[~Candy~]

I'm working on a Dell system with XP Home. I'd like to make a restore point prior to putting SP2 on it, HOWEVER, the system icon will NOT open for whatever reason. Since XP Home doesn't use group policies, what else could be preventing me from gaining access to system properties?

 

[jd_957]

Maybe the following would help.

Some common problems that could cause System Restore not to work properly and their solutions include the following:

• There is less than 200 MB of free space available on the computer—free up some space on the hard drive by deleting unused files or images.

• After rebooting, the restoration is unsuccessful—choose an earlier restore point and try again.

• Restoration was denied due to non-administrator status—log out and then back in as an administrator.

• The System Restore Service is not running—Open Administrative Tools, click Computer Management, and then click Services and Applications. Click Services, and double-click System Restore Services from the list. Verify the service is started and running. If not, under Service status, click Start and change the startup type to Automatic.

the above was found here.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/getstarted/ballew_03may19.mspx

 

[~Candy~]

After doing some more troubleshooting, I am able to get to the system restore tool via the program menu, however, the system icon in the control panel will not open. I see the hour glass briefly, but then it goes away and does nothing. I'm in the middle of making a restore point right now, but would still like to figure out what the problem is via the control panel. All other icons there appear to work normally.

By the way, there is plenty of hard drive space.

 

[~Candy~]

Ok, this is strange. System restore froze, I had to reboot, right clicking on the start menu, my computer, properties worked ONE time, a second attempt will not work

Created a restore point successfully though.

 

[jd_957]

not sure if this can help with your control panel problem. but it is the easiest one to read that i found.

http://www.vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/control.htm