Warning: System Restore Disabled After 1809 Upgrade

Stigg · 03 Oct 2018

Something that I just noticed after upgrading to Windows 10 1809, is that System Restore has been disabled on all my computers.

It would be wise to check your Local Disk (C:) System drive is turned on with the default 15% usage.
That's assuming that you use System Restore.

Turn On or Off System Protection for Drives in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

From what I know so far, this seems to only apply to computers that are updated via Windows Update.
If you use the Windows 10 Update Tool, then it doesn't turn it off.

Bree · 03 Oct 2018

Stigg said:

From what I know so far, this seems to only apply to computers that are updated via Windows Update.
If you use the Windows 10 Update Tool, then it doesn't turn it off.

That may well be the reason why some report System Restore gets turned off, while it never has been on any machine I've upgraded. (to 1809 or earlier versions). I always use the Media Creation Tool to make the ISO then upgrade using that

ignatzatsonic · 03 Oct 2018

Stigg:

Thanks for that. I upgraded to build 17763.1 yesterday. I just checked and saw that System Restore had been turned off, with all prior restore points deleted. I guess that explains why the occupied space on C had declined from 41 to 31 GB.

I assume that most or all of the registry has been replaced. I specifically noticed that I now see "This PC" in the Explorer tree, which means my earlier regedit to remove it was no longer effective and had to be redone.

That's understandable, although I don't recall it happening when I moved to 1803.

bbinnard · 03 Oct 2018

I had the same experience as ignatz - System Restore was turned off and there were no Restore Points left. To fix this I just turned it back on and created a Restore Point. CCleaner (for all it's woes I still use Ver. 5.46.6652 with no problem) verified the new restore point was created OK.

Stigg · 03 Oct 2018

Bree said:

That may well be the reason why some report System Restore gets turned off, while it never has been on any machine I've upgraded. (to 1809 or earlier versions). I always use the Media Creation Tool to make the ISO then upgrade using that

On one of my computers, Windows Update didn't see 1809, so I used the Media Creation Tool, and chose the upgrade option. System Restore stayed on. All my other computers were updated via Windows Update, and all those had System Restore turned off.

cereberus · 03 Oct 2018

Peversely, it was turned ON for me and I always turn that garbage off favouring Macrium Reflect backups.

Stigg · 04 Oct 2018

cereberus said:

Peversely, it was turned ON for me and I always turn that garbage off favouring Macrium Reflect backups.

I use both System Restore and weekly Image for Windows and Reflect backups.

JohnBurns · 05 Oct 2018

Stigg said:

I use both System Restore and weekly Image for Windows and Reflect backups.

! I feel too much protection is better than too little.

VBF · 06 Oct 2018

OOI, System Restore has been turned off on my systems after every Feature Update since the Anniversary Update. It's in my checklist of things to do after updates.

Stigg · 06 Oct 2018

Obviously, a good reliable image application is essential when stored on another internal or external drive, but I find sometimes that instead of re-imaging your system that System Restore is sufficient and works just fine for me for general resets. It's a lot more reliable on Windows 10 than with previous Windows versions. If it fails, there is always your images to fall back to.