Remove System Restore Point

Why Remove All System Restore Points

This article will tell you how to delete ALL old System Restore Points and Previous versions of files, natively, in Windows 10/8/7.

System protection (if turned on) is a feature that allows you to perform a system restore that takes your PC back to an earlier point in time, called a system restore point. This can be handy if your PC isn't working well and you recently installed an app, driver, or update.
Each restore point contains the necessary information needed to restore the system to the chosen state. Restore points are automatically generated when you install a new app, driver, or Windows update, and generated when you create a restore point manually. Restoring won’t affect your personal files in your %UserProfile% folder, but it will remove apps, drivers, and updates installed after the restore point was created.
When you get a new large or feature update for Windows 10, all restore points will automatically get deleted in the process of the update since the old restore points will be incompatible with the new Windows Update.
This tutorial will show you how to delete all or specific system restore points for drives in Windows 10.
You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to delete a system restore point.

Restore points are stored in the hidden protected OSSystem Volume Information folder in the root directory of each drive you have system protection turned on.
The options in this tutorial will not delete a System Image Restore Point that is created when you create a system image.

CONTENTS:

Option One: To Delete System Restore Points for Drive in System Protection Settings
Option Two: To Delete System Restore Points in Disk Cleanup
Option Three: To Delete System Restore Points in Command Prompt
Option Four: To Delete System Restore Points in CCleaner

To Delete System Restore Points for Drive in System Protection Settings

1. Do step 2, step 3, or step 4 below for how you would like to open System.
2. Open the Win+X Quick Link menu, click/tap on System, and go to step 5 below.
3. Open the Control Panel (icons view), click/tap on the System icon, and go to step 5 below.
4. Open the Control Panel (icons view), click/tap on the Recovery icon, click/tap on the Configure System Restore link, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)

5. Click/tap on the System protection link on the left side. (see screenshot below)

6. If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.
7. Under Protection Settings, select a drive (ex: C: ) that you want to delete all restore points from, and click/tap on the Configure button. (see screenshot below)
8. Click/tap on Delete. (see screenshots below)

9. Click/tap on Continue to confirm. (see screenshot below)
10. Click/tap on Close when finished. (see screenshot below)

11. You will notice that the Current Usage

Delete system restore points windows 7 command line

of the selected drive will now be 0 bytes

Why Remove All System Restore Points

. (see screenshots below)

To Delete System Restore Points in Disk Cleanup

This option will remove all but the most recent restore point.

1. Use step 7 in OPTION ONE of the tutorial below to delete restore points from a selected disk.
How to Open and Use Disk Cleanup in Windows 10

To Delete System Restore Points in Command Prompt

1. Open an elevated command prompt.
2. Copy and paste the command below in the elevated command prompt, and press Enter.

This will list all shadow copies (restore points) on all drives. You will see the volume drive letter and shadow copy ID number for each one.
You will need this information for the steps below.

3. Do step 4 (all), step 5 (all on drive), step 6 (oldest on drive), or step 7 (shadow copy ID) below for how you would like to delete restore points.

4. To Delete All Restore Points on All Drives

A) Copy and paste the command below you want to use in the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below)
(Prompts Y/N to confirm before deleting)
vssadmin delete shadows /all
OR
(Delete without prompting)
vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet

5. To Delete All Restore Points on Specific Drive

A) Type the command below you want to use in the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshots below)
(Prompts Y/N to confirm before deleting)
vssadmin delete shadows /For=(drive letter): /all
OR
(Delete without prompting)
vssadmin delete shadows /For=(drive letter): /all /quiet

Substitute (drive letter) in the commands above with the drive letter you want. This will be listed as Original Volume: (x: ) from step 2 above.
For example:
vssadmin delete shadows /For=C: /all
OR
vssadmin delete shadows /For=C: /all /quiet

6. To Delete Oldest Restore Point on Specific Drive

A) Type the command below you want to use in the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshots below)
(Prompts Y/N to confirm before deleting)
vssadmin delete shadows /For=(drive letter): /oldest
OR
(Delete without prompting)
vssadmin delete shadows /For=(drive letter): /oldest /quiet

Substitute (drive letter) in the commands above with the drive letter you want. This will be listed as Original Volume: (x: ) from step 2 above.
For example:
vssadmin delete shadows /For=C: /oldest
OR
vssadmin delete shadows /For=C: /oldest /quiet

7. To Delete Specific Restore Point using Shadow Copy ID

A) Type the command below in the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 8 below. (see screenshot below)
vssadmin delete shadows /Shadow={Shadow Copy ID}

Substitute Shadow Copy ID in the commands above with the actual Shadow Copy ID number of the restore point you want to delete from step 2 above.
For example:
vssadmin delete shadows /Shadow={3e351030-9ebd-428c-9ff3-86dca40a7f96}

8. When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.

To Delete System Restore Points in CCleaner

This option will remove all but the most recent restore point.

1. If you have not already, download and install the free CCleaner program.
2. Open CCleaner.
3. Click/tap on Tools on the left side, and click/tap on System Restore in the Tools menu. (see screenshot below step 4)
4. Select one or more listed restore points, and click/tap on Remove. (see screenshot below)

You can press and hold the CTRL key and click/tap on restore points to be able to select more than one randomly.

5. Click/tap on OK to confirm. (see screenshot below)

6. When finished, you can close CCleaner if you like.
That's it,
Shawn

Every time your system gets corrupted or when something goes wrong, like bad drivers or misconfigured settings, the first thing that comes to our mind is to restore the system to the previous good state. Actually, it is one of the most suggested options as it is not only easy to perform but solves some of the basic problems like corrupted system files. But as useful as it is, there is a lot of ambiguity and some misconceptions about what Windows System Restore can and cannot do whenever you perform a system restore to fix things up. So let’s find out and clear up the confusion on what the system restore can and cannot do on your system.

What is System Restore

To put it simply, System Restore is a built-in feature which can be used to roll back to a previous known good state. This feature is particularly helpful whenever you want to roll back major changes made to the system. System Restore points can be created manually but are also automatically created in the event of any supported major changes to system configurations or while installing programs or Windows updates. If you have multiple restoration points, you can pick and choose the one that suits your current situation.

Effects on Windows Programs

Whenever you perform a system restore on your Windows machine, your installed Windows programs will be affected. Any programs installed after the restoration point will be uninstalled and vice-versa. The only problem you should be aware of is that some programs like AntiVirus software, etc., may not respond as they should once restored and require you to reinstall the affected software to function properly. In fact, whenever you restore your Windows system, Windows will list all the affected programs right in the restoration wizard. So always check for the affected programs before proceeding to restore your Windows system.

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Effects on Windows System Files

System restoration affects almost all the system files. So whenever you restore your system, any changes made to your system files, system programs, and registry settings will be rolled back to the restore point. Moreover, any deleted or changed system scripts, batch files, and any other executables will also be restored. If you have corrupted system files, then restoring your system to a previous time may help you to get your system back up and running.

Effects on Windows Updates

Just like the installed programs, System Restore will also affect Windows Updates. So whenever you restore your system, any uninstalled Windows updates will be reinstalled and any updates that are installed after the restoration point will be uninstalled. The same also applies to any installed or uninstalled hardware drivers. Since the hardware devices are affected by the changes in driver software, make sure that you always update, install or uninstall the driver software accordingly.

Effects on Personal Files

Although system restore can change all your system files and programs, it will not delete or modify any of your personal files or data stored on your hard drive. For instance, if you have stored your documents or pictures in the “My Documents” folder located in the C drive and later restored your system, the files will not be affected in any way and are kept intact throughout and after the restoration process.

Effects on Viruses or Other Malware

System Restore will not remove or clean viruses, trojans or other malware. These malicious software behave rather differently from the regular software and sometimes will be deeply integrated into your Windows operating system. If you have an infected system, it is better to install some good antivirus software to clean and remove virus infections from your computer rather than doing a system restore.

Effects on Deleted Data

System Restore will certainly restore your system files and programs, but it is not a tool to recover your deleted files or data. The workings of the System Restore feature is entirely different from how data recovery software works. So never ever use the System Restore feature as an option to recover your files and data. If you ever want to recover your deleted data, it is recommended that you use some sort of data recovery program to get the job done.

That’s all there is to do, and hopefully the above points will give you a good idea of what System Restore can and cannot do in the process of restoring your Windows system.

Do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences or any other points I’ve missed.

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