Here is a script that will use the built-in Shadow Copy service and NTBACKUP to backup
the System State of a Windows XP Pro workstation.
 
XP Home and XP Media Center don't include the NTBACKUP utility and Servers should use a
more feature rich application, though this script will run properly on Server 2003 if you
modify the version check.
 
WARNING!! You should run an up to date Antivirus scan and an up to date
Anti-Spyware utility and also run a CHKDSK /R on your system first to verify that there are
no problems with the system before you start running this script.
 
This script is quite useful when something you recently installed has messed up your system and
you're having troubles fixing whatever caused it. You simply run the NTBACKUP utility and select
the version of the backup that you feel did not have the issue and restore it.
This will restore the entire REGISTRY and main startup files back to the way they were before the
problem happened. Note though that if you installed some other software since the last restore you
restore back to you will still have the files on your system but the REGISTRY will not know that
you have installed the program and you will need to re-install it again.
 
NOTE: You must be running KiXtart v4.52 beta 2 or newer in order to
properly run this script.
 
You can change the number of days you want to save backups and you can change the folder location
if you like. Currently the script uses $Folder='C:\Backup\' and will remove backup files that
are 7 days or older.
 
A sample of the file name would look something like this
2006-04-20_183620-SystemState.bkf
 
YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS allows accurate sorting by name or date
 
Setup a batch file and run it with a daily scheduled task to run at noon or whenever and
it will silently take care of the backups for you automatically.


 
Break On
Dim $SO
$SO=SetOption('Explicit','On')
$SO=SetOption('NoVarsInStrings','On')
$SO=SetOption('NoMacrosInStrings','On')
 
If @ProductType='Windows XP Professional'
  ;Shadow copy service and ntbackup only available on XP Pro 
  ;Servers should use a more robust backup application but it will run 
  ;on Server 2003 if you want it to, just modify the @ProductType condition. 
  Dim $Folder,$Cleaned,$File
  $Folder='C:\Backup\'
  If GetFileAttr($Folder) & 16
    ;Folder found do nothing 
  Else
    MD $Folder
    If @ERROR
      Quit @ERROR
    EndIf
  EndIf
  $Cleaned=CleanDirectory($Folder,'*.bkf',7)
  ;Change the 7 to the number of days you want to save the backup files 
  ;If you only want to delete 30 days or older then change to 30 
  ;Note though that each backup takes about 500MB of disk space. 
  ;So 30 days of backups would take about 15GB of disk space storage. 
  BackupSystemState($Folder)
Else
  Quit 10
EndIf
 
Function BackupSystemState($Folder)
  Dim $Job
  If Not InStr(Right($Folder,1),'\') Exit 3 EndIf
  $Job = Trim(Join(Split(@DATE,'/'),'-'))+'_'+Trim(Join(Split(@TIME,':'),''))+'-SystemState'
  SHELL 'ntbackup backup systemstate /j '+ $Job +' /f ' + $Folder + $Job+'.bkf'
  Exit @ERROR
EndFunction
 
Function CleanDirectory($directories, $filter, optional $olderas, optional $countonly)
  Dim $rc, $timediff, $filename, $filefilter, $tempdir
  Dim $filecount, $dircount
  $dircount=0
  $filecount=0
  $olderas=IIf(Val($olderas)>0,Val($olderas),0)
  $countonly=IIf(Val($countonly),1,0)
  If Not (VarType($directories) & 8192)
    $directories=Split($directories,'')
  EndIf
  If Not (VarType($filter) & 8192)
    $filter=IIf(Trim($filter),$filter,'*.*')
    $filter=Split($filter,'')
  EndIf
  For Each $tempdir In $directories
    If $tempdir<>'' And Exist($tempdir)
      For Each $filefilter In $filter
        If $filefilter<>''
          $filefilter=fullfile($tempdir,$filefilter)
          $filename=Dir($filefilter,1)
          While $filename<>'' And @ERROR = 0
            If $filename<>'.' And $filename<>'..'
              $filename=fullfile($tempdir,$filename)
              If GetFileAttr($filename) & 16
                $rc=cleandirectory($filename,$filter,$olderas,$countonly)
                If InStr($rc,',')
                  $rc=Split($rc,',')
                  $dircount=$dircount+$rc[0]
                  $filecount=$filecount+$rc[1]
                EndIf
                $rc=SetFileAttr($filename,128)
                If Not $countonly
                  RD $filename
                  If Not @ERROR
                    $dircount=$dircount+1
                  EndIf
                EndIf
              Else
                $timediff=datemath(@DATE,Left(GetFileTime($filename),10))
                If $timediff>=$olderas
                  If $countonly
                    $filecount=$filecount+1
                  Else
                    $rc=SetFileAttr($filename,128)
                    Del $filename /c /f /h
                    If Not @ERROR
                      $filecount=$filecount+1
                    EndIf
                  EndIf
                EndIf
              EndIf
            EndIf
            $filename=Dir('',1)
          Loop
        EndIf
      Next
    EndIf
  Next
  $cleandirectory=''+$dircount+','+$filecount
EndFunction
 
Function FullFile($path1, optional $path2)
  Dim $a, $path3
  $a=UBound($path1)
  if $a>0
    $path3=$path1[$a]
    ReDim Preserve $path1[$a-1]
    $path1=fullfile($path1,$path3)
  EndIf
  If UBound($path1)=0
    $path1=$path1[0]
  EndIf
  If Right($path1,1)='\'
    $path1=Left($path1,Len($path1)-1)
  EndIf
  If $path2
    If Left($path2,1)='\'
      $path2=Right($path2,Len($path2)-1)
    EndIf
    $fullfile=LCase($path1+'\'+$path2)
  Else
    $fullfile=$path1
  EndIf
EndFunction
 
Function DateMath($ExpD1,$ExpD2)
  Select
    Case InStr($ExpD1,'/') And InStr($ExpD2,'/')
      ; two date passed - return daysbetween integer 
      $DateMath=SerialDate($ExpD1)-SerialDate($ExpD2)
      If $DateMath<0
        $DateMath=$DateMath*-1
      EndIf
    Case InStr($ExpD1,'/') and 1-InStr($ExpD2,'/')
      ; date and a number passed - return date 
      $ExpD2=0+$ExpD2
      $Datemath=SerialDate(SerialDate($ExpD1)+$ExpD2)
    Case 1 ; incorrect parameters passed 
  EndSelect
EndFunction
 
Function SerialDate($ExpD)
  Dim $z,$h,$a,$b,$c,$y,$m,$d
  If InStr($ExpD,'/') ; date passed 
    $y=Val(SubStr($ExpD,1,4))
    $m=Val(SubStr($ExpD,6,2))
    $d=Val(SubStr($ExpD,9,2))
    If $m<3
      $m=$m+12
      $y=$y-1
    EndIf
    ; return an integer 
    $SerialDate=$d+(153*$m-457)/5+365*$y+$y/4-$y/100+$y/400-306
  Else ; integer passed 
    $z=0+$ExpD+306 ; cast numeric 
    $h=100*$z-25
    $a=$h/3652425
    $b=$a-$a/4
    $y=(100*$b+$h)/36525
    $c=$b+$z-365*$y-$y/4
    $m=(5*$c+456)/153
    $d=$c-(153*$m-457)/5
    If $m>12
      $y=$y+1
      $m=$m-12
    EndIf
    $m=Right('0'+$m,2)
    $d=Right('0'+$d,2)
    ; return a string date 
    $SerialDate=''+$y+'/'+$m+'/'+$d
  EndIf
EndFunction