Enable or disable Windows 7 System Restore. Run System Restore

Installed new program, after which the operating system Windows 7 not working correctly? Uninstalling the ill-fated application did not bring the desired result? You decided to roll back to one of the restore points, but it didn’t work out that way? Don't know what to do? Let's look for a solution together.

First of all, check if your Windows 7 system protection. Go to Start → click right click mouse Computer → Properties → System Protection
Security settings"you will see a list of disks, in which opposite each one it is indicated whether protection is enabled or not (immediately after installation Windows 7 protection is enabled only for the disk on which the operating system is installed).
Now left click on to the desired disk and click the "Configure" button
A window will open where in the “ Recovery options» check « Restore system settings and previous versions files" Then click OK and create the first restore point by clicking on the “Create” button in the “System protection” tab.

Now let's move on to the difficult cases. For example, what should you do if, having followed the path Computer → Properties → System Protection, you simply did not find the “System Protection” tab, or did you get errors when going to it?
Most probable cause such behavior Windows 7– system damage. Most likely, you installed a new operating system on top of the old one.
Sign in Windows 7 from under account with administrator rights and check if the service is running " Software provider shadow copying » ( Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider). To do this, call Task Manager → “Services” tab → “Services” button. The above service must either be running or installed “Manually”.
Open a command prompt (key combination Win+R) and enter sfc /scannow to check Windows 7 for errors.
Let's look at the second case, when system protection is disabled and the “Settings” and “Create” buttons cannot be pressed.
In addition to the actions specified for the first case, call the “Run” command and enter gpedit.msc
Run as administrator command line and run " gpedit.msc" In the opened " Local editor group policy » follow the thread Computer configuration → Administrative Templates→ System → System Restore. Check the lines " Disable configuration" And " Disable System Restore" For them, the “Status” column should indicate “Not set”.

After the actions taken, problems with system recovery must decide. Good luck!

System Protection creates restore points that save system parameters and previous versions of files. Using System Restore you can fix Windows operation 7, for example, in case of problems due to the installation of programs, codecs and drivers, failure in file associations and malfunction after cleaning the registry.

On this page:

New system protection and recovery options

Along with friends from Windows Vista system protection and recovery capabilities, there are improvements in Windows 7. The most significant ones are listed in the table below.

About these and other system protection and recovery options and we'll talk later in the article. However, first I would like to focus on one thing important issue. Some users undeservedly disable system protection almost as the first thing they do. I want to talk first about why it doesn’t make sense to do this in Windows 7.

Why you don't need to disable system protection

There is an opinion that by disabling system protection, you can increase Windows performance. Economy is usually cited as an argument. RAM(by disabling the System Restore service) and disk space. In fact, these arguments are almost 10 years old, if you count from Windows release XP, so applying them to modern hardware is simply pointless. Do you still have 256 MB of memory and hard drive 40 GB?

Disabling one service per Windows performance 7 will not have any effect - you simply won’t notice it, just as it was not noticeable in previous Windows operating systems. Disk space - yes, it is saved, but in the era of terabyte hard drives, on which tens and hundreds of gigabytes of media files are stored, talking about savings due to a couple of gigabytes of files intended for system recovery is simply not serious. Even if your hard drive has a relatively modest capacity, you can flexibly configure the space allocated to system protection, which will be discussed later in the article.

• problems due to the installation of programs, codecs and drivers
• file association failure
• incorrect operation after cleaning the registry
• problems loading the system

Loading problems are perhaps the most annoying for users. In Windows 7, they can be overcome in two ways from the Windows RE recovery environment. She has special function boot recovery, and also allows you to restore the system by returning to a checkpoint, which can also help boot the system. In this case, now you don’t even need an installation disk - you can use the Windows RE environment pre-installed on your hard drive or boot into it using a pre-created recovery disk.

In addition, Windows 7 has new recovery options, which are described below. Thus, by disabling system protection you do not gain anything, but on the contrary, you lose convenient means, allowing you to restore not only the system, but also peace of mind.

How system protection works

Like Windows Vista, Windows 7 provides system protection and recovery using the Volume Shadow Copy Service. This service monitors changes throughout the partition, and in this big difference from Windows XP, where System Restore only monitored a key set of system files and applications. However, user files are not included in system restore points, so returning to a previous point will not result in the loss of documents and other files in your profile. However, Volume Shadow Copy Service monitors changes to user files and you can restore them to previous versions.

You can create a restore point manually at any time. Also, in Windows 7, restore points are created automatically when:

• installing applications and drivers (if their installer is compatible with system protection)
• installation Windows updates Update
• restoring the system to one of previous points(this makes it possible to undo changes if, for example, the wrong point was accidentally selected)

In addition, restore points are created on a schedule. Monitors the regularity of point creation Job Scheduler, which is a console snap-in Microsoft management(MMC). The task for checking and creating recovery points is located in the folder Task Scheduler Library - Microsoft - Windows - SystemRestore. The task is launched daily at 00:00 and when the computer is turned on.

Despite the external similarity of this task to what was in Windows Vista, there is a significant difference in Windows 7. In Windows Vista, the job checked whether points had been created within the last 24 hours, and if there were none, it created new point. In Windows 7, this interval is extended to 7 days. In practice, this means that if applications, drivers and Windows updates are not installed daily, restore points are created once a week. This allows you to use disk space more efficiently and provide a wider window of time for system recovery.

The amount of disk space allocated for the Volume Shadow Copy service (including recovery point storage) depends on hard capacity disk, or partition if the disk is divided into several partitions. If the partition is less than 64 GB, the Volume Shadow Copy service is allocated 3%. If the partition is larger than 64 GB, previous versions of files and system restore points will be allocated 5% of the disk space or 10 GB, whichever is less. When the disk space allocated for the Volume Shadow Copy service runs out, old recovery points are deleted and replaced with new ones. Windows 7 has the ability to manage the space allocated for system protection, and this will be discussed further.

Setting up system protection

You can go to system protection settings in various ways. You can:

• open Control Panel- System - System protection
• right click on the icon Computer in the menu Start, on the desktop or in Explorer and select Properties and then click System protection
• on the command line or in a window Execute(WIN+R) enter rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL sysdm.cpl,4

From this window you can:

• run system restore
• configure system protection and remove checkpoints
• create a restore point

New compared to Windows Vista is the button Tune, which opens system recovery options for the selected drive.

This window contains two new options and one well-forgotten old one. You can:

• configure protection of previous versions of files together with system settings or separately
• configure the disk space allocated for storing recovery points (graphically configured in the same way as in Windows XP, but uses shadow copy functions as in Windows Vista)
• delete restore points

Let's take a closer look at these possibilities.

Recovery options

The ability to protect previous versions of files separately, without protecting system settings, is new in Windows 7. If you select this option, the effectiveness of system recovery will be slightly reduced. Therefore, I recommend leaving the default value.

The ability to restore previous versions of files first appeared in Windows Vista. Moreover, it can be considered not in isolation, but in combination with backup using Windows 7. The point is that different versions files are saved not only using the Volume Shadow Copy Service, but also when using Windows archiving. In the file properties tab Previous versions location is indicated: Restore point or Archiving.

In addition to previous versions separate files, Volume Shadow Copy Service allows you to restore previous versions of folders and their contents. Read more about previous versions in the article.

Disk space usage

At first glance, Windows 7 simply brought back the ability to manage disk space allocated to system recovery, which existed in Windows XP but disappeared in Windows Vista.

However, in Windows 7 user interface, familiar from Windows XP, controls technology that came from Microsoft server operating systems and was first introduced in the Windows Vista client system. In fact, you control the disk space allocated for storage shadow copies. This feature was also available in Windows Vista, but was implemented only on the command line using the command VSSAdmin. In Windows 7 this command is also available. For example, to view the disk space occupied by shadow copies, you can run the following command as an administrator:

VSSAdmin list ShadowStorage

and see information about the space used.

As in Windows Vista, you can set the maximum amount of disk space for shadow copies from the command line:

VSSAdmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=5GB

Deleting restore points

Deleting all restore points is new Windows feature 7. In Windows XP and Vista, it was possible to delete only all points except the last one using the disk cleanup program (in Windows 7 this option is no longer available in the cleanup program), and deleting absolutely all points was possible only by disabling system protection. Now you can delete all points without disabling system protection. This deletes not only the recovery points, but also the entire contents of the shadow copy storage, so previous versions of the files will not be available.

However, even after deleting all the points, you can use System Restore to return to the point for which you are using backup image systems. This is new opportunity Windows 7, and you will learn about it below from the story about the system recovery process, in which there have also been changes for the better.

Running System Restore

System Restore is an important feature of Windows 7. It is therefore not surprising that there are many ways to launch it:

• in the menu Start - Search enter Recovery and click System Restore
• in the menu Start - Search or out the window Execute(WIN+R) enter rstrui and press Enter
• in a control panel item Backup and recovery click Restore system settings or computer below and then press the button Running System Restore
• open Control Panel- System - System protection and press the button System Restore
• In addition, system recovery can be launched from Windows RE

Regardless of how you run System Restore, you will be prompted to select a checkpoint.

You can return to the last created point or select any other one from the available ones.

The figure above highlights the new system recovery options. If you have a system backup image, you can use it as a restore point. To see this point, check the box Show other restore points.

In addition, you can now find out which programs will be affected by the changes during recovery. Select a restore point and click the button Find affected programs.

However, you can search for affected programs without opening the restore point selection window. Before starting the restore operation, Windows 7 displays a summary window with a link Find affected programs also available.

All you have to do is press the button Ready, and the system recovery process will begin.

Cancel System Restore

You can cancel last recovery system if you accidentally selected the wrong point, or the restoration did not bring the desired results. This is possible because Windows 7 creates a checkpoint before restoring. To cancel System Restore, run it again.

The system will prompt you to cancel System Restore or select a different restore point.

Do not specify the bare minimum amount of disk space for system recovery. This will limit your ability to restore previous versions of files and reduce the time frame for restoring the system to a checkpoint.

If you don't have the installation Windows disk 7, be sure to create a system repair disk. This should be done even though on Wednesday Windows recovery RE can be booted from hard drive. If the service partition with Windows RE becomes damaged, you can boot from the recovery disk and return the system to the point created before the problem occurred.

Create restore points manually before changing system files and cleaning the registry. When a problem arises after cleaning the registry, users, as a rule, are unable to fix it on their own. Creating a restore point takes a couple of minutes, and returning to it will allow you to easily fix the problem without outside help.

System Restore regularly monitors changes to your computer's system files and uses a feature called System Protection to create restore points. System protection is enabled by default on the hard drive on which Windows is installed. You can enable System Restore for other drives by turning on System Protection for those drives.

How to enable System Restore in Windows 7

You cannot enable system protection for a drive that is formatted in file systems FAT and FAT32.

1. Next, do the following:
   1. To restore system settings and previous versions of files, click Restore system settings and previous versions of files.
   2. To restore only previous versions of files, click Recover only previous versions of files.
2. Click OK, and OK again.

How to disable System Restore in Windows 7

Disabling system protection deletes all restore points for that drive. Until you enable system protection again and new restore points are created, you will not be able to restore the drive using restore points. Also, disabling system protection deletes all previous versions of files saved for that drive. Previous versions are copies of files and folders that Windows automatically saves using restore points.

1. Open System via Start - right-click on Computer and select Properties.
2. In the left pane, click System Protection. Here you need to have administrator rights. If you are prompted for administrator rights or consent, enter your password or confirm.
3. In the System Settings field, select the drive and click Configure.
4. Click Disable system protection, click OK, and OK again.

Operating system crashes occur due to various reasons: incorrect installation drivers and applications, computer viruses, problems in hardware. Let's figure out how to start operating recovery in different ways Windows systems 7. These methods are divided into two categories: using and without using the Windows 7 recovery environment.

Windows 7 Recovery Environment

Windows Recovery Environment, which translates to “Windows Recovery Environment,” provides the recovery tools we need. Further in the text we will use the abbreviation Windows Recovery Environment - WinRE.

Let's try to access WinRE tools:

Missing option in menu additional options boot - a sign that there is no WinRE Windows 7 environment on your system disk. The reason is the removal of protected hard section disk that is created for WinRE when installing Windows OS.

In this case, select one of the download options:

• With Windows distribution 7;
• from a recovery disk created on another work computer.

Once you have access to WinRE, you can try to restore Windows 7 using environment tools.

Method #1: Last Known Good Configuration

The simplest method is based on the fact that the system stores information about the latest successful download computer.

If you can't return Windows to working condition method No. 1 - go to method No. 2.

Method number 2. WinRE: startup recovery

In this mode, faults that interfere with normal loading of the OS are analyzed. To start the mode you need to go to select the option. The following window will appear, in which we click the first item:

Startup Repair in System Recovery Options automatically fixes problems that prevent Windows from starting

If problems are found in the boot parameters, you need to confirm the need to make corrections by pressing the button Fix and restart.

Method No. 3. WinRE: System Restore

This method allows you to “roll back” the system to the time when it worked normally by selecting one of the restore points. But first these “points” must be created.

The recovery point is a kind of “cast” working environment at a certain point in time. The records of this point include only system and software settings Windows. User files(documents, images, music files) are not saved in the records.

Such points are created automatically by the operating system every 7 days. The user can create this point independently. It is recommended to do this before starting work that you are not sure will be completed successfully: installing unknown software, drivers. If the job fails, a restore point will allow you to return Windows to its original state.

Does Windows create restore points?

In order for Windows to automatically create points for system disk System Protection must be enabled.

Create a restore point yourself

Now, in case of failure Photoshop installations, we can “roll back” the system to this point.

Performing a rollback

Method number 4. WinRE: image recovery

This is a data recovery mode from a backup copy. Let's try to create it.

By default, Windows 7 has a special protective function, which creates checkpoints and provides the ability to roll back the system to one of the saved configurations. But if for various reasons this option for the Windows partition is not active, then you should definitely enable it, otherwise you will lose a very simple and effective way, with which you can perform a system restore in Windows 7.

Step-by-step instructions for activating the system protection function

Creation control points can be enabled in the protection settings. You can get there through the main menu:

In the protection window you can check whether the function is active for the desired section. If necessary, you can connect it, as well as protect all existing virtual and physical disks to save maximum information in case of system failure and the need to roll back to one of the created points.

Security settings

See if the option to return to the previous configuration is active for different sections disk can be found below in the protection settings field in the same window. Here you can disable it or, conversely, activate it. This is done as follows:

After this, Windows 7 will begin to automatically create checkpoints before each major system change - updating, installing programs, drivers, etc.

Additional protection options

Using the described function, you can restore deleted or changed files and folders on a partition or disk for which protection is enabled. They will be saved on this drive together with control points, actually being part of them. To enable recovery for a non-system partition, follow all the steps described.

The only difference is that in the menu for selecting protection options, instead of the default option, you need to specify Windows 7 to restore only previous versions of files, since no important parameters are not stored in sections with user data.

This method can basically only protect the user from accidental loss of any important document or photograph, but it is not a reliable backup tool. For these purposes, it is better to use the data archiving function or create a system image on a separate medium.

Reverting the old version of a file

If the file was modified unsuccessfully, then it old version can be restored as follows:

This action will replace the current file with the one you selected from the list. This command it will no longer be possible to cancel.

Sometimes the button may not be available if Windows 7 does not allow writing to the location. Return to disk necessary information You can do it in this case by choosing a different directory for saving.

Recovering a Deleted File

To restore deleted information, you need to know where it was saved. Do the following:

Tests Windows dots 7 and file versions associated with them are not stored on the computer for a long time. The duration depends on the disk space that you allocate for storing checkpoints. Once it is all full, the oldest saved files will be deleted and replaced with the newly created ones.