How-To Geek
Create a Restore Point for Windows 7 or Vista’s System Restore
If you are thinking of installing an application but aren’t quite sure what it’s going to do to your computer, I would absolutely recommend creating a restore point before you install that application, and here are the steps to do so. Note that most application installs automatically create a restore point, but you can do this if you are really worried.
Open up the Start Menu and right-click on “Computer”, and then select “Properties”.
This will take you into the System area of Control Panel. Click on the “System Protection” link on the left hand side.
Now select the “System Protection” tab to get to the System Restore section.
Click the “Create” button to create a new restore point. You’ll be prompted for a name, and you might want to give it a useful name that you’ll be able to easily identify later.
Click the Create button, and then the system will create the restore point.
When it’s all finished, you’ll get a message saying it’s completed successfully.
Now if your application blows up Windows, you can restore your computer using System Restore.
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Comments (70)
Programmer by day, geek by night, The Geek, also known as Lowell Heddings, spends all his free time bringing you fresh geekery on a daily basis. You can follow him on Google+ if you'd like.
- Published 06/20/07
My computer suddenly decided it would no longer display the color “Red”
(all the other colors are in place)
I went to the system controls to adjust the color and there is a list of availible colors… however the color “RED” happens to be “BLACK”.
How can I get the color “RED” back?
Hello,
I am unable to create restore for my Windows Vista Operating System.
Procedure I am following is the same as given on your website.
I am getting following error:
The restore point could not be created for the following reason:
Shadow Copying the specified volume is not supported.(0x8004230C)
Please help me out.
thanking you in advance.
Where this article says “click Advanced system settings,” the “System Protection” link is immediately above that link, and the user saves a step by using that, instead of clicking “Advanced …” and then clicking the “System Protection” tab.
The trick is to set up a shortcut to “System”, then when you use it, just click “System Protection” and then Create and type the name and hit Create again.
In Windows Mail cannot get Contact Group to appear on toolbar.
These three posts are the same questions/problems I have with my new Dell w/ Vista. Wherre can I find the replies to them??
“”"#
Vijay Magdum
Hello,
I am unable to create restore for my Windows Vista Operating System.
Procedure I am following is the same as given on your website.
I am getting following error:
The restore point could not be created for the following reason:
Shadow Copying the specified volume is not supported.(0×8004230C)
Please help me out.
thanking you in advance.
#
December 14, 2007 11:13 am
D A Wilson
Where this article says “click Advanced system settings,” the “System Protection” link is immediately above that link, and the user saves a step by using that, instead of clicking “Advanced …” and then clicking the “System Protection” tab.
The trick is to set up a shortcut to “System”, then when you use it, just click “System Protection” and then Create and type the name and hit Create again.
#
January 14, 2008 12:48 pm
Les
In Windows Mail cannot get Contact Group to appear on toolbar.”"”
i cannot rename my folder after create a new one. it said:
‘The file or folder does not exist’
what is going on?? how i can fix this?
one more thing is why my vista (ultimate) don’t have disk defragmenter? when i go to tools then my disfragmenter was disable. my system retore also didn’t show up in accessories..plz help..thanks
Can any one advise since I had never created a restore point manually. I have been given to understad that system does it automatically everyday. Now the problem is that I guess I have got a virus in my laptop as it shuts down abruptly after almost every 6-8 hours and the options that I am getting in the restore option is just for the last 3-4 days. which is after the problem started, so no point in retoring when the virus was already there.
Unfortunately I did not create recovery CD when I bought the new laptop about 4 months ago. So, this new Laptop is worth scrap for me.
Grateful, if any one can advice if can still fix my laptop or is it that once you have the virus your system is dead.
At the same time I really dont undertand that instead of having Norton, Macafee, Spyware Doctor how did the virus got in. Does it mean that all these softwares are useless.
Appreciate for you advice as I am a novice in IT.
Cheers ! Sunny
For all those looking for help (not sure this site provides answers to your queries so I apologise if you do) try the computeractive forums: Readers to the Rescue, there is a Vista section so post there.
To Sunny, your pc can be restored, the factory/recovery image is still on a partitioned part of your hard drive, post on site above where we will try to help you.
@Liverbird
We have a forum here on this site where many of the readers help answer questions.
In fact there’s a link to our forum right above the comments box, but I’ll include it again: http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/
Yeah sorry, I noticed that as I hit the “submit comment”, but I wondered why nobody had mentioned it here.
Great site btw ;)
Thank you for your help.
Trying to restore my system however my computer however I cannot create a restore point. Its giving me a message that says ‘restore point creation disabled by group policy’.
How do I enable restore point creation?
Unity
Running Windows Vista
Every time an attempt is made to create a restore point on Drive C
It attempts to do so – then gives a message that the restore point was created – but there is NO restore point
Also after rebooting, all work is lost including saved documents, pictures and new applications that were installed even Windows updates
Vista was working flawlessly for about a Year
Have a Dell E1505 with Vista Home Premium and 2 GHz ram 120 hard drive that is only 1/3 full
NYC … have you installed new security software that could be interefering in the process?
Are restore points being created automatically ?
Have you ever been able to successfully complete a system restore?
Have you made any changes to folders like encrypting them?
If you have UAC (user account control) enabled, try performing the restore point with it disabled …. this is done via the control panel/user accounts. Re-enable afterwards.
Liverbird
I just wondered if there was any way of creating a restore point on another device – a USB memory stick or a CD/DVD. Im planning on wiping my hard drive and starting again, but I’d like to hold on to all of my settings – windows has always been a pain in the ass to get the way you want it and I dont feel like doing it again.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Last week my computer want me to run a system restore, so I did now I have lost ALL my contacts out of outlook, How can I get them back? PLEASE Help.
Contacts disappearing from the bottom left window of Outlook Express.can be caused by having too many, once you’ve accumulated more than 999 contacts they disappear … open address book and remove some, they should appear again.
If you find this is not your problem search your hard drive for .wab file, then import the file back to OE using the method;
Open the Address Book in Outlook Express,
File > Import > Address Book (WAB)
Hope this helps … and remember the limit on contacts!!
I sure wish System Restore worked on Vista the way it did on XP..grrr
I keep trying to create a new restore point (need to go back about 3 weeks), but no matter what I do, the restore point remains at today (for example). It is not going back, as I wish it to.
I’ve developed audio problems and have been unable to resolve the issue
using the usual routes, so thught Sys Restore would be the answer! HA!
I must be doing something wrong, but can’t think what. Hope you can help
and thsnks for ‘listening’…:)
I have the same issue as “ktjo”… I need to do a Sys Restore back a few months (Dell suggested doing so to resolve a problem with Internet Explorer shutting down unexpectedly.) I’ve tried setting a manual restore point but can’t figure out how to go back beyond those dates shown in the given list. Suggestions, anyone?
1.Running Vista I like to have a skinny start-up and disabled lots of
services.
2. I needed a system restore point and couldn’t because the following 4 services were disabled:
– volume shadow copy
– windows event log
– task scheduler
– microsoft software shadow copy provider
Once these 4 were started I was able to create a restore point successfully.
I NEED HELPED MY COMPUTER IS TRIPPIN LOL I TURNED IT ON ONE DAY AND THE AUDIO WASNT WORKING IT SAYS IT DOES NOT HAVE A SOUND CARD BUT THE THING IS DAT I BARELY BOUGHT THIUS COMPUTER IS A DX SERIES GATEWAY DESKTOP COMP. AND I TRY TO REINSATLL THE AUDIO DRIVER AND AN ERRROR MESSAEGE COMES OUT SAYING FAILURE TO INSTALL WHY IS THIS HOW CAN I HAVE AUDIO AGAIN????
thanks sooo much:) might help avoid some update headaches
There are only 3 tabs in my System Properties menu.
Computer Name | Hardware | Advance
instead of the
Computer Name | Hardware | Advance | System Protection | Remote
help? .__.
someone help me to enabled the group policy plzzzzzzzzz
i can not select any restore point that i wnt………….
it say that:restore point creation disabled by group policy……………some plz hlp me quik plzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I am unable to create restore for my Windows Vista Operating System.
Procedure I am following is the same as given on your website.
I am getting following error:
In third image above of System Protection Tab ,System Restore section
Below there is
“Create restore points automatically on selected disks : ”
Avialable Disks
Here non of disks dispalyed and i am getting message there
“Searching…”
Please help me out.
how to get list of disks
Have Dell 530S, Vista Home Basic, Windows 32 bit,dual Intel, 2GB, Norton.
I did a ‘Defender’ full scan, a PC Mighty Max 2009 full scan, and a Registry Fix7 Scan. Alot of errors were ‘fixed’. I ended up with several items not repaired:
1)Host process for Windows services stopped working, hpqddsvc hang,
2)I Asked for Restore Point , got ‘No, because volume shadow copy provider is not registered 0×80042304,
3)Missing or invalid file or compon. C:\Program data\Norton\coc55c1\Norton, (3 of these) and,
4)Missing or invalid file or compon. C:\Program data\Microsoft\search\data(2 of these).
And I’m getting several very slow response from computer
All of my restore points are missing. I didn’t install anything. My system started acting wierd and I wanted to restore to an earlier restore point to correct it and they are all gone.
When I create a restore point it has an error message saying:
The restore point could not be created for the following reason:
The shadow copy provider had an unexpected error while trying to
process the specified operation. (0x8004230F)
Please try again.
Please help me with this problem thank you
Some software changed the group policy of my vista home os. I want to turn off the system restore to free up my space but it shows group policy has disabled the system restore creation. Please guide me how can i change the group policy to re-enable the system restore creation. Please help. I do not know much about it. thanks.
Hello,
I am unable to create restore for my Windows Vista Operating System.
Procedure I am following is the same as given on your website.
I am getting following error:
The restore point could not be created for the following reason:
Shadow Copying the specified volume is not supported.(0×8004230f)
Please help me out.
thanking you in advance.
Thanks! This really helped me out.
I would just like to thank the John mcguire entry above as that solved my problem of not being able to set a restore point. Thanks very much John :)
It also highlights that those of us who take the steps suggested by the likes of BlackViper and JSK’s of what “Services” you can safely stop in Vista to step lightly as this was my downfall in this area.
Once again I appreciate John’s entry, Rob
kaushal may I suggest that you check in your “Services” that you have allowed the 4 Services that John McGuire shows in his post further up they being as follows :
– volume shadow copy
– windows event log
– task scheduler
– microsoft software shadow copy provider
If this solves your problem may I suggest you also thank John for his post :)
Regards, Rob
But how do you know if those services are running and how do yoou get them running?
Thanks I would really like to resolve this issue too. – Linda
If I ‘m going to physically create a restore point I expected to be there regardless of how old it is, as a matter of a fact it should be 1st. in line
I recently did a system restore due to jucheck.exe shutting down my computer, after doing the restore to a date that I specified. My computer will now not load. I have a black screen. I cant even start in safe mode, Help!
how i make windows vista to windows7??????????????
Thanks! Great tutorial
always backup new comps with disc before using it.answer to MARK JOSHUA Q ON ERROR(0×8004230F) YOUR COMP IS TELLING YOU THAT YOU HAVE NOT ENOUGH SPACE ON YOUR COMPS DRIVE, so you need to change settings on your restore centre, its under the tab that says back up files you will see a drop down tab saying back up to cd or dvd depending on the amount of data u need 2 back up choose the tab for u then insert blank disc, wait 4 disc to be reconised and click next,
sorry u had 2 wait 4 ans but it might help someone out ther now!
Denish,
You just have to wait. I operate on Vista, and it said searching for a while. Just wait and the disks will pop up.
Hope this helped :)
Brianna.
very helpful!
Wow! This is very helpful for me! :D I like to beta test many programs and you never know when they’ll explode on you. Good work!
hi i am from afghanistan
kaushal may I suggest that you check in your “Services” that you have allowed the 4 Services that John McGuire shows in his post further up they being as follows :
– volume shadow copy
– windows event log
– task scheduler
– microsoft software shadow copy provider
If this solves your problem may I suggest you also thank John for his post :)
Regards, Rob
Hey can someone help me i really have a annoying problem and itss really really stressing me, i create this restore point then when i got to restore it says that i cant restore the C drive and its blacked out but ticked ? when i press next it says “Windows has detected file corruption on OS (C). You must check the disk for errors before it can be restored” When i try and do a disk check at the stratup of my pc it says ” Failed Please Restore PC” or something, Please can someone help me fix this im sooo annoyed about ittt Thanks.
I’m having the same problem as ‘oondric’. Although I have 4 tabs ( Computer Name l Hardware l Advanced l Remote) I cannot find the ‘System Protection’ tab. All the checkpoints on my system restore programme are at times after I received a virus on my laptop. Therefore these are useless to restore to. Any help with how I can find the ‘system protection’ tab? Thanks
Hi,, i had a problem with the stupid Security suit antivirus was jumped into my laptop.. Somehow i managed to stop it’s activities.. now i need to Restore the system to yesterday’s Date ( the previous Day ).. how can i do that..
Thanks
Question: Unable to create restore point.__Error Message:__The restore point could not be created for the following reason.. The specified object was not found (0×80042308
Can any one help..
My OS is windows 7 home premium and All cheks that I did do not find any problem. Even HP support assistant finds no problem. but a restore point can not be created and the same message is flashed.
Can any one have a solution.
Thank you
You computer should already have a restore point automaticaly saved,their are diffrent ways to find it.Look in the start icon on bottom left corner of your computer screen.1 click on the start icon,then click on the control panel,you should be able to see the security settings on bottom of the screen,or clicking on the adminastrator icon.Some where in the control panel is the system restore icon,try clicking on difrent icons to find it ,also look for the computer security setting’s icon,sometimes it’s displayed their..2-another way is if your running mcfree security,you can use their back-up and restore that is displayed when you click on the icon it is listed on one of the control panel option’s of mcfree…….If all else fail’s do this click on the start icon button at the bottom left hand corner,then go to programs installed on you computer…Then look through the program’s and you will find system restore listed in the program’s for your computer that is listed…..I think you will definatly find this helpfull and good luck..
After reading some of the questions above, I hesitate to try installing a restore point on my Dell laptop with the Vista program. Looks like it might be a bad idea or won’t work????
Please advise.
Best you should make changes to the page subject
Create a Restore Point for Windows 7 or Vista’s System Restore – How-To Geek to something more suited for your webpage you create. I liked the blog post even sononetheless.
New Laptop w/Home Prem 7 preloaded. Steep learning curve from XP Pro! Missed Sys Res from
XP A LOT. Using your guide worked!! Txs VERY much..
I want to know how to make Hiren’s BootCD from USB flash drive (pan drive)? I can try anything not sure with for me. So you can help me for about that. Please send me for more than answer explain by mail. Thank U.
OMG my computer is so stupid it won’t connect to the internet for some reason and it says tht the internet provider i was using is not avalible and i am now trying to set a restore point to see if it fixes it
i try to create a restore point and am getting an error message over and over again what do i do
exact message is the shadow copy provider has an unexpected error while trying to process the spec file 0x800423f please help
How do you make a restore point for a time in the past
i have a prob
my system . ( seven )
He Not tab System Protection . T_T
Help-me PLease.
Spring-me In my Email
hi….i just downloaded avg and eset antivrus the other day….and mistakedly or otherwise,i “accidently” downloaded the upgrades for windows…..which left my lappy quite unhappy….now the desktop picture refuses to come on…..and there is a constant display at the bottom of the screen saying that my product of windows 7 is not genuine….how can i restore my laptop to about 3 days back…?? it is possible with windows xp to manually choose a date and time of the point of restore…..so how do i do that windows 7….???? pls reply urgently…….
thanks a million!
actually exactly what jason said…!!! How do you make a restore point for a time in the past…???? for windows 7 that is..??????
thank you.. awesome advice.
thx u
Thanks very much for the article
Thanks ! worked right for me
How do i create a restore point for a time and date which does not appear on my list of restore points? The list of restore points only goes back 10 days and i need to make a restore point for about 3 weeks prior to that? Is there a way to actually enter a specific date? I’m running on windows vista. Please help me.
THANKS SO MUCH!!!
Thank you!!
To fix the issue, ensure that Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider Service (SWPRV) and the Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) services are running. To do so, click Start menu, then type services.msc in the Start Search box (in non Windows Vista OS, click on Run command box), and hit Enter.
In the Services control panel, locate Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider and Volume Shadow Copy. Double click on both services, and set the “Startup type” to Automatic. By default, the Startup type is manual, and Windows will automatically start them when needed. Set to automatic startup will ensure that the services are always loaded when Windows boots up. If the services are currently disabled, click on Start Service button to start the services immediately.
I am having a similar problem to others here. After a system crash, everything was scanned, fixed and working correctly, so I created restore points after reinstalling software. They all keep disappearing. Despite the fact that it tells me the restore point has been created, everytime I go into System Restore, I have no restore points!
I checked the SWPRV and VSS services. Both are running in my msconfig so that is not the problem.
Hello,
I am unable to create restore for my Windows Vista Operating System.
Procedure I am following is the same as given on your website.
Could not create the schedule task for the following reason:
Transaction support within the specified file system resource manager is not
started or was shutdown due to an error(0x80071A91)
And my OS is not operating, not able to reinstall.
Thanks