Hi Guys,

I also need to have System Restore available for Windows Server 2008 R2, however, the link provided is broken. For some reason, the MegaUpload page opens, I then wait to access the regular download link and boom, "Safari failed to open...". This error also appears across all available browsers.

Is it possible for you to re-upload the file or provide an alternative download link?

Here you are.

Thanks for a great post! I have a question pertaining to WMI for System Restore. I wrote the following simple script for creating a restore point and verified that it works on a true Windows 7 machine.

+++++++++
strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\default")
Set obj = objWMIService.Get("SystemRestore")

If (obj.CreateRestorePoint("Scripted", 12, 100)) = 0 Then
wscript.Echo "Success"
Else
wscript.Echo "Failed"
End If
+++++++++

But after installing your package on a Win 2008 R2, the script fails because "SystemRestore" WMI class is missing. Do you have any suggestions? I see that your package includes srwmi.dll. I also tried copying sr.mof and sr.mfl files, but that did not help.

Thanks

UPDATE

Following some information I found online, I was able to get one step further by copying sr.mof file from a Windows 7 machine to C:\Windows\System32\wbem directory, and compiling it with mofcomp.exe. I got one step further, but now I am getting a 80041013 Provider load failure for SystemRestore WMI provider.

Any ideas?

RESOLVED
=======

I figured out the missing piece and felt that this information may be of value to others.

The CLSID registry entry for srwmi.dll required for COM was missing. I found and exported this key from my Windows 7 box, and now I can invoke System Restore functions from WMI scripts (indeed, as far as I can tell, the only way to actually trigger a system restore is through WMI). The reg key to import is HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{a47401f6-a8a6-40ea-9c29-b8f6026c98b8}.

Vasu

I used a Windows 7 loader to activate my R2 as a Windows 7 machine. Upon rebooting my server was pretty much disfunctional. Server Manager was inaccsessible, Windows Server Backup, Share and Storage Management...pretty much everything. Windows thought I was the client (Windows 7) machine. Upon creating a restore point, I rebooted and went into the recovery console aka "Repair your computer". I created a restore point called "Test". Upon entering system restore (rstrui) I noticed that it allowed me to restore my computer. However I am only able to recover restore points when my licensing on my PC is switched to "Windows 7-mode" if you want to call it that. So this makes me believe that the reason why we are not able to restore R2 using R2-licensing is not because of a missing DLL or registry, but a integrity check that is somehow checking to see if we have the right edition of Windows installed. I tried changing the "EditionID" registry string to 7 but that didn't help. I'll try to investigate this matter later....atleast I know I'm on the right path. It's definietely not a missing system file or DLL...its not writing to the "System Reserved" partition somehow.

You do not need to follow this procedure tu enable system protection, you just have to install it via server manager, add features, System Protection, and then enable it by right clicking on computer, advanced system settings, system protection, and enabling system restoring on desired disk/partition. I hope this be useful for someone, bye

You are mistaken my friend. Windows Server 2008 R2 does not contain any roles or features that will enable system restore. The closest thing Server has is system state backups which requires the Windows Server Backup utility. It is a more a system wide backup...in essence you are virtually re-imaging your entire machine every time you run it. System Restore is a little more generic but it makes it great if you want to restore you machine from an application that is incompatible or you need to revert to a previous state a lot quicker than a system state restore.

Is Desktop Experience required for System Restore?

When I try to run rstrui.exe no window opens. System Protection tab exists, restore point created successfully.
Features:

• .NET Framework 3.5 Features YES
• Windows Server Backup YES
• Desktop Experience NO

This helped