Win 10 restore point. We save the current configuration ourselves
The recovery feature in Windows 10 is disabled by default. This means that if the system fails, there will be no way to return to a previous state. Let's learn more about how to activate the function and create a restore point for a rollback.
This is very useful feature, which provides a rollback to a previous working state in the event of a failure. It uses restore points that are created, for example, when updating drivers, installing new programs, etc.
If system files are damaged or incorrect drivers cause Windows crash, then at any time we can return the system to a previously created point.
By default, this feature is disabled in Windows 10, and in case of problems, we will only see an empty list without rollback points.
One of the reasons why it is disabled by default is the fact that it takes up a lot of space in system partition. This is especially true for users who use SSDs and save every free gigabyte. Therefore, you should remember that it requires a minimum of 5% of disk space to function properly.
Press the Win + R key combination and type "control panel".
Go to System & Security > System. From the side menu, select the System Protection tab.
To activate the function, in the “Protection Settings” section, select local drive C and click the “Configure” button.
Check the "Restore system settings and previous versions files". This item activates the creation of system points.
In addition to activating this option, you can choose what percentage of disk space you want to reserve. By default, 5% should be enough, but if you want to create more points, you can set this value to 10% or 15%.
Confirm the changes by clicking on the “Apply” and “OK” button. The function will be activated.
Creating restore points
Points can be created automatically or manually (on demand). As a rule, they are automatically created when installing drivers and programs. When installing, drivers and programs can themselves inform the system about the need to save the current state.
It is also possible to create it yourself at any time.
To create manually, open search bar and type “Create a restore point.” The System Protection window will open. Click the "Create" button. In the window that opens, you can assign it any name. After entering the name, a point will be created and all the necessary system files that are needed to roll back in case of failure will be recorded in it.
How to restore the system using a restore point?
To use the function you need to enter advanced boot options.
To do this, open the Start menu, click on the gear icon (Settings), go to the “Update and Security” - “Recovery” tab. Find the “Advanced Launch” item and click on the “Run Now” button.
Will open blue screen With additional settings. Select the section “Troubleshooting – Advanced options – System recovery”.
A window will appear where you can select the restore point that you want to use before returning to an earlier state.
If Windows 10 won't start, then we have two options.
The first is to take advantage boot disk or a flash drive with the Windows 10 installer. After selecting a language in the installer, a window will appear that will allow you to go to Windows installation using the "Install" button or in the recovery menu.
Click on “System Restore”, select the “Diagnostics” section and in Advanced options select the first item, as shown in the figure.
If not bootable flash drive, then you can switch to the advanced boot options mode in another way. Press F11 after the computer turns on and the first screen appears. Unfortunately, this method does not always work, depending on the BIOS / UEFI.
If both options do not work, then you can download Windows 10 from the Microsoft website on another computer using the Media Creation Tool utility. Create bootable DVD or a flash drive with the installer and try to restore a non-working computer.
You can find points for system rollback using standard tool Windows recovery 10, CCleaner utility or directly on the disk in the System Volume Information folder. The first two methods do not require special rights, but to gain access to recovery point files on the disk, you will have to configure the owner's permissions.
View available points
You can view the available marks for system rollback through the Windows Recovery Wizard window or the free CCleaner utility.
To find out more information about what changes will be made as a result of rolling back to a specific point, see the point description and the affected programs. Remember that personal data will not be lost during a rollback, but program marks installed after the creation date will be uninstalled.
Similar functionality, but with less detailed information, provides free utility CCleaner. On the “Tools” tab in the “System Restore” section, you can also see what marks the system has made for a possible Windows rollback.
Recovery point storage location
You can find available recovery points in the System Volume Information folder, located at the root of each disk partition for which system protection is enabled. This is a system directory that cannot be deleted, but you can reduce its size if necessary. By default the folder is hidden. You can see it through Total Commander or other powerful file managers, but you still won’t be able to open the directory without additional rights. So we can do without file managers and simply configure access to the system folder.
Open Computer and go to drive C. You will see a pale System Volume Information folder. When you try to open it, a message will appear stating that you do not have enough rights. But you want to see where system restore points are stored in Windows 10, so that restrictions do not become a hindrance.
- Right-click on the System Volume Information directory. Open properties.
- Go to the Security tab and click Advanced.
- Click Continue to view the folder properties with administrator permission. For everything to work out, you must be logged in to the system under an administrator account.
- In the window that appears, you can see that only the system has permission to access the folder where the Windows 10 restore points are located. To get permission for your account, click "Add".
- Click Select Subject. In the window that appears, enter the user name under which you are logged in to the system and click “OK.”
- Set the type to Allow and accept it to the folder, subfolders and files with Windows restore points. Give all permissions and click OK to save.
After gaining access, you will be able to open the System Volume Information directory. Inside you will see system restore point files.
All computer owners periodically encounter problems Windows operation after installing the wrong drivers or making changes to the operating system. Creating system restore points can solve this problem.
A Windows 10 restore point allows you to return your computer to the last stable state of your computer. When you create a restore point, Windows 10 saves a backup copy system files. Thus, instead of completely reinstalling Windows after installing some incorrect driver or catching a virus, you can simply roll back the system.
Restore points are created before installation Windows updates, and also automatically with the frequency that you set. The more free space on your hard drive you reserve for recovery points, the more recovery dates you will have to choose from.
The system allows you to manually create Windows 10 restore points. This may be required, for example, before installing programs that may somehow disrupt the system. If something goes wrong, the computer owner can always roll back the system to the date when everything worked properly.
Please note that restore points only contain backup copies of Windows 10 system files that affect the loading of the operating system. Personal folders and files are not included in backups. If you also want to backup personal files, then you need to make a full system image.
Windows 10 Recovery Settings
To view the current recovery settings on your computer, right-click on the Start menu and go to Control Panel.
Go to the “System and Security” section.
Go to the “System” section.
Click on “System Protection” in the left column.
The window that opens shows the protection settings for your disks. The disabled state means that no recovery points are made for this drive, and the enabled state means that recovery points are made.
In my case, restore points are made only for drive C, on which the operating system is installed. In order to change the protection settings, select the drive you are interested in and click the “Configure” button.
At the top of the window, you can enable or disable the creation of Windows 10 restore points, and at the bottom, specify how much disk space you are willing to reserve for storing these backup copies. The larger the volume you specify, the more recovery points will be stored. As this volume fills, old restore points will be erased to make room for new ones. Usually, it is enough to store 2-3 system restore points.
To free up space on your hard drive, you can click the "Delete" button to delete all saved restore points.
Create a Windows 10 restore point manually
In order to create a Windows 10 restore point, on the previous “System Protection” tab, click the “Create” button.
A window will pop up in which you must somehow name the restore point; in my case, for example, I called it “Restore point before installing an incomprehensible driver.” In this case, the date and time of creation of the point will be added automatically. After that, click the “Create” button.
The process of creating a restore point will begin. It usually takes less than a minute. After completion, the “Restore point created successfully” window will appear (see picture above). Now you can install that incomprehensible driver that I was worried about and, in case of problems, roll back the system using a restore point.
Setting up automatic creation of recovery points
As already written above, Windows 10 automatically creates restore points before installing updates, and also gives you the opportunity to do this manually. But to be on the safe side, it makes sense to set up automatic creation of recovery points at a time period you specify, for example, every day.
Right-click on the Start menu and go to Control Panel.
In the “Control Panel” in the upper right corner, select “View” - “Small Icons” and click on the “Administration” section.
Open Task Scheduler.
Click one by one double click click on the items “Task Scheduler Library” - “Microsoft” - “Windows” - “System Restore”.
In the System Restore branch, an SR rule has already been created to create Windows 10 restore points. All we have to do is specify the interval at which this rule will be triggered. Double-click on the SR rule.
In the window that opens, go to the “Triggers” tab and click “Create”.
In the next window, you can set the period when Windows 10 restore points will be created. You can specify daily creation, weekly, monthly, when the computer starts or when it is turned off, and so on.
The period for creating points should be selected based on the reserved space on the hard drive for storing backup copies, since when this volume is filled, the newest recovery points will erase the oldest.
After you have selected the period for creating recovery points, click OK.
Restore Windows 10 to a restore point
Now that we have learned how to create restore points manually and automatically, we will tell you how to restore your system after a failure.
You can roll back the system using restore points in several ways - using the Windows 10 interface, using command line, as well as using diagnostic tools.
System rollback via Windows interface
The easiest way is when you can start Windows 10. In this case, we do everything as at the beginning of the article. Right-click on the Start menu and go to Control Panel. Next, go to the “System and Security” - “System” - “System Protection” section. In the System Protection window, click the Restore button.
The Restore System Files and Settings Wizard will open. Click Next.
In the next window, check the “Show other restore points” checkbox. IN this list All possible restore points are displayed. The left column shows the dates the restore points were created. The middle column provides a description to help us identify the point.
As you can see in the screenshot below, the restore point called “restore point before installation of the unknown driver”, which I created in the second chapter of this article, is listed as the last one created.
Finally, the right column indicates the type of recovery point creation (manual, system or installation), that is, under what circumstances the backup was created.
Also, you can click on the restore point of interest and click “Search for affected programs.” The window that opens will display a list of programs that will be affected by rolling back to this restore point.
When you have selected the restore point to which we want to roll back the system, click “Next”.
Probably, every user has encountered a situation where, after installing a program or navigating through various sites on the Internet, the computer may become infected with a virus. As a result, we may experience slow operation of the operating system and difficulties with response software. But the user can independently and easily restore the operating system to its original state by creating a system restore point in Windows 10. In this step by step instructions With photos we will show you how to create a restore point and roll back the Windows 10 operating system to the restore point. You will also learn where Windows 10 restore points are saved and the main errors that prevent you from creating a restore point.
Step 1
How to create a restore point in Windows 10
Start by right-clicking on the “Start” icon and in the window that opens context menu Click the "Control Panel" line.
Step 3
The next step is to click “System”.
Step 4
At this point, go to the “System Protection” section.
Step 5
In the dialog box that opens, select the line local disk“C:” by left-clicking on it and clicking the “Configure” button.
Step 6
The next step is to check the box “Enable system protection” and press the “Ok” key.
Step 7
Now let’s move on to creating a restore point and click the “Create” button.
Step 10
The restore point was created successfully. Click the "Close" button.
Step 11
To exit the System Properties window, click OK.
Step 12
How to set up automatic creation of a Windows 10 restore point
To configure automatic creation of a restore point, you need to go to the “Control Panel” window. To do this, right-click the “Start” button and select “Control Panel” from the context menu that opens.
Step 13
At this stage, select the “Icons” view and click “Administration”.
Step 15
The next step is to open “Task Scheduler Library”, “Microsoft”, “Windows” by clicking the “corner” icon or double-clicking on the folder name.
Step 17
Right click mouse click on the “SR” line and in the context menu that opens, click “Properties”.
Step 18
Go to the “Triggers” tab and click the “Create” button.
Step 19
At this stage, you need to choose how often system restore points will be automatically created. This could be daily, weekly or monthly creation of restore points. It is worth noting that there is a limited amount of space allocated for recovery points. hard drive, which will be selected by default, and you can also select the volume manually. Therefore, earlier restore points will be deleted automatically. This fact should also be taken into account when choosing how often to create restore points. If you select weekly creation of recovery points, you can specify the frequency of weeks for creation and select the day. Next, click “Ok”.
Step 20
At this stage, click the “Ok” button.
Step 21
How to roll back the system to a restore point in Windows 10
In order to undo changes to the system and restore the computer to the previous restore point, you need to click the “Restore” button in the “System Properties” window. To work in the “System Properties” dialog box, one by one open “Control Panel” -> “System and Security” -> “System” -> “System Protection” or review steps 1 - 4 of this instruction.
Step 22
In the “System Restore” window, click the “Next” button.
Step 23
The next step is to select a restore point and click “Next”.
Step 24
Confirm the selected restore point by clicking the “Finish” button.
Step 25
In order to continue rolling back the system to the selected restore point, click the “Yes” button.
Step 26
Now you need to wait, as the system recovery process may take some time.
Step 29
Restore points are not created in Windows 10
There may be several reasons why a user is unable to create a system restore point. This may be the activity of malicious files on the computer system when multiple operating systems are installed on your computer or system protection is disabled. If your computer has only one operating system installed, most likely system protection was disabled when installing Windows 10. To resolve this issue and create a restore point, go to the System Properties dialog box. To do this, open “Control Panel” –> “System and Security” –> “System” –> “System Protection” one by one or review steps 1 – 4 of this instruction. Then go to the “System Protection” tab and click the “Configure” button.
The Windows 10 operating system, like previous versions of Microsoft software, has the function of restoring the computer's system files to key values. If problems occur after installing new software or drivers, you can restore your computer's settings if you set a restore point in advance. Unlike previous versions of the operating system, in Windows 10 the restore point is not created obviously, which is why many users forget about such an important function.
Creating a restore point for a modern Windows operating system is done in the system properties menu. The instructions below are relevant for the operating systems Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7, in which the principles of creating a restore point are almost identical. Attention: Create an operating system restore point only if you are sure that the computer is working flawlessly.
- The restore point is created in System Properties, which can be accessed in several ways.
- Through the panel Windows management 10 along the following path: “Control Panel” - “System” - “Advanced system settings”;
- Via the command line: Press the Windows key combination + R and in the window that appears, enter the command “sysdm.cpl”.
Now, if problems arise during the operation of the operating system, you will have the opportunity to restore it to the state in which it was at the time the restore point was created. We recommend creating Windows 10 restore points only when you are completely confident that the system is working correctly.
How to restore Windows 10?
To restore settings and system settings Windows 10 from the access point, you must perform the following sequence of actions:
As you can see, restore the computer to the operating system Windows system 10 is very simple, the main thing is to keep several current points for recovery in the system memory. We recommend creating restore points weekly or after all significant changes made to your computer.