ERUNT - Restore Replacement

[mtirnanic]

http://www.larsheder...e.t-online.de/erunt/

As I've never seen window's restore actually ever work I decided to search for something which can actually backup the system registry to a file.

This application has worked many times for me.


Create a bat file and add it to ur windows startup so that it it automatically creates a backup for you in the windows directory.

ERUNT.EXE %SystemRoot%\ERDNT\#Date# /noconfirmdelete

[Nighted]

Looks good! I'll give it a try. 

[iphigenie]

I have never had to restore from it but i do run it quite regularly.

I think i have too many backup/restore things especially around the registry / system settings - but then you can never have too much safety!

[MikeMcLoughlin]

I have used it for several years and have done at least 2 restores. It is excellent. Combine it with BartPE http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ and it will save your bacon.

[ssoundman]

ERUNT has saved my butt on several occasions.

It's definitely on my list of must-haves. 

[djkarmad]

ERUNT is the bleeping BEST piece of disaster recovery-ware because of its simplicity.
ERUNT even creates a .COM file for BATCH.COM execution when you're in lowly Recovery Console.

I believe the author mentions this fact, but ERUNT replicates Windows 98's SCANREG / SCANREGW functions.
Just like in Microsoft's Scanreg, there are 2 components - one for inside windows and one for when the 'hits fat the shan'
I remember MANY times crashing Windows 95 (which only kept one backup of the registry files) and having to go through the pain of DOS renaming the corrupt files and replacing them with the (hopefully!) useable backups.
SCANREG was a hidden save-your-system treasure from Win98 which simply vanished (I believe) in WinME and henceforth.

When XP added System Restore I saw it as just a carry-over (and therefore useless) from WinME, where it would slowwwww downnnnnn the whole computer. But I have used System Restore successfully several times since XP SP2 and it's done the job. What I don't understand is the inclusion of the ridiculous ASR rescue option. I once actually had to resort to that to get my OS back... and I had no idea what it actually did. Imaging my shock when the Formatting Your Drive... message appeared!
Considering that most end users have one gigantic (and getting giagntic-er every day) partition with EVERY-THING on it, the ASR would be both too large to be piratical and hence too distracting to normal PC workflow.
Imagine backing up your entire 500 gig hard drive to DVD+-R's every week just to get a backup!

Lest we not forget MSBACKUP's SystemState backup. Every PC I maintain (on the job and off) has a weekly task to run a SystemState, which I save to the root of the drive. Just another soft cushion in case of disaster. ("Poke her... with the SOFT CUSHIONS!" in the spirit of this newsletter's title)
@mtirnanic 
The 1.1j version includes the Startup shortcut you mention as an option during the installaltion routine.
I would suggest that you modify the shortcut's properties by adding /days:7
Honestly, 30 backups of your hives gets to be a little fat and old.

A couple System Restore Tippers for you folks:
I use Doug Knox's System Restore Point freeware, running it sets a system point. No more needle haystacking just to protect your system against what you are about to do.
I combine this with the free "Shell Object Editor" http://www.tropictec...php?cid=1&lid=5/ to put entries into Control Panel for my clients. It's so easy that the have no excuse not to set a Point when they're about to do something they're not quite sure of.



--
And everything I say is calculated appropriated
Written and arranged in Feng Shui

[longrun]

Create a bat file and add it to ur windows startup so that it it automatically creates a backup for you in the windows directory.

ERUNT.EXE %SystemRoot%\ERDNT\#Date# /noconfirmdelete

-mtirnanic (October 10, 2007, 02:38 PM)

ERUNT will do this automatically if you use ERUNT-Setup rather than the zip file. I have ERUNT in my QuickLaunch. I back up my registry before making system changes or installing software. When ERUNT offers a filename such as C:\WINDOWS\ERDNT\10-18-2007, I append something like "bef[ore] Crappy Software ." Restoring to the correct point is then simple.

[mrainey]

And don't forget, the author of ERUNT appreciates donations.   

[OldElmerFudd]

 
Agreed, ERUNT is a must-have. I let it do autobackups each day a machine first boots. Anything more than a couple of days old is kind of unnecessary on my most active boxes, so I erase them every week. Don't forget NTREGOPT, the companion s/w at the site. And yes, donate! The author's earned it!

my 2 pennies
OEF

[nontroppo]

ERUNT: 

Two weeks ago, under heavy workloads and fast-approaching deadlines, XP decided to go belly up (both for me and a colleague working from home on the same day!). Luckily for me, knowing the horrid fragility of the registry, I regularly run ERUNT. And because I dual-boot XP via bootcamp, it was pretty trivial to use OS X as a recovery console to manually restore the registry (system restore utterly failed , so did safe mode btw...). My colleage wasn't quite so lucky, not using ERUNT and running W2K it needed a day to get a recovery CD sorted out for her to get her work off her dead machine.

[iphigenie]

So how do people restore after erunt?

When the machine doesnt start properly, it goes down to having the right kind of boot disk.

I used to have OO  bluecon but didnt upgrade to the version which supposedly works with xp (they got rid of the small user price point).  Some utilities with their own bootCD, an old win98 boot disk and some linux live CD which sometimes is willing to give ntfs access... and I kind of improvise.

If i can boot to safe mode or recovery console I do that, else i try to get access to the files I need by any of the above

I have heard of the winxp bootdisk tools but they seem like such a faff to set up :|

Pointers welcome

[tomos]

It's on the UBDC4WIN boot disk which is fairly easy to set up

I have a low threshold for "difficult" so if I found it fairly easy...!