Create a system restore point manually. Creating a system restore point manually How to set a system restore point
Some operating system (OS) changes are undesirable. Using a restore point is one of the key features of Windows 10. It allows you to undo system changes that have a destructive effect on the OS. Information on how to create a restore point in Windows 10 is publicly available, but it wouldn’t hurt to describe this function in detail once again.
The essence of undoing the next changes is to roll back the drivers, registry and other components to the previous state. Windows 10 restore point - the OS before its unwanted transformations. This is not a return to the previous OS image, but a cancellation of critical changes to its key elements. Creating a Windows 10 restore point occurs automatically or manually. The second is recommended before optimizing OS startup and disabling some of its services in order to free up RAM.
The automatic generation of recovery points occurs as a result of special settings of the Windows 10 security system. The OS allows the elimination of some and the use of others at the user’s discretion. Read more about how to roll back Windows 10 to a restore point.
Setting up OS security
First of all, it is recommended to study the nuances of restoring Windows 10. To do this, by entering “Start”, you need to select the corresponding menu line “Control Panel”, and then “Recovery”. Then click “System Recovery Settings”. An alternative method of getting to the required window is to press the Win + R keys and enter systempropertiesprotection and confirm with the Enter button.
As a result, the settings menu will open, where you can check for which drives protection is activated. Restore points are generated only for those that are marked, so the user can independently control the degree of OS security. In particular, if the protection of drive “C” is inactive, you can start it by clicking on it and clicking on “Configure”.
To continue, click “Enable system protection” and indicate the area required to form recovery points: the larger the space, the more of them are saved. As the virtual territory is filled, old data is deleted and automatically replaced with new ones.
Creating an OS restore point
To perform this operation, you must again enter the “System Protection” tab. Creating a restore point begins by clicking on “Start”, then “System” and finally “System Protection”.
Then press the “Create” key and set the name of the new element, then select “Create” again. After a few seconds the process ends automatically.
At the end of this procedure, data will appear on the computer’s hard drive that allows you to roll back the OS, if necessary, undoing changes that have occurred in system files that are critical for the normal operation of Windows 10. This feature will be extremely useful if the OS does not work correctly due to the installation of some software or other IT product.
The created recovery points are located in the closed System Volume Information folder in the root of the disks or their partitions selected in “System Protection”. However, the owner will not have access to them.
Rollback the OS to a restore point
It is important to remember the order in which the presented system capabilities are implemented. There are several ways to implement it: in the OS interface, using diagnostics in special boot modes and in safe mode, via the command line.
The standard method involves using a control panel. A prerequisite is that the OS must boot. You need to select “Recovery”, then click “Run system recovery”.
This will load the recovery wizard. The first window of its interface offers a recommended, automatically generated point. The second option is “Select another recovery point”, where in the list that appears you can click another one, formed in any way. After this, click “Finish”, after which the process of rolling back the OS to the selected state is completed.
An alternative method of using a restore point is to use special boot modes, which you can access through “Options”, “Update and Recovery” and “Recovery”.
It’s even easier from the lock screen: you need to click on “Power” in the lower right corner, and then, while holding Shift, select “Restart”.
In the special boot modes interface, select “Diagnostics”, then “Advanced options” and “System recovery”. Next, the user has the opportunity to roll back to the created restore points, for which they may need to enter the account password during the process.
The third method is to begin restoring the system to the selected state from the command line. This option will be indispensable for the only OS boot mode - safe. Enter rstrui.exe into the command line and press Enter. Next, the recovery wizard is launched in the graphical interface.
Eliminating Windows 10 restore points
The whole procedure will not take much time. To eliminate the created restore points, the user will again need to enter “System Protection”. Select the disk, click “Configure” and “Delete”. As a result, all points for the selected element are deleted.
Another option is to use the Windows 10 disk sanitization IT product. To load it, press Win and R, then enter cleanmgr, and after opening the software, click “Clean up system files.” Afterwards, select the disk for sanitization and go to the “Advanced” tab. All restore points are deleted there, except for the final one.
And, finally, the final method of eliminating them from a computer’s hard drive is using the IT product CCleaner, which is provided to everyone absolutely free of charge. Its interface is simple and understandable to the Russian user, and the sequence of necessary actions is logical. To do this, find “Tools” in the program, click “System Restore” and select the restore point that needs to be deleted.
At first glance, the algorithm of actions is confusing, but in reality it turns out that it is only difficult at the beginning. Having tried several ways to create points and rolled back the system a couple of times, the user achieves the desired effect and sees the benefits of this indispensable function.
Let's look at how to create a restore point in Windows 7. You should also figure out how to disable the corresponding mode. Thanks to this approach, in the event of an unexpected situation, you can return to the previously specified settings.
How to create a restore point and restore the system in Windows 7
Let's start by clarifying what this is. This is a function that allows you to make a restore point in Windows 7. When recovery is active, a copy of the most important system materials and settings is automatically created on the computer before installing drivers or programs, as well as after a set period of time.
Note that you can create Windows 7 manually. We will discuss how to do this in more detail later. You may have a question - why is a Windows 7 restore point created? It should be noted that this is a very useful function. If a certain problem occurs during the computer boot process, you can perform a full or partial system rollback.
In other words, you can restore system files using Windows 7 checkpoint recovery, created, for example, a couple of days ago, at a time when the computer was working perfectly.
This solution will save your time, and in some cases may even save you money. We recommend that you enable the recovery function and, if necessary, manually create points.
How to create a restore point and activate the process in Windows 7
First, let's check the settings; most likely, initially you have all the necessary functions enabled. Right-click Computer and select Properties. Next, on the right, use “Advanced system settings”, then in the window that appears, go to the “System Protection” tab.
If the protection settings next to one (at least) local drive is marked “Enabled,” then the system restore function is enabled and a Windows 7 restore point will be created. However, if it says "Disabled" all over, the above feature needs to be enabled. To do this, specify one of the listed local drives, and then click the “Configure” button.
You can, for example, select the partition in which you have the most memory. A window will open, and in it you need to point to “Restore system settings”. Next, use the slider below to specify the maximum amount of hard drive space that you want to allocate for creating recovery points. When new points are created, old ones will be deleted. Click “Apply”. After this, the system will inform you that recovery is enabled. This means that if a problem occurs with your personal computer, you will be able to restore Windows, even if the system does not boot.
Disabling System Restore
If you want to disable it, you can do this without much difficulty. Specify a local drive with recovery enabled and click Configure. Note that the Windows 7 system restore point can also disappear at your request.
In the window that opens, you just need to check the box next to the item that disables system protection, and then click “Apply”. You will see a special warning, in it you should click the “Yes” button. This will disable System Restore.
Create a restore point manually
Remember that you should create a restore point before installing certain programs or before making significant changes to the settings. If for certain reasons you are not sure that your actions are “harmless”, it is better to create a restore point in order to be able to return the system parameters to their original position.
To manually create a point, you need an active system restore state. You need to go to system properties, switch to the tab called “System Protection”. Click the “Create” button. Next, enter the name of the restore point. You should wait a bit for the system to complete the setup. Click the "Close" button. Now everything is ready, you can safely install a new driver or program.
Restoring the "Eighth Version" system
If we talk about the means of restoring this operating system, then first of all it is necessary to make the initial protection settings. Make sure that System Restore is enabled for the partition that contains the Windows files (usually Drive C). Specify the amount of space required for System Protection to work.
It is worth noting that this system now has the ability to restore using a disk or installation CD specially created for this purpose. You can also restore Windows 8 without deleting user files. At the same time, you can run a special program designed for this purpose directly on a running system or in the case when Windows 8 refuses to boot.
Recovery Images
We emphasize that using the system you can create 2 recovery images. The first one works with the “Refresh” program. If you use this tool, a complete Windows 8 recovery procedure will occur; personal files will not be touched, but installed programs will be deleted, and system settings will be reset to their original settings.
If you decide to create an image using the command line, Refresh will use this image for recovery, and will not need the Windows 8 installation disk. In this case, the system settings and programs you installed will not be reset. They will return to the state that was current at the time of creation of this image.
An image created using this method will not be suitable if you need to perform a recovery when the main disk partition is completely formatted or the system partition is accidentally deleted.
File recovery
The second method is suitable for creating a full backup image. This solution involves creating a second image using a tool in Control Panel called File Recovery. In this way, you can restore a new Windows system completely to an empty hard drive.
On practice
For example, you create a Windows 8 system image and put it on the drive (D:), then remove Windows 8 completely from the main drive (C:) to install Windows 7. Having used the previous system, you realize that you do not like it completely least. Then you can easily restore the original Windows 8, which will include all your programs and files.
All this is possible thanks to a pre-prepared image. The new system has changed the options for logging in. There are now many ways to do this. For example, the transition is possible directly from a running operating system. This is also possible if you were unable to boot Windows at all.
Note that the ability to restore previous versions of files, which are familiar from Windows 7, has been replaced by a special tool called “File History”.
Windows 8
The recovery tool is significantly different from the one that must first be enabled for the partition in which the system is installed. This feature should be enabled by default. The operating system independently creates a restore point before events that are significant to it.
For example, the specified action will occur before installing a driver or program. Using restore points can help even if the operating system is infected with a virus.
In the settings window, select the drive (C:) or another system drive and click “Configure”. Next, you need to check the box to enable system protection and specify the parameters for maximum space use within 15%. This figure is enough for stable operation of the protection function of your system partition containing Windows 8 installed.
Don't forget to click "Apply" and then "OK". You can enable protection for other sections as well. You should periodically create new restore points yourself. In the appropriate section, click “Create”. Come up with a suitable name. Click “Create” again and you’re done. To apply the created point, go to “Settings”, select “Control Panel”, then “Recovery”, finally, launch System Restore by selecting the appropriate function. So we looked at how to create a restore point in Windows 7, as well as a similar option in Windows 8.
Disclaimer: everything shown in the article is equally applicable to both Windows 7 and Windows 8 / 8.1. The process itself is shown using the example of the first OS, with a slight difference for the G8 - it is described in the text of the article. In Windows XP everything is a little different, but we have already talked about it in this article).
First, let's figure out what a restore point is and what it is needed for. Essentially, this is the saved state of the computer’s system files. Unstable operation of Windows, viruses, lost settings, system slowdowns and freezes due to experiments with various software can lead to unstable operation of the operating system. You can return it to its previous state, when everything was normal, by rolling back the system to a previously created saved state.
Windows 7 creates checkpoints itself when any significant changes occur to it, such as tampering with settings, installing drivers or system components. More precisely, this happens in two cases:
- Weekly (provided that no control points were created during the previous week);
- When a configuration change is detected, such as when installing a device driver or program.
Also, each user can create a restore point independently, so that they can roll back to an earlier state if something goes wrong with the system in the future. This way, if a driver you installed or some system error caused problems, you can always return the system files. It is enough to select the initial state created earlier and roll back to it. Moreover, this will not affect your user data.
How to create a restore point
System Restore is responsible for creating checkpoints in Windows 7. You can get to it through “Start” - “Control Panel” - “System and Security” - “System” - “Advanced system settings”. Next, open the “System Protection” tab.
In Windows 8.1, everything is similar, except that here you can only turn system protection on and off:
Here you can change the basic settings or turn off this feature completely. By clicking on the “Configure” button, you can set the amount of disk space allocated for checkpoints. To store them, you need at least 300 MB of disk space on each disk with a capacity of 500 MB or more. System Restore can use three to five percent of the space on each drive. As the space fills with data, the system automatically deletes old saves to make room for new ones.
To create a Windows 7 checkpoint, click the “Create” button and enter the desired name (the date will be added automatically). After a short time, a message will appear indicating that the process is complete.
By going to the “System Restore” dialog, we can see the newly created copy of the “t4k” system files and all other available copies:
If you need to return the system to its previous state, select the desired point and click the “Next” button.
How to delete a restore point
Saved states take up space on your computer's hard drive, and when there are enough of them accumulated, Windows can actively notify you that there is not enough space on the system drive. To avoid cluttering up your computer space, you need to get rid of recovery points from time to time, leaving only the most recent one.
Why the latest? Yes, because it is impossible to delete one of the points if it is not the last one. Windows is designed in such a way that using standard tools you can delete either all dots or all but the last one.
Deleting two or three checkpoints will not fundamentally solve the issue of freeing up space on the hard drive. Pursuing only these goals, it is much easier to set a limit on the system's use of disk space to create points. Or you can completely disable this system function and forget about the possibility of rolling back Windows. Removing a couple of extra points will help save the early, fundamentally important states of the system from being overwritten by new states - new points that Windows itself will create automatically.
Due to established tradition, what the creators of Windows did not get around to doing is quite successfully implemented by third-party software developers. To delete individual system restore points, you need to use special software. All utilities described below work under Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
Free CCleaner is one of the most popular optimizers for Windows from the developer company Piriform. The program's functionality also includes deleting individually selected control points.
In the CCleaner program window, you need to select the vertical “Tools” tab, then move to the horizontal “System Restore” tab, where all the checkpoints existing on the computer will be displayed on the right side. Focusing either on the date or on the name, select the point that is no longer needed and click the delete button at the bottom of the window.
WinOptimizer from the developer company Ashampoo is a multifunctional software combine for cleaning, optimizing and tuning Windows. A separate module of the program is a built-in utility for managing system restore points, which allows you not only to delete a separate unnecessary copy, but also to create a new one, as well as roll back to it, without resorting to the standard Windows functionality.
In the main program window, click the “Modules” tab, then in the list of modules in the “Main” section, launch “System Restore Manager”.
As in the previous option, select an unnecessary state and click the “Delete” button. Unlike CCleaner, WinOptimizer allows you to delete any system restore point.
Unfortunately, Ashampoo WinOptimizer is a paid software product; its price at the time of publication of the article was 1,305 rubles. However, there is an opportunity to try the 40-day fully functional version of the program.
Quick Restore Manager Plus is a free, minimalist program specifically designed for managing checkpoints. With this program you can create, delete, and also start the recovery process. It doesn't provide any functionality anymore. In the main and only window of the program, select the copy to be deleted and click “Delete”.
That's all. If after reading the article you still have questions, ask them in the comments.
Windows 7 provides users with a convenient rollback to a checkpoint feature that allows them to quickly restore the system after a failure. But, despite its simplicity, the rollback procedure sometimes causes difficulties. The most common problem is finding a suitable restore point.
View available points
If you want to perform a system rollback, you will need a list of all available checkpoints to select the appropriate date. The built-in System Restore tool will help you get this kind of information and roll back Windows. The easiest way to find it is through the Start menu.
After launching the recovery window, a list will appear with checkpoints to which you can roll back Windows. To see all points, click "Show others". The list will show points that Windows automatically created, as well as points that you manually set. In the “Type” column you can see who is the author of the tag. Pay attention to the description - it helps you understand what changes will be made after a system rollback (if the point is created automatically). 
Be sure to run the “Search for affected programs” - this feature will help you determine which applications will be added/removed as a result of Windows recovery.
You can also view all restore points in CCleaner:
A list of all available Windows points appears along with the date they were created. You can manage markers by deleting unnecessary points (only the most recently created point will be unavailable for deletion).
System Volume Information
The check marks are displayed when running the standard system recovery tool and are detected and displayed by the CCleaner utility. But where are the points physically located?
Recovery files are stored in the System Volume Information system folder. It is located in the root of each hard drive partition and is created automatically when the system protection function is enabled. However, you won’t be able to get inside the directory - you first need to make it visible, and then also get special rights.
Open “Computer” and go to the partition where system protection is enabled. You will see the System Volume Information folder, but you will not be able to enter it - when you try to log in, Windows will inform you that the location is inaccessible and you are denied access. 
If you want to view the files in which system restore points are stored, you will have to give your account special rights:
The Permission Items window opens. Here you need to specify several access parameters:
After clicking OK, your account will appear in the Permission Items list. This means that you can now open the System Volume Information directory and see what is in it. 
What should I do if my PC has problems that interfere with its work? Don't rush to reinstall the OS. “Roll back” it to its previous working state. How to do it? Let's look at how to create a restore point in Windows 7.
What it is
Write any name, the main thing is that you can later figure out when the changes occurred.
We use specialized software
The built-in capabilities of the OS are sufficient for operation, but some actions are not available for full operation:
- one point, and not all at once;
- obtaining information about the space on the HDD that the created files occupy;
- setting up automatic deletion of old files and creation of new ones.
What to do? Download and install the Point Creator utility. 
Problem solving
What to do if the files are not created? Let's look at common causes and solutions.
Shadow copy
Check if the Shadow Copy service is enabled. In the "Administration" section, open "Services", then: 
Can't create
When you turn on your PC, press the “F8” key and boot into “Safe Mode.” Further: 
Open the directory: 
Further: 
It will scan the OS system files for damage and replace them with working ones.
How much space is required
If the partition size is 64 gigabytes, three percent is allocated for recovery. With a larger disk capacity - five. As the space becomes full, old data is deleted to make room for new data.
Conclusion
We looked at how to create a Windows 7 restore point. Use the recommendations described above to quickly return the operating system to a working state. Create points manually before changing OS files or cleaning the registry.