on the Windows TaskBar today (but definitely weren't there back in Nov. 2013) are still there after having done a restore, shutdown and rebooted. Why?

Hard to say, the task bar icons are stored on the drive BUT information about them is stored in the registry.
By default, your pinned apps on the taskbar are saved in both locations below.

In the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Taskband

In the hidden TaskBar folder:
C:\Users\(user-name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar

So even though you restored the registry the icons where still in the folder.

However it always possible something didnt get restore properly. There should be a restore log that you can check.

For the main system registry the program uses the RegReplaceKey API
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724913%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

For the profile registry however, because if a system has multiple user accounts, I use the MoveFileEx API
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365240%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

So the registry file for the profile should be moved by Windows when you reboot the machine, unless of course something happed to where Windows was unable to for some reason.

Shane

[STLTweaking]

Thank you for your reply!  I'll just have to experiment and explore the matter further (on both issues).

[STLTweaking]

By the way, I used to use ERUNT (which I know you were inspired by, from what has been written) and it was a very fine and useful program. When it couldn't work anymore with later operating systems, I was rather disappointed. Thank goodness your program came out to take its place!

I'll be looking to make a DONATION. Good works should be rewarded.

[Shane]

Erunt uses the Windows API to backup the registry, thats what the fallback method does in my program

When I make a program I make it with the options that I want and need. So you get a lot of "Shane" ideas in my programs lol and then as the program grows and I get user requests I add more to them.

Which is why, once I get caught up I want to make my own backup program for the system. Like Fbackup. A simple file copy to another driver backup and then some. But everything single backup program I have used is either missing something I could really use or has a bug that I cant fix since I didnt write it.

Having my own backup program would let me do that. I have a lot of customers in network environments and I have all the workstations backup the user profiles to a network share on the server, so all of those backups have the users temp folders, internet cache and other crap. Most free version programs give you no control. I want to be able to have the backup do a disk cleanup before hand and also better handle the different browser cache locations. And a ton of other stuff, but the point of that was to show how the registry backup came to be.

On fixing Windows I found that 95% of the problems all came down to the registry. I hate system restore, takes so much space and slows the system. I just wanted the registry. I found Erunt, worked good but was VERY lacking in options and control. So, I made my own, with what I wanted, in fact you will notice the "Shane" touch on every one of my programs lol

Shane