Windows 11 basics: how to use System Restore to go back in time

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A few years back, I was working as a freelancer for a company that was trying to develop a US market for its obscure hardware products and needed a native English speaker to modify the text on its website. I lost the ability to access my security software when I went to the site after my second week on the job and found weird ads on my screen.

I wanted to get rid of whatever had invaded my system so I wouldn't have to reset my PC. System Restore is what I used.

System Restore is a handy feature that takes a snapshot of your PC's software, registry, and driver configuration at a specific point in time. If necessary, you can return your PC to that point. You might lose some of the work you've done since you created that restore point, but you'd also lose any changes you made without your permission.

Related

Windows 10 basics: how to use System Restore

Although, in that particular case, the restore point worked for me, I have to admit that, most of the time, I didn't have a lot of success with restore points. System Restore seems to have improved as of Windows 10. This is how to use it with Windows 11.

Set up System Restore

To use System Restore, you have to make sure it is enabled.

• Interestingly, in Windows 11, System Restore doesn’t seem to be available from the regular Settings menu. Instead, the best way to find it is, according to Microsoft, to use the search icon in your taskbar and type in control panel. In the results, you’ll find the Control Panel app; select it.

• Those of us who have been around Windows for a while will immediately recognize the old-fashioned Control Panel, which is where you used to go for almost all Windows tweaks. Look for the search field at the top right and type in recovery.
• Select Recovery > Configure System Restore.

• This will bring up the System Properties window. You’ll be within the System Protection tab. If you’ve never used System Restore before, all of the buttons will be grayed out except Configure. Either way, make sure your available drive (usually the C: drive) is highlighted, and then click on Configure.

• Under Restore Settings, select Turn on system protection. If you want, you can select the maximum disk space that will be used for your restore points; after that, older ones will be deleted to make space. Usually, 1GB to 5GB is sufficient, depending on the size of your hard drive. Click OK.

• You’ll be back at the System Properties windows. It’s a good idea to create a new restore point immediately, so click on the Create... button.
• Name your restore point in the pop-up window, and click Create. After a minute or two, you should get another pop-up that says The restore point was created successfully. Click on Close.

You're done! When you install a new app or driver, and then manually create a restore point, keep in mind that new restore points are only created. There are ways to have your PC automatically create a restore point each time it boots up, but that involves working with the PC's registry; this article will only cover the basics.

Use a restore point

Let's say that you just installed a new game and then spread ads and other things throughout your system. It is time to use your restore point to get back to a time before you made that mistake.

Follow the instructions to get to the Control Panel.

• Select Open System Restore
• You’ll get a pop-up window titled Restore system files and settings. Click on Next.
• You’ll get a list of all the various restore points that have been created, including the date and time they were created, what they were named, and whether they were created manually. Choose which one you want to go back to.

• If you want to (and it’s a good idea), click on Scan for affected programs. This will give you a list of which programs will be deleted and which might be automatically restored. Close the window and then click on Next.

• The final confirmation window will list the restore point you’ve chosen, the drive it will affect, and a warning that if you’ve changed your Windows password recently, you might want to create a password reset disk using a USB drive. You will also get one more chance to scan for affected programs. Click on Finish to begin the process.