Windows 10 introduced a number of changes to the way a user manages the system. Surprisingly or not, the System Restore feature has remained virtually untouched. For reasons that are not entirely clear, however, by default, it’s turned off, which means that before you can create a restore point, you need to make sure that System Restore is enabled. The following steps will show you how to do it:
- Open the Start menu and type “System Restore” in the search box. Click the “Create a restore point” option suggested by Windows
- Under the Protection Settings section in the dialog that you see, there’s a list of all the partitions of your hard drive. Make sure that your system partition (usually C:) is selected
- Click the Configure button beneath the list of partitions
- Make sure that the Turn on system protection radio button is selected and use the slider beneath it to configure how much space you’re going to allocate for restore points. Most experts advise leaving between 5% and 10% of your hard drive to ensure that you’ll be able to restore your system to a working state
- Click Apply to apply the changes and OK to close the window
If System Restore is turned on, Windows will create restore points automatically. If you’re anticipating a big update or you’re thinking of installing a new app that you’re not entirely sure about, however, you could do worse than create a restore point manually in order to be sure that you won’t lose any of the settings you’re happy with. To do that, follow the steps below:
- Open the Start menu and type “System Restore” in the search box. Click the “Create a restore point” option suggested by Windows
- Click the Create button located near the bottom of the dialog
- Pick the name for your new restore point. Ideally, it will help you identify it more easily. There’s no need to bother with the time and date, as they will be visible when you attempt to restore your PC
- Click Create to create your restore point
The process of restoring your Windows 10 system back to the restore point you’ve created is just as straightforward. Here’s what you need to do:
- Open the Start menu and type “System Restore” in the search box. Click the “Create a restore point” option suggested by Windows
- Click System Restore and read through the information Windows displays. Click Next when you’re finished
- Select the restore point you need from the list. To help you identify it, Windows displays all available restore points chronologically along with their names and types. Click Next
- Windows displays information on the restore point you’ve chosen. If you’re sure it’s the correct one, click Finish to initiate the process
Windows will need to restart the computer while it’s restoring it to a previous point, so you need to make sure that you’ve saved all your work. Microsoft also warns you that if you’ve changed your password recently, you’re better off creating a password reset disk to make sure you’re not left locked out.
System Restore is not a backup utility
Don’t confuse System Restore with a backup that can save your data. For one, it saves a snapshot of the system files and settings only. If something corrupts your personal data, it won’t be able to save it. It can’t protect you in the event of hardware failure, and most ransomware strains that are currently out there disable the feature in order to ensure that it can’t help you retrieve any information.
Enabling System Restore and using it in case something goes wrong is a good thing, but you must be aware of the limitation this feature has. It’s not a substitute for a working backup, and it’s unlikely to help you get your data back in case the worst happens. For that, you need to look at dedicated backup solutions like Acronis True Image.
Another Good Alternative for those who have had issues with automatic updates and finding themselves in the BSOD chamber or worse inability to get into the desktop after an update has installed as we all know Microsoft has an excellent record of updating the operating system flawlessly.
Create Windows 10 system restore point automatically on each startup
You can create system restore points every time Windows 10 starts.
To create automatic restore points during startup, you must enable System Restore, disable the restore point creation frequency option, and use Task Scheduler to create a task to automate the restore point process every time your computer starts.
Enabling system restore point service
On Windows 10, System Restore comes disabled by default, but you can use these steps to enable the feature:
- Open Start.
- Search for Create a restore point and click the top result to open the experience.
- Under “Protection Settings,” if your device system drive has “Protection” set to “Off,” click the Configure button.
- Select the Turn on system protection option.
- Click Apply.
- Click OK.
Once you’ve completed the steps, you can continue with the steps below to configure System Restore to create restore points during startup.
If you want to disable System Restore, you can use the same instructions, but on step No. 4, make sure to select the Disable system protection option.
Disabling system restore point frequency
When you enable System Restore, Windows 10 doesn’t create additional automatic restore points if there’s another restore point that has been created within the last 24 hours. Although this restriction won’t apply when triggering a new restore point manually or automatically as a result of an app, driver, or update installation, it’ll prevent Task Scheduler from creating restore points during startup. However, it’s possible to avoid this problem by disabling the frequency option using these steps:
Warning: This is a friendly reminder that editing the Registry is risky, and it can cause irreversible damage to your installation if you don’t do it correctly. It’s recommended to make a full backup of your PC before proceeding.
- Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
- Type regedit, and click OK to open the Registry.
- Browse the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestoreQuick Tip: On Windows 10, you can now copy and paste the path in the Registry’s address bar to quickly jump to the key destination. - Right-click the SystemRestore (folder) key, select New, and click on DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Name the key SystemRestorePointCreationFrequency and press Enter.
- Double-click the newly created key and make sure its value is set to 0.
- Click OK.
After completing the steps, Task Scheduler should be able to run the task with the corresponding command to create new restore points at every startup.
If you no longer want to create new checkpoints at startup, you can always revert the Registry changes using the same instructions, but on step No. 4, make sure to right-click the SystemRestorePointCreationFrequency DWORD and select the Delete option, and then delete the task using the steps below.
Creating a system restore point during startup
The next step is to use the Task Scheduler to create a new task that will run at startup to trigger a new restore point using these steps:
- Open Start.
- Search for Task Scheduler, click the top result to open the experience.
- Right-click the Task Scheduler Library folder.
- Click the Create Task option.
- Click on the General tab.
- In the “Name” field, type a descriptive name for the task. For example, My Restore Point Startup.
- Under “Security options,” select the Run whether the user is logged on or not option.
- Check the Run with highest privileges option.
- Click on the Triggers tab.
- Click the New button.
- Use the “Begin the task” drop-down menu and select the At startup option.
- Click the OK button.
- Click on the Actions tab.
- Click the New button.
- Use the “Actions” drop-down menu and select the Start a program option.
- In the “Program/script” field, type the following command:
powershell.exe - In the “Add arguments (optional)” field, type the following command:
-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Checkpoint-Computer
-Description \"My Restore Point Startup\" -RestorePointType
\"MODIFY_SETTINGS\"" - Click the OK button.
- Click the Conditions tab.
- Under “Power,” clear the following two options:
- Stop if the computer switches to battery power.
- Start the task only if the computer is on AC power.
- Click the OK button.
- Specify the password for your account.
- Click the OK button.
Once you’ve completed the steps, the new task will appear in the Task Scheduler Library folder, and it’ll run to create a new system restore point every time you start your device.
You can always stop running the task by right-clicking the task inside the “Task Scheduler Library” folder and selecting the Delete option.
Checking system restore points
After following the above instructions, you can make sure that system restore points are being created by restarting your device, waiting around five minutes, and using these steps:
- Open Start.
- Search for Create a restore point and click the top result to open the experience.
- Click the System Restore button.
- Select the Choose a different restore point or click the Next button.
After completing the steps, if the task ran as expected, a new restore point with the “My Restore Point Startup” description should appear in the list.
If you’re not seeing new restore points being created, review the steps as the problem is likely a typo or mistake in the command.
Moving forward, every time you turn on or reboot your device, Windows 10 will create a restore point that you can use to revert system changes if your computer isn’t working correctly without affecting your files or removing many of the configurations you may have recently made.
Notes: For those who have minimal hard drive space don’t worry these restore points do not use much space but they do if you find yourself low on disk space you might want to consider upgrading to a larger Hard Drive. And alternatively if all is well with your system currently you can clean out the old system restore points by using the clean/system tools and deleting old restore point if you do this ensure you restart your system to ensure you have a current restore point available.
Tip: Click Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Click Disc Cleanup
Now launch this utility and click More Options tab. Under which click System Restore and followed by that click Clean Up tab a message will popup –Are you sure you want to delete all but the most recent restore point? Click Yes then OK. Finally another message will popup-Are you sure you want to perform these actions? Click Yes.
Now, all the System Restore points except the most recent one are cleaned. As a result there will be more free space in hard disk.
