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Restoring SVS Layers after Disk Image Restore

rajat's picture
rajat
March 20th, 2007
Filed under: , ,

For users (like me) who use disk cloning/imaging tools to restore a fresh C:\ disk image when problems occur, the usual problem is re-installing all those applicaions that weren't in that image. SVS really helps here, as you can export VSA files and import them back (for the layers you created/updated after image creation).

But exporting/importing all those layers takes time and effort, how about making that procedure faster? And for people who keep the File Redirect on another drive besides C:\ it's even easier.

For SVS there are two requirements that get overwritten after an image restore:
- File Redirect Area (FR)
- Registry Redirect Area (RR)

You can solve this problem by following these steps:

  1. If you already have FR on a separate disk/partition, then you can skip this step. Otherwise, move the whole C:\fslrdr to another drive.
  2. Now for RR area, here's a simple workaround. Create .bat file with these lines:
    Regedit /E "SVSBAK1.reg" "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Altiris\FSL"
Regedit /E "SVSBAK2.reg" "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\fslrdr"
Regedit /E "SVSBAK3.reg" "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Altiris\SVS"
Exit
  3. Run the file and save the 3 .reg files anywhere where they won't get overwritten by the image restore.
  4. Now do the image restore and dbl-click import these files back. If you followed step 1, move the FR location back.

regards,
rajat

0 votes
trb48's picture
trb48
2 years 35 weeks ago

Regedit /E

I was reading this tip over, and I discovered that I had no idea what Regedit /E did. I decided to look it up. The following Web page does a really good job explaining what it is, and a bunch of other Regedit command line switches: http://techsupt.winbatch.com/ts/T000001029F18.html

Basically, Regedit /E exports the registry key that you specify into a registry file. This is a pretty handy strategy for saving yourself a ton of time!

0 votes
riva11's picture
riva11
2 years 35 weeks ago

Sometime interesting and

Sometime interesting and unknown information can be found reading different articles, this is an example, thanks to trb48 for the regedit parameters.
Regards
PM

0 votes
rajat's picture
rajat
2 years 35 weeks ago

Interesting and unknown information

While we're on this topic, here's a tip that isn't covered on the page trb48 referred.

For deleting a registry key, lets say [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Altiris\FSL\test], export it to a .reg file and add a '-' prefix to its path, then if you import this, it'll be deleted in the registry!

Original:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Altiris\FSL\test]

Change it to:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Altiris\FSL\test]

Regards,
Rajat

0 votes
riva11's picture
riva11
2 years 34 weeks ago

Rajat, Thanks

Rajat,

Thanks for your contribution.

Regards
PM

0 votes
eroc's picture
eroc
2 years 35 weeks ago

Thanks

This is excellent, and well described.

ERIC

ERIC

0 votes
erikw's picture
erikw
2 years 34 weeks ago

Excellent but dangerous

The piece is excellent written, and good for experienced users.

But i still prefer not to do too much in the registry. Editing registry is dangerous and leads to non-responsive systems.

And believe me! I'm a well experienced registry editor myself.

regards
erik

Regards
Erik
www.DinamiQs.com
Dinamiqs is the home of VirtualStorm (www.virtualstorm.org)

0 votes
rajat's picture
rajat
2 years 34 weeks ago

You must understand

Well I like to be in control of things and I've learned that it only goes bad when you don't know what you're doing.

But you're right, Regedit can be a wrong tool if handled by a novice. So, this is probably right to be classified as 'for experienced/advanced users only'.

and as for the tip in my last comment above... be VERY CAREFUL with that! :)

0 votes
erikw's picture
erikw
2 years 34 weeks ago

We agree

That's one thing that we agree in rajat.

Regedit should only be used by experineced/advanced techs, or novices who like to rebuild their computer once a while.

regards
erik

Regards
Erik
www.DinamiQs.com
Dinamiqs is the home of VirtualStorm (www.virtualstorm.org)

0 votes
erikw's picture
erikw
2 years 32 weeks ago

What if your computer crashes

What if your computer crashes, and you did not exported your layers?

My PC crashed a while ago, and I was not able to get my not exported programs back to running.

Me and more of us would like to get these also back imported.

Regards
Erik.

Regards
Erik
www.DinamiQs.com
Dinamiqs is the home of VirtualStorm (www.virtualstorm.org)

0 votes
Wm Jesse Foster's picture
Wm Jesse Foster
2 years 32 weeks ago

Put it all back

All you need to do is put all the files and registry keys back in the correct locations. You should be able to look at the locations listed in the article above and figure out how it all works together.

0 votes
erikw's picture
erikw
2 years 32 weeks ago

Going to try

I'm going to give it a try. Thnxss for the response. If it works i'll let you know.

regards
Erik

Regards
Erik
www.DinamiQs.com
Dinamiqs is the home of VirtualStorm (www.virtualstorm.org)

0 votes
rajat's picture
rajat
2 years 31 weeks ago

Soon

Hi Erik

Firstly, Sorry for the late response on this this.

Yours is a very relevant question. I'm soon posting a solution to this. I know it works because I've had to use it once.
Best Regards

0 votes
erikw's picture
erikw
2 years 31 weeks ago

Make me very happy

Rajat,

Solving this issue is going to make a lot of people very, very happy. Not only i have encountered this issue, but more people.

Thanxsss for the support.

Regards
Erik

Regards
Erik
www.DinamiQs.com
Dinamiqs is the home of VirtualStorm (www.virtualstorm.org)

0 votes
la_laucha's picture
la_laucha
2 years 18 weeks ago

restore lost registry settings

Hi there,

I´m using exactly the same way to backup my settings when restoring my computer.
But now I made a backup while some layers has been activated. In this case I just edit the backup export from the registry and choose search and replace the entries "Active"=dword:00000001" to "Active"=dword:00000000".
Stupid as I am ;-) I just replaced the 00000001 to 00000000 so that additional entries got chanced and no one of my layers are working anymore.
Does s.o. know which entries I have to chance back or is there a tool to write back the registry settings from the fslrdr contents ? I remember there was a tool for that but I cannot find it.
Please help
Thnx in advance

0 votes
Big_Al's picture
Big_Al
1 year 12 weeks ago

How to get SVS registry settings out of Ghost Image

Good article on restoring SVS layers to a new base layer.
I needed to pull the registry settings from the same Ghost Image, which wouldn't boot. Here is how to do that.

Always backup your registry before changing anything!

1. Mount your ghost c: backup as virtual drive (e.g. f:)
2. Run regedit
3. Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key
4. Use 'File/Load Hive' to get keys from Ghost Image registry files located at:
f:\windows\system32\config\
Pick the hive file (e.g. SOFTWARE) you want to load and proceed. You'll be prompted for a keyname to use. I use 'GHOST_SYSTEM' and 'GHOST_SOFTWARE' to make cleanup easier.

4. Adapt the batch file in rajat's Step 2 for the new registry path, ie: 

Regedit /E "SVSBAK1.reg" "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\GHOST_SYSTEM\Altiris\FSL"
Regedit /E "SVSBAK2.reg" "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\GHOST_SOFTWARE\fslrdr"
Regedit /E "SVSBAK3.reg" "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\GHOST_SYSTEM\Altiris\SVS"
Exit

5. Use a text editor with 'find and replace' to remove 'GHOST_' from all 3 exported reg files.

6. Continue with Step 3 in rajat's post to restore the files to the new base system.

7. You don't have to "unload hive" if you don't want to, but I prefer to clean up my base system and delete GHOST_SOFTWARE and GHOST_SYSTEM.

This tip adapted to SVS restore after much head scratching. Source: http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1154...

0 votes