Restoring Windows system state and services database
There are additional backup items that you can select for backup in Windows backup sets:
• System State
• Services Database
One example of when you would want to recover the System State would be if a user account was accidentally deleted from a Windows computer. Since user accounts are generated with a unique Security ID, the only way to recover the user account is to restore a backed up System State containing the deleted user account.
• For this type of restore, ensure that Use Buffer is not selected as a restore method. Problems can result from restoring Windows System State and Service Database via the DS-Client buffer.
NOTE: The System State contains information that is critical to your computer and applications. Use caution when using this feature.
1. Browse the Backup Sets tree, right click the backup set to restore, and click Restore Now.
The Restore Now Wizard appears.
2. In the Directories Tree, select the System State and/or Services Database check box(es) and click Next.
The Select Restore Location screen appears. By default, Original location is automatically selected as the destination location.
3. Specify the required destination location for the restore and click Next.
4. In the Select Restore Options screen, make sure that Use Buffer is NOT selected as a restore method.
Problems can occur in the restore of this type of data if the DS-Client buffer is used.
5. Make the required selections in the Fill in the restore survey screen and click Finish to start the restore process.
6. After the restore process is complete, reboot the system for the restored System State/Services Database to take effect. You can then manually delete the old Registry files.
The old Windows Registry files are located in the following directories:
• %SystemRoot%\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\
• %SystemRoot%\HKEY_USERS\
where %SystemRoot% points to C:\Windows by default on Windows operating systems.
NOTE: You will lose any registry changes that have occurred since the backup time of the System State / Services Database being restored.
For more information, refer to the following DS-Client Knowledge Base articles: