Windows 11 System Restore is an excellent recovery tool, but it must be enabled before something bad happens for it to work.
System Restore has been a Windows feature that has been around for many years now and has made the leap to Windows 11. This feature creates snapshots of the current working states of the system, saving them as restore points that you can restore to when events occur unexpected events.
This feature is arguably one of the best Windows has to offer, but you need to activate it before something bad happens to take advantage of it. So how would you know if it's enabled on your Windows 11 computer? Let's find out.
How to check if System Restore is enabled on Windows 11
Unlike Windows 10, where the System Restore setting is part of the Advanced System Settings in the Control Panel, finding it on Windows 11 is much easier. Microsoft has integrated System Restore within the Settings app, allowing users to locate it without having to search for all the advanced settings on their system.
Here's how you can open System Restore to check if it's enabled:
- Open the Start menu and click on the app Settings. Alternatively, you can press the keys Win + I to open the Settings.
- From Settings, click System if it is not already open. Then, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select Informazioni su .
- On the About page, click System protection in the Related Links section. The System Properties window will open.
- From this window, check the Security Settings section. If you see off next to the main drive or any other drive you have, System Restore is disabled. Another indication that this feature is disabled is when you see the System Restore button at the top of the window greyed out. But if he says On , System Restore is enabled.
How to enable System Restore on Windows 11
Unfortunately, Windows 11 doesn't have System Restore enabled by default. So, if you are just hearing about System Restore now and want it to be enabled, follow the steps below to protect your computer from unexpected problems:
- On your Windows 11 computer, press the Start button and choose the app Settings. You can also open Settings by holding down the keys Windows + I.
- Click on System in the navigation bar on the left side if it is not already selected. Then, click Information found at the bottom of the page.
- In the Related Links section, click System protection to open the System Properties window.
- Look for the Security Settings section and select the main drive. Then click the button Configure .
- In the Restore Settings section, select the option Enable system protection . can also adjust the slider Maximum usage to decide how much space your Windows 11 system should reserve for restore points. Once you have finished configuring, click Apply and then OK .
- After completing the setup, System Restore is now enabled. This means that the system will automatically create a restore point when specific system changes occur or when system updates are installed.
If you have additional drives in your system, make sure you enable System Restore on those as well. All you need to do is follow steps five through eight for each of the other drives.
Note that System Restore is intended to undo changes and is not created as a backup solution. This means that this feature can only recover a PC with configuration issues and not when you accidentally delete files and folders.
That's why you need to keep a backup for your system so you don't end up with a deleted computer. If the restore points don't work, you may need to reset your computer to factory default settings to fix the problem.
