Protect system restore files

After Microsoft's latest forced update, 1903, I discovered that all my previous system restore files had been wiped out. Is there any way of hiding, or protecting, or backing up system restore files?

dangnad2 said:

After Microsoft's latest forced update, 1903, I discovered that all my previous system restore files had been wiped out. Is there any way of hiding, or protecting, or backing up system restore files?

That is normal after any Feature Update. The system restore points would (if allowed to be restored) restore parts of the previous version of windows. That would undoubtedly break your system. That would be like restoring a Windows 7 restore point after upgrading to Windows 10. It can't possibly work, so the old restore points are deleted whenever you upgrade to the next version of Windows..

That makes absolutely no sense, Bree. Restoring to a point before a Windows 10 feature update is in no way analogous to going back to a previous version of Windows such as 7 from 10. That requires re-installation of the operating system.

The reason Microsoft wipes out all restore points is because they don't want us to go back to a previous build. That is why they force updates on us. They have found new ways to mine our data and they don't want us nullifying that new capability.

Contrary to what you say, it is the updates that break our systems. It is a nasty game by the Microsoft monopoly. They can do whatever they want with our "private" computers. They own us, lock, stock, and barrel.

I was looking for a way to backup system restore files. I suppose a mirror image would work.

What @Bree said makes a great deal of sense. System Restore was not designed to restore to a previous build and it would not work. For that reason it is not supported.

In the interests of keeping restore points to a reasonable size and allowing them to be made reasonably fast System Restore has some limitations. Nobody knows this better than Microsoft. It can tolerate only relatively small changes. Within these limitations System Restore is useful. But a major update is far to large to accommodate. A restore point that could tolerate this would be huge, and even then the risks would be high.

If you want the ability to restore to a previous build you need to make an image backup. If you really wanted to you could go back multiple builds if you have the backup files.

dangnad2 said:

That makes absolutely no sense, Bree. Restoring to a point before a Windows 10 feature update is in no way analogous to going back to a previous version of Windows such as 7 from 10. That requires re-installation of the operating system.

But a Feature Update IS an installation of a complete new operating system. This should be clear from the 15-20GB Windows.old folder it creates to hold the old system, should you wish to go back to it. The 3-4GB it downloads to do the upgrade should be a clue too.