I get an error message that Windows System Restore failed?

[Richard P.44]

Hi

When I run Windows System Restore it fails with this error message

System Restore failed to replace the file (D:\Users\*******\Dropbox\.dropbox.cache\qebcobkqbgbzfynfuwbof\placeholder.bat) with its original copy from the restore point. An unspecified error occurred during restore. (0x80070780)

I have completed system recovery from an image without problem but on several occasions I have come up against this error when trying to correct a problem using system restore which would be easier to use if I could. I still have the problem if I run the system restore in safe mode with the same failour message

Any suggestions on allowing the restore to work

Richard

[DeeRoche]

Walter, I am a software developer. When our clients say there is a problem, and provide step-by-step instructions on recreating the issue, as I did a few months ago, we don't say "I can't fix it because I can't see your results"  we follow the steps given, recreate and fix the issue. 

The only bug that can't be fixed is one that can't be recreated.  This is a surprisingly easy bug to recreate.  It would take less than 20 minutes to produce on any Windows 10 machine.

Dropbox is far superior to anything else out there doing what you are doing.  But this issue could be a product-killer for you if it becomes common knowledge.

[Justin11]

Same issue here. Can't believe it's gone on this long without a resolution. I'm working on a user's computer, I have wasted hours on it because I can't do a simple restore to before their issue happened. The error is the exact same as the others are getting. Stop blaming Microsoft for a clear issue with your software. I have been in IT for over 15 years, and have not seen an issue like this with System Restore. It's quite clearly something with your software causing this. You said back in March you were passing the info on to the dev team but obviously that hasn't happened. 

I will be speaking with all of my business customers (approx 500 seats) and letting them know that Dropbox effectively kills System Restore and encouraging them to migrate to another provider unless a solution is reached quickly. 

[MartyBook]

Same issue here, has this been addressed yet or is there an accepted workaround yet?

I've unlinked my account on this machine and deleted the dropbox folder but am still getting the placeholder.bat error message. I had a bsod fail during a vpn install and this bug means I'm now basically screwed if I can't do a system restore.

Have been a happy customer for many years now but this is a BIG problem for me especially given the premium price I pay for the smart sync stuff over onedrive.

[Walter]

Hey there people - thank you all for your constructive feedback and patience on this one. 

Apologies for the tardy response but I was checking back on this internally and I just found out that our team are aware and working towards a fix as we speak.

In the meantime, a potential workaround is to exclude the .dropbox.cache from the system restore which can be done via the FilesNotToBackup registry -  note that this is not something we support, and should only be completed by advanced users.

We'll make sure to keep you posted on our team's progress on this via this thread so make sure you're subscribed to it so you can receive email notifications (you can do this by clicking on the upper ellipsis button on any thread and then click on 'Subscribe').

I hope this helps to some extent! 

[MartyBook]

Have added the .dropbox.cache folder location and the same folder location with a *.* wildcard to the FilesNotToBackUp registry key as suggested by Walter above.

Though I suspect this might help people moving forward when creating and subsequently restoring from a *new* restore point created *after* making the suggested registry changes, it does nothing to rescue the poor victims, including myself, that are trying to restore from an *existing* snapshot. It looks like the process restores the registry first which effectively wipes the new key entries and then just goes ahead as before trying (and failing) to restore that **bleep** placeholder.bat file, with the same fail outcome.

A complete wipe and rebuild is looking increasingly likely at this point which, frankly, is a disaster. 

Please can someone at dropbox give us a step by step to get us out of this? Have you guys reached out to microsoft to request a best practice way of excluding a file or folder already contained in a snapshot? If it turns out this is not possible due to a 'microsoft thing' rather than a 'dropbox thing' and out of your control then it would be great to know sooner rather than later so I can bite the bullet and get on with a rebuild. 

[mmkkkkk]

yes having the same issue here . . . windows system restore broken by dropbox . . 

[Unhappy999999]

I had to do a complete reset of my machine, and I am disappointed this hasn't been resolved yet. Its good that there is a possible workaround. It would be better if it were verified, and it would be of course better if it were fixed completely.

Let me complain for a moment. I am also a software developer. This isn't the type of issue that the companies I have worked for would let "sit". We would work on it until it was fixed; at most of couple of days.

For a company like dropbox, when your system is not only just not working, but your service prevents the host operating system from functioning properly - that's terrible. Your service is harmful, at best negligent.

[sprgroup]

We are also having the same issue with system restore failing on Windows 10 Pro (Build 1903) systems with Dropbox installed. We had a faulty driver installed on one device which caused a BSOD loop and so the device needed a simple system restore, however, that failed with the same error mentioned previously in this thread. We eventually had to restore the device from a disk image after all else failed.

This issue has caused us to lose about 3 days worth of work on that device, as well as almost 2 days attempting to troubleshoot the issue and finally restoring from a backup disk image after reading this thread. We are still attempting to locate/restore newer documents, work, and program files that were not included in the latest disk image.

For the moment, we have modified registry values on all devices to exclude the Dropbox cache folder from system restore points, however, this obviously can not be a permanent fix for this issue! Please update your software to resolve this issue, or we will begin looking elsewhere for cloud backup services (OneDrive is now syncing for the first time as I write this post), and we will be advising our business partners to do the same.

This is a very serious issue that should not be taken lightly, as anyone who has created, or is about to create, a system backup while this issue remains unresolved will be unable to restore their system if it fails at any point in the future. Your team should at least make an announcement on the app so that users are aware of this issue, and can create regular disk images until the issue is resolved, or at the very least they can be cautious and temporarily avoid unnecessary software/driver installs or any other risky activity that could result in a system failure.

Please consult your dev team and let us know in the thread when this issue is expected to be resolved. I've just realized that the initial post is from October 2018, and so the issue has been around since at least then. This is completely ridiculous. It has been almost a year now. This is something that should be a quick, simple fix on your end for a very serious issue that could affect any of your Windows users at any point in time and cause them to lose their system builds and program files. Please keep us updated.

[Walter]

Thanks for the extensive report @sprgroup!

I have already relayed all the details of your problem to our engineering team.At this point, they’ll evaluate the problem and work toward a solution.

Apologies for any inconvenience this might have caused and while I can’t say exactly how long this is going to take, I’ll make sure to keep an eye on the team’s progress and let you know as soon as I have an update.

In the meantime (as you mentioned) the best way to tackle this is to keep excluding .dropbox.cache from the System Restore (see my previous reply for more info). 

[MartyBook]

So I ask for an update or a step by step or just a simple "we don't anticipate having a fix for this issue soon" over a week ago and am ignored completely. @sprgroup asks much the same thing and gets a response in a few hours. Thanks dropbox, way to treat the little guy.