What happens if you delete all restore points. How to remove unnecessary Windows restore points. And what about the recovery function itself

If you decide to clean up the free space on your Windows system drive, you can delete Windows restore milestones. You can delete all points except the very last one.

Windows 10

First, we need to open the "This PC" icon and on the disk with Windows 10 installed, we need to right-click and go to "Properties".

We are looking for the "Disk Cleanup" button and press it.

Then go to the "Advanced" tab.

And in the "System Restore and Shadow Copy" section, go to the "Clear" button.

If you really want to delete OS restore checkpoints, then feel free to click on the "Delete" button.

Again we are warned that the selected files will be deleted, that is, checkpoints, except for the most recent one. The most recent retracement point will remain. So to speak, just in case of fire.

The process of cleaning the system drive from restore checkpoints in Windows 10 will start.

Windows 8

If your system disk is completely clogged and you need to free up some space, you can delete the old system restore checkpoints. This way you can free up several gigabytes. First, you need to open the icon "This PC" and right-click on the disk with the installed Windows 8 operating system. Usually this is drive C. And select "Properties" from the menu.

In the new window, click the "Disk Cleanup" button.

After a short wait for the free space check, a new window will appear, where you must click the "Clean up system files" button.

Then you need to click on the "Clear" button in the "System Restore and Shadow Copy" section. All old system restore checkpoints will be deleted except for the most recent one. Also, if present, shadow copies of files and older Complete PC archive images will be deleted.

In the new dialog box, click on the "Delete files" button.

The process of cleaning the disk will go, including the system restore checkpoints in Windows 8.

Windows 7

I do not advise you to delete restore checkpoints, as they can be quite useful to you. You may have this need if there is no free space on the C drive. To work comfortably in Windows 7, you should have a system drive of at least 50 GB in size. If you have less than 30 GB, then you may have such a need. You need to go to "Computer" and right-click on the C drive and go to the "Properties" menu.

In the new window, go to the "Advanced" tab and in the "System Restore and Shadow Copy" section, click on the "Clear" button.

A warning message will appear stating that all restore checkpoints will be deleted, except for the most recent one. Click on the "Delete" button.

After that, close all windows and enjoy the result. As you can see, there is only one very last control point.

Windows XP

In order to remove system restore checkpoints and free up some space on the system drive, you need to go to "My Computer" and right-click on the system drive and select the "Properties" menu item.

In this article, we will look at the question of how to delete a Windows restore point using built-in tools and programs from the outside. In this article, we will look at the maximum tools for manipulating system restore points.

Hello everyone, I will present you with a concluding article from a whole series devoted to system recovery. And now we will manipulate the points, removing if possible the ones we are going to get rid of.

A restore point is one of the components of a unique mechanism inherent in the family of operating systems from Microsoft, which allows you to roll back to previous settings in case “something went wrong”. If this feature is enabled, it automatically sets a restore point every time you install a new program, driver, or next update. Rolling back to the desired point does not affect the data stored in the UserName folder ( % UserProfile%).

How to delete a restore point: let's get started

Several Windows tools can be used to remove point / points. However, work with restore points is somewhat limited by the feature of the function itself.

As you know, all restore points are stored on those volumes and disks (and sometimes on flash drives) that Windows monitors at the behest of the user. What requirements are imposed on disk sizes and other parameters in different versions of Windows, you can find out from the article ““, but for now let's look at the Windows functions with which you can control points.

So, the number of created restore points directly depends on the next system setting. We go to System properties through the search string with the command:

sysdm.cpl

and in the tab System protection we find full access to all possible system recovery functions. By clicking on the button Tune..., you can change the disk space allocated for recovery points (in accordance, of course, with the requirements of your version of Windows):

How do I delete all restore points?

Go back to the last picture where the button Delete in the tab System protection for ... will overwrite all restore points up to the last one created. This action will be equivalent to activating the item Disable system protection with a subsequent reboot. This is a radical way to get rid of all restore points at once.

How do I delete all restore points except the last one?

In the search bar (WIN + R), enter the quick search command:

cleanmgr

The Windows Cleanup Utility will start. After the window with the choice of files to be deleted appears, we are looking for the button Clean up system files... The utility will restart, again prompting you to select a disk for cleaning (if there are more than one). But this time, the Additional tab will be added to the window with the file scan results, in which, among other things, you can delete a restore point (or several points) up to the last one:

And what about the recovery function itself?

Some manipulations can be carried out from there. However, there is no need to count on much: in fact, we are not talking about deleting, but Hiding some points thanks to the filters applied by the user from the recovery manager. Compare:

But that's all the recovery function can boast of. However, if you want to delete a specific point, there is a way out.

How to remove a restore point from the command line: which one we want

The work with shadow copies of systems is not limited to the recovery manager. Command utility vssadmin(no GUI) works with restore points in text mode. Here are some of the commands available with the utility:

vssadmin list shadowstorage – displays all disks connected to the system with a description of the used, allocated and maximum storage sizes for recovery points
vssadmin list shadows- will display all existing copies on the system
vssadmin delete shadows / for = c: / oldest- removes the oldest point on the C drive
vssadmin delete shadows / for = d: / all- will delete ALL restore points on drive D
vssadmin delete shadows / for = c: / shadow = ID- deletes the selected point by the entered ID (you will see a list of them by typing the command list shadows)
vssadmin resize shadowstorage / for = c: / maxsize = 8GB- sets the amount of storage for recovery points for drive C up to 8 GB. Use the function carefully: when you lower the value (for example, from 15 GB to, say, 10 GB, the rest of the points will “suffer”, starting with the oldest, simply disappearing from the list)

How to delete a restore point: CCleaner and System Restore Explorer

If the process of manually adjusting the restore point list does not appeal to you, using third-party programs is ideal. The first program very competently helps out the Windows user, and in completely different areas, so I never stop advertising it for free. Its main application is to clean the system from temporary and junk files that clog not only the system, but also from openly "lagging" settings that cause a lot of trouble. It will come in handy this time too. We launch, and from here the restore points look like this:

Most importantly, some individual Windows restore points are now available for deletion. Not all, for which you will see explanations.

Download CCleaner from the manufacturer

The second program, as the name implies, is designed specifically for this purpose: to delete a restore point selected by the user. System Restore Explorer is a tool that allows you to not only delete selected restore points, but also freely view their contents. This program has a very useful option: by creating an image of the desired point, you can copy SEPARATE FILES and replace the damaged ones without restoring the entire system.

The program's interface is exactly like Windows Explorer (in English only):

Select the desired point and press Mount to view the content (or Delete- delete restore point):

The Explorer at the specified address will display the contents of the point. You can work with separate files, directories. Or just delete the restore point.

I read your articles about Windows 7, and decided to install it myself. Everything seems to be fine: the firewood is up, and the computer is flying, but recently I needed to roll back the system to the previous restore point, but I could not find any, although I did a restore point regularly on your recommendation (at least I tried to do it). It seems that my memory has not failed me yet. So where did all my restore points on the system go?

Hello dear reader. Thank you for writing to us about your problem, especially since other users of the "seven" may also face it sooner or later. I just want to say; "About how many wonderful discoveries Microsoft gives us";)
As usual, Microsoft does not cease to present us with more and more surprises and, truly, an unpleasant discovery for a Windows 7 user who intends to restore the computer's performance after a failure can be a situation when there are no restore points (System Restore Points), which the operating system for some reason - it deleted on every reboot.

Apparently, our reader is not the first one who is faced with such a problem, so Microsoft experts have already analyzed the situation and found out that such abnormal deletion of restore points in Windows 7 was caused by rare cases of high fragmentation of the paging file. To solve this problem, Microsoft experts suggest that you first stop using the paging file: go to the Start menu> Control Panel> System and Security> System> Advanced system settings> the "Advanced" tab> in the "Performance" section, click the "Settings"> tab Additional "> in the" Virtual memory "section, click the" Change "button> turn off the checkbox" Automatically select the paging file size "> select the" No paging file "option> click the" Set "button, the" OK "button and restart the computer.
After that, find the hidden file pagefile.sys on the logical disk with the installed operating system and delete it, and then defragment the specified logical disk. To do this, go to Start> Control Panel> System and Security> Administrative Tools> Defragment Hard Drive> in the "Disk Defragmenter" window, select the system drive (usually drive C) and click the "Disk Defragmenter" button. Then you can go to the settings section again virtual memory and specify the size of the paging file.

At the same time, Microsoft experts note that if you manually select a fixed size, then this will avoid repeating the specified problem with deleting system restore points on reboot.
Note that this can happen on computers running Windows XP, if the space for storing recovery points on disks is not allocated proportionally.

Because the recovery point is saved for each drive separately, but synchronously on all drives for which the recovery option is enabled. And if on one of the disks the allocated disk space quota is exhausted, then one of the old restore points is deleted. Therefore, I would recommend leaving the system restore option enabled only for the system drive (usually drive C), and on the rest of the drives disable recovery through the Start> Settings> Control Panel> System> System Restore tab> select a non-system drive and click the Options button "> enable the checkbox" Disable system restore on this disk "> click OK.

What to do if you come across this article at a time when Windows no longer starts and there are no restore points, but you don’t want to reinstall the system? I remember how the situation was, I turn on the computer - it swears with a blue screen, I turn it on in safe mode - the same thing. Intuition told me to reinstall, but remember a bunch of passwords saved in the browser, restore the Webmoney key file, install / configure a lot of necessary software, try to restore the old system ... there was clearly no time. In the morning, on the way to work, I took the laptop to the service center (

In the Windows operating system, if necessary, the user can delete the system restore points. Windows restore checkpoints allow the user to return the computer to the operating state at the time a specific restore point was created.

In general, it is not recommended to delete system restore points from your computer. If your computer does not have a restore point, then in the event of serious problems with the system or programs, you will not be able to return your computer to its normal, working state.

Basically, they delete restore points to increase the amount of disk space. The operating system reserves a certain part of the disk space for system protection functions. You can adjust the amount of data used to perform the system restore function yourself.

It will only be necessary to take into account that a small number of restore points will be created with a minimum volume. Therefore, with a small number of restore points, the chances of a successful solution to the problem that have arisen are reduced, since the problem may have occurred earlier than the first saved restore point.

In other cases, deleting restore points is necessary for several reasons: the computer has a very large number of restore points, or there are unnecessary restore points, there are also non-working restore points.

For example, unnecessary restore points are often created when you uninstall programs. If the user actively installs and uninstalls programs, then new system restore points are created, which appear in place of the old restore points. It turns out that unnecessary Windows restore points replace those checkpoints that should have been saved on the computer.

In Windows, using the operating system tools, you can delete only all restore points, or all restore points except the most recent one. However, individual restore points cannot be deleted.

This issue can be solved with the help of third-party programs. In this article, I will show you how to delete individual system restore points using the free CCleaner program.

Removing all system restore points

Enter the "Start" menu and then right-click on the "Computer" item, or right-click on the "Computer" icon on the Desktop. In the left part of the "System" window that opens, click on the "System Protection" item.

Next, the "System Properties" window will open, in the "System Protection" tab. In this tab, opposite the entry "Configuring recovery options, managing disk space and deleting recovery points", click on the "Configure" button.

In the next window "System Protection for Local Disk (C :)", opposite the entry "Delete all restore points, including system settings and previous versions of files", you will need to click on the "Delete" button.

After that, all restore points will be removed from your computer.

Deleting restore points other than the most recent

In the Explorer window, right-click on the drive (usually drive "C"). In the "Properties: Local Disk (C :)" window, click on the "Disk Cleanup" button.

In the "Disk Cleanup (C :)" window, click on the "Clean up system files" button.

The operating system will again estimate the amount of space that can be reclaimed on this disk.

In the "Disk Cleanup (C :)" window, in the "System Restore and Shadow Copy" section, click on the "Clean up ..." button.

In the "Disk Cleanup" window, you will need to agree to delete all system restore points except the most recent one by clicking on the "Delete" button.

All but the most recent Windows restore points will be removed from your computer.

In many cases, the user only needs to delete a single, specific restore point. It is impossible to solve this issue with the standard means of the operating system.

Why there is a need to delete restore points

Basically, they delete restore points from the computer to save disk space. I am not a supporter of such savings, because very often I myself use the system restore function.

There are other reasons for removing control points. Now, I will talk about some of them, which served as an incentive for writing this article.

On my daughter's laptop, one of the browsers my wife was using stopped working. I was not informed about this immediately. After contacting me for help, I decided to just reinstall this browser.

When a new browser was installed on a computer, the installation process of the program stopped unexpectedly. When trying to enter Control Panel from the Start button in Windows 8.1, I found that all the functions that are performed from the Start button did not work on the computer.

It became clear to me that there were serious problems with Windows. In order not to waste a lot of time, I decided to do a system restore, because it was the easiest way to solve this problem.

As a result, I did a system restore, the computer returned to a fully working state, all problems with the browser disappeared.

In the process of restoring the system, I chose the very first restore point (the most distant in time), since I did not know exactly when the problems with the computer arose. In total, there were five available restore points on this computer. The system restore process from the selected checkpoint failed. Alas, this happens sometimes.

Then I chose another restore point that was created by the system. In this case, Windows recovery was successful.

There are unnecessary restore points left on the computer: as it turned out, this is a non-working restore point, as well as several restore points created by the Revo Uninstaller program when the browser was removed from the computer.

The fact is that the browser was previously tried to be removed from the computer without my help, and in the process of uninstalling the browser, system restore points were created.

It turns out that these restore points were useless, since problems with this browser, and possibly with the system, already existed at that time. Restoring Windows from these checkpoints would not work well.

The four restore points were inoperable, so it made no sense for me to store them on my computer. Moreover, new restore points replace the ones created earlier, depending on the amount of disk space allocated for these purposes.

Therefore, I needed to remove only individual restore points from the computer, leaving workable checkpoints on the computer. This issue can be solved with the help of third-party programs, in particular.

Deleting individual restore points in CCleaner

Using the free CCleaner program, you can remove individual restore points from your computer, leaving only the checkpoints in the operating system.

After starting the program, in the main window of CCleaner, go to the "Service" section. Here you will need to click on the "System Restore" button. After that, a tab will open in which all system restore points that are currently available on the computer will be displayed.

In this list, only the most recent restore point will be inactive. This is done intentionally so that at least one restore point remains on the user's computer. For example, if, while working in Windows, there are problems with the operating system, the user will always have the opportunity to perform a system restore.

In the warning window that opens, agree to delete the restore point. To do this, click on the "OK" button in this window.

After that, the individual system restore point will be removed from your computer.

If you need to delete exactly the last restore point, then you can first create a new restore point in Windows, and then delete the unnecessary checkpoint using CCleaner.

Conclusions of the article

If necessary, the user can delete unnecessary system restore points from his computer.

Removing restore points with CCleaner (video)

If the Windows operating system is unstable or incorrect, which is caused by any changes in the system, using the restore points that were made earlier, you can return the system to a working state. But a huge number of such checkpoints, which accumulates over a certain time, will take up a lot of memory on your hard disk. To free up space on it, it is sometimes necessary to delete these restore points, leaving only the last one. But how do you delete restore points? We will tell you about this in our article.

Removing a restore point: Windows XP

To remove restore points of the Windows XP operating system, you must:

Go to the Start menu, then go to My Computer.
Select the hard drive where you want to free up space and right-click on it.
A window will open in which you need to select "Properties". In the "Properties" window, you need to click the button called "Disk Cleanup".
The "Disk Cleanup" window will open, where you need to go to the "Advanced" tab.
Now in the "System Restore" section you need to click on the button called "Clean".
When asked whether you really want to delete all restore points except the last one, you must answer in the affirmative by clicking the "OK" button. Now you need to confirm this deletion by selecting "Yes" in confirmation.
Complete the operation, for which click the "OK" button.

As you can see, deleting restore points in Windows XP is a quick and easy process. Now let's move on to the question of deleting restore points on Windows 7.

How to remove restore points: Windows 7

To remove restore points of the Windows 7 operating system, you must:

Enter the start menu.
Enter "Disk Cleanup" in the search field.
In the window that appears, select the disk to be cleaned.
Now go to the "Advanced" tab, then "System Restore and Shadow Copy".
Click on the "Clear" button. Everything!

Unfortunately, in Windows 7, it is not possible to selectively delete restore points. To do this, you need to download an additional program, for example, QRM Plus, in which, using QRM Manager, you can delete one of the restore points by selecting it and clicking on the " Delete ". You can also create new restore points here by clicking the "Create" button, or restore the system by clicking the "Restore" button.

Now you know how to delete Windows 7 restore points! Use our instructions in your future work!