Scripting Windows XP System Restore

Making a major change—such as installing a new program or changing the registry—on your Windows XP Professional Edition client systems always involves an element of risk. Fortunately, XP Pro includes the System Restore feature, which lets you return the OS to an earlier state (called a restore point or system checkpoint). Furthermore, System Restore lets you maintain changes that have taken place or personal files that have been created since the restore point, and any restore that you perform through System Restore is completely reversible.

XP Pro automatically creates a restore point every 24 hours, and many installation processes request the creation of restore points immediately before and after application installations. You can also create restore points at any time by using the System Restore wizard or a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) script. Let's examine the WMI features that support System Restore and a script that creates and manages restore points from the command line. . . .