This article explains turning on or off the System Restore feature in Windows 11.
When a drive is added to System protection, Windows creates restore points so one can revert unneeded changes and go back to a previous good state.
A restore point is the state of your computer that Windows captures and saves on a system partition that can be used to restore the computer in the event of a disaster.
You can also change how frequently a restore point is taken, list all available restore points, or delete all restore points except the latest one.
The ability to use the System Restore feature is enabled by default. Users can turn on or off System Restore using Windows System Properties. When turned off, Windows will not protect your drive by taking snapshots of its content.
If you don’t want users using the System Restore feature, the administrator can disable the System Restore feature.
Disable or Enable System Restore
As mentioned above, users can turn on or off System Restore anytime in Windows 11. If an administrator wants to stop users from using System Restore, they must disable it.
By default, System Restore is turned on for the boot volume.
Here’s how to do that.
First, open the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) by going to the Start menu and searching for and selecting Edit group policy, as shown in the image below.
Once the group policy editor opens, navigate to the policy location below in the left pane:
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > System Restore
On the policy window in the right pane, select and open (double-click) the policy called “Turn off System Restore "
On the “Turn off System Restore” window, choose one of the options below:
- Not Configured – Same as Disabled. System Restore is turned on for the boot volume, and users can access and perform System Restore.
- Enabled – System Restore is turned off, and the System Restore Wizard cannot be accessed.
- Disabled – Users can perform System Restore and configure System Restore settings through System Protection.
Close the window and exit.
Turn off or on System Restore using Windows Registry Editor
Another way to turn System Restore on or off is to use the Windows Registry editor.
To do that, open the Windows Registry editor, and navigate to the folder key below.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\SystemRestore
If you don’t see the SystemRestore folder key, right-click on the Windows NT parent key, then create the subkey (SystemRestore) folder.
Right-click the SystemRestore folder key’s right pane and select New -> String Value. Type a new item named DisableSRn.
Double-click the new item you created (DisableSR) and update the Value data:
- To disable System Restore, type 1.
- System Restore is enabled by default, delete DisableSR value to enable.
That should do it. Restart your computer for the changes to apply.
Conclusion:
This post showed you how to disable or enable System Restore in Windows 11. If you find any errors above or have something to add, please use the comments form below.
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