Help, my Windows 7 System restore has disappeared!

I have found that system restore is not needed in Windows 7. It's a hold over program when earlier Operating systems.
I have never had to use it...never.

Go to computer, icon or start menu, open and click on the C drive and open. Drill down to system 32 folder and open that. Scroll down to the restore folder and send to either desktop or my documents and open. Hope that works.

The improvement in System Restore in Windows 7 is the ability for almost all versions to take a "snap shot" of those pieces necessary to do a full restore without having to shut down and run a standalone utility. This not only opened the door for better recovery within Windows, it opened the door to third party utilities that can do even more and do it faster and easier.

<div>I do not work for any of these companies (in fact, I do not work. I've been disabled since 2003) so my comments are based solely on my knowledge and experience.

One of the tools I discovered is Macrium Reflect whose free version does everything you NEED to do. CNET has reviewed it and gave it high ratings. I am not a wealthy person, but I longed for SSD performance. My budget meant that would have to max out at 80GB so I installed windows so my "Users" and "Program Data" (a hidden folder) are on a separate drive. So is a lot of other data. With Windows recovery I am limited to making "a backup of everything required to restore your system" which includes a ton of stuff that isn't required to restore your system. There are some things in your AppData folder that might bite you, but they rarely bite hard. Meanwhile you end up dedicating a large amount of storage to data that isn't changing. With the free version of Reflect I can back up any partition I choose (the paid version gives you control to folder level). This means that my backups are images (reflections) of Windows, programs and the other essential software and settings to run the computer. In the event of a full recovery, my data does not get stepped on so you won't wonder why you didn't backup your Outlook files. There are many advantages to putting "Users" on a different partition, even if its the same spinning platter.

<div>I keep a little log in the same folder as my reflections of things I install, uninstall, update, whatever. Every few months when my machine is dragging due to Windows leftovers and lost pieces, I restore my system reflection and do the installs and updates again. Then I make a new system reflection. I keep three generations and archive my first "clean install" backup forever. Each generation moves from one storage medium to another so I don't get blindsided by an internal or external drive failure. Every time I've this little restore I've wondered why I didn't do it sooner. We adjust to inefficiency as it occurs and aren't really sure how fast our computer really was before BSODs and frozen system became de rigueur. I have a "clean install" without the problem of registering my application

software or activating Windows all over again. My system recovery is only about 50 GB.</div>
The free version allows you to build rescue media with whatever environment you choose, but I think the easiest is WAIK (windows standard). It also supports GPT partitions so as you become more comfortable with it, you can take it with you to Windows 8.
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Click START in lower left cornor then type System Restore in the search box. You will probably find System Restore that way to!

Hi, i have a simpler way for you.

Click on the Start Orb, simply type on the search box - System Restore

It will be at the very top

RIGHT CLICK ON TOP OF IT - the Menus will appear allowing you to Copy, Move, Pin to Taskbar - Pin to Start Menu, and other choices.

I would suggest you Pin it to the Start Menu, (Since the shortcut is no longer where it should be - a new one will be created there with this step) If you use it often - or if does not allow it, see below.

After searching it, You can copy it, and go to the Accessories, highlight the System Tools - the folder should turn blue - and past it.

As other indicated on how to access it through the control panel, Control Panel is to the right when you first click on Start, following their instructions --- when you find it, you can -- RIGHT -- click on it as well and send it / pin it / copy to where ever you prefer.

Hi Gary,

The system restore icon that you are talking about is the shortcut to RSTRUI.EXE in \windows\system32. to get it back all you need to do is type rstrui in the search box and then create its shortcut by right-click on the file and send to desktop (create shortcut). Then you can copy that shortcut and paste back to where you want it.

Hopre this will help you somehow.

MMak

On keyboard press windows key then R a run box will pop up enter rstrui.exe to open system restore.
You can also run the system file checker utility built in to windows using a command prompt with admin privileges.
Windows key R cmd enter once in command prompt type "sfc /scannow" no quotes and make sure there is a space between sfc and the / this will repair any system protected files.You can also open cmd with search, right click ,run as admin.

I am running Window 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 32 bit Software, up to date, on a Dell Dim 8300 PC. At least on this setup if you click start then Control Panel there is a button labeled Recovery. If you click Recovery the System Restore Application opens up and you are ready to go.

Hope this helps.

"Everything"....a search engine for your computer.....http://www.voidtools.com/
it's free too.

have you tried typing it into the search window on the start menu?

it may be possible to drag and drop it somewhere but I doubt it. System restore is a system file. So I say you may have a virus that has hidden all your main file. so hit the windows key (hold) press e and release, Explorer opens on top left of window should see organize click find folder options go to view and click on restore defaults, then reset folder options. make sure it applies to all files and folders. Then see if you can find restore. If so right click on it and make sure read only is not blue. It should be empty. You can also press Windows Key(hold) press F. Then type a search for recovery which the exe is in system32 folder. The recovery is stored in system volume information also make sure that is not hidden or set to read only as well...