Lost System Settings On Vista

[SpoliaOpima]

My computer froze up this afternoon while I was playing some mp3s with Windows Media Player. When I rebooted I had lost all my system configurations, Firefox gone, Chrome gone, all bookmarks gone, Windows settings back to new user default, etc. Is there any way to get back to the way I had everything set up? The computer is still working fine and luckily I had all my work backed up on external hard drives so I lost nothing vital.

I've tried using F8 during restart for 'last good configuration' and that didn't change a thing.

[sensei]

Have you tried doing a system restore?

[H2oDunc]

Is the computer logging you in as you or as a guest. I once booted up and it had lost all my settings and would only log me in as a guest. All my old settings were still there just took a while to put them back. As already said try a restore point to before your problem.

[SpoliaOpima]

I tried a system restore but got a message saying there was no saved restore point.

When I turn on the computer, it asks for my password as always. I use the password and then I'm on, so it can't be logging me on as a guest, can it? Every single time I log on now I have to go through installations of Office, my touchpad and so on. It saves no settings either, no bookmarks or web passwords now.

What to do?

[elcent]

I tried a system restore but got a message saying there was no saved restore point.

When I turn on the computer, it asks for my password as always. I use the password and then I'm on, so it can't be logging me on as a guest, can it? Every single time I log on now I have to go through installations of Office, my touchpad and so on. It saves no settings either, no bookmarks or web passwords now.

What to do?

Not sure if it isn't too late for that. Try to hard cut power, just switch it off. Switch it on again and wait for messages where it asks for secure login? normal? etc.. Chose "login with the best last known configuration"

[SpoliaOpima]

I tried a system restore but got a message saying there was no saved restore point.

When I turn on the computer, it asks for my password as always. I use the password and then I'm on, so it can't be logging me on as a guest, can it? Every single time I log on now I have to go through installations of Office, my touchpad and so on. It saves no settings either, no bookmarks or web passwords now.

What to do?

Not sure if it isn't too late for that. Try to hard cut power, just switch it off. Switch it on again and wait for messages where it asks for secure login? normal? etc.. Chose "login with the best last known configuration"

I tried that, and got the same screen as I did the first time things went bad.

Is there no way to have the system go back to a specific date?

[H2oDunc]

Going back to a certain date is what system restore does. It may be your CMOS battery is dead so it is not saving any changes made ? After you re install everything open system restore and create a restore point so if you need to you can return your settings to how they are now Good Luck

[Supernova]

My computer froze up this afternoon while I was playing some mp3s with Windows Media Player. When I rebooted I had lost all my system configurations, Firefox gone, Chrome gone, all bookmarks gone, Windows settings back to new user default, etc. Is there any way to get back to the way I had everything set up? The computer is still working fine and luckily I had all my work backed up on external hard drives so I lost nothing vital.

I've tried using F8 during restart for 'last good configuration' and that didn't change a thing.

Sounds to me like user profile corruption. Run check disk to scan your HDD for bad sectors (if you haven't already done so). Also open the Computer Management console to get a list of all user profiles on the computer.

BTW, the "Last known good configuration" reads from the ControlSet002 registry key where all hardware settings are stored. This startup mode has nothing to do with your personal data or application settings and is used to recover the system from a botched driver installation.

# The last control set previously used to boot the system
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet001

# The 'last known good' control set used to successfully boot the system
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ControlSet002

# A pointer to either 'ControlSet001' or 'ControlSet002'
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet

[SpoliaOpima]

'User profile corruption' sounds like it was the likely problem.

In the end I gave up, and had my computer gutted and rebuilt with better, more up-to-date components. I kept the old hard drive in an external box so that I can restore some of the data that didn't get lost (everything on the D: partition was OK for example).

And I will definitely take H2Odunc's advice to set a restore point once I get everything configured to my liking.

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated.