Third-party device drivers are not restored after you restore the System State data from backup in Windows XP (870891)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

SYMPTOMS

When you use the Backup tool in Microsoft Windows XP to restore the System State data from backup, third-party drivers may not be restored. For example, when you restore a backup of the System State data to a new installation of Windows XP, the network adapter driver is not restored, and you experience the following additional symptoms:
  • When you view the network adapter that is installed on your computer in Device Manager, a black exclamation mark on a yellow background appears next to the network adapter.
  • When you try to renew your IP address by using the ipconfig /renew command, you receive the following output: An error occurred while renewing interface NameOfNetworkConnection: The system cannot find the file specified
  • The report that the Backup tool generates after the restore operation contains the following message: The operation failed. Consult the Backup Report for more details.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because third-party drivers are not restored when you restore the System State data from backup. The following registry subkey is not restored during the restore operation:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services

This registry subkey contains subkeys that refer to the path of the device drivers.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use Device Manager to remove and then reinstall the device. To do this, follow these steps.

Note You must be logged on the computer as Administrator or as a member of the administrators group to follow these steps. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may prevent you from finishing these steps.
  1. Click Start, click Run, type sysdm.cpl in the Open box, and then click OK.
  2. Click the Hardware tab, and then under Device Manager, click Device Manager.
  3. Expand the device category of the device that you want to remove, right-click the device that you want to remove, and then click Uninstall. For example, to remove the network adapter, expand Network adapters, right-click the network adapter, and then click Uninstall.
  4. When you are prompted to confirm the removal of the device, click OK.
  5. On the Action menu, click Scan for hardware changes.
  6. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen if any instructions appear. For some devices, the device is installed on your computer after you click Scan for hardware changes in step 5. For those devices, no additional instructions appear on the screen.

    Note If you removed and then reinstalled the network adapter, you may have to turn off and then turn on the network adapter before the IP address is renewed. To turn off the network adapter, right-click the network adapter, click Disable, and then when you are prompted to confirm, click Yes. To turn on the network adapter, right-click the network adapter, and then click Enable.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about how to manage devices in Device Manager, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

283658 How to manage devices in Windows XP

For additional information about how to use the Backup tool to back up and to restore data, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

308422 How to use Backup to back up files and folders on your computer in Windows XP

309340 How to use Backup to restore files and folders on your computer in Windows XP

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/25/2004
Keywords:kbBackup kbRegistry kbConsumer kbtshoot kberrmsg kbDriver kbprb KB870891 kbAudITPRO kbAudEndUser
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