- Delete Old System Restore Points Windows 7
- Delete Restore Points Windows 10
- Delete System Image Restore Point
How-To Geek Forums / Windows 7
Deleting 'Unreacheable' System Restore Points
(29 posts)After deleting all deletable Win 7 system restore points, opening Win 7 System Restore shows just the latest restore point, which of course cannot be deleted:
But when I tickmark 'show more restore points' -- I see a bunch of really old 'system image restore points':
Clicking any of these old restore points, I simply get an error message saying they could not be found, and to select another restore point instead. Can someone tell me (1) how these restore points come about -- that they show up only upon ticking the 'show more restore points' box and (2) how to get rid of them? Thanks.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Delete-a-restore-point Follow the directions here.
Hi warlock:
I used the term 'unreachable' to describe those old points that can neither be accessed nor deleted by System Restore. In other words, the 'normal' delete procedure (as you linked above) does not work.
My first illustration showed only one restore point left -- that is after deleting all other restore points via Windows Restore. Your link above was successful in deleting even that one. But.. tickmarking 'see more restore points' -- all the old, 'unreachable' ones are still listed!
And being the anal sort, I very much want to clean those out.. somehow.
You have tried this then.
To delete all but the most recent restore point
1.Open Disk Cleanup by clicking the Start button . In the search box, type Disk Cleanup, and then, in the list of results, click Disk Cleanup.
1.Open Disk Cleanup by clicking the Start button . In the search box, type Disk Cleanup, and then, in the list of results, click Disk Cleanup.
2.If prompted, select the drive that you want to clean up, and then click OK.
3.In the Disk Cleanup for (drive letter) dialog box, click Clean up system files. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
4.If prompted, select the drive that you want to clean up, and then click OK.
5.Click the More Options tab, under System Restore and Shadow Copies, click Clean up.
6.In the Disk Cleanup dialog box, click Delete.
7.Click Delete Files, and then click OK.
Yep, I have. Disk cleanup can't reach or delete those old restore points either.
Curious, Warlock, can you open up your System Restore and see what your restore points are.. and then tickmark 'see more restore points' -- and tell me if that lengthens the list? And if then you click any of the additional ones -- whether you too get the error message that they could not be found? Because these additionally-listed points seem pointless to me if they cannot be used by System Restore..
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/5482/make-system-restore-use-less-space-in-windows-7/ Maybe something here will do it. If not, your previous attempts may have put a glitch in it.
No, I dialed the slider button all the way to the left, and clicked delete -- and all the old points are still there -- laughing at me! My hunch is that the images are really no longer there anymore.. but just that the listing can't be cleared for some reason. Sigh..
Thanks anyway, and I certainly appreciate your trying. But can you read the 5th post down, give it a try, and tell me what you find?
Delete Old System Restore Points Windows 7
I did try, I have numerous points dating back fro 11/19/2012. How did you delete the restore points to begin with?
https://www.howtogeek.com/129188/htg-explains-what-are-shadow-copies-and-how-can-i-use-them-to-copy-or-backup-locked-files/ This is a possibility of what you are seeing. Not sure though.
'I did try, I have numerous points dating back fro 11/19/2012. How did you delete the restore points to begin with?'
But were they all on the list -- or were there more added after you tick 'show more points'? Wondering about the latter..
I have deleted restore points via Windows Restore panel and also Disk Cleanup. NOTHING can get rid of those old mysterious points dating back to 2011.
Did you read the shadow copy link I gave you above? I think that maybe what you are seeing.
Also, read through this. Not recommending it just FYI.
Run this command and it will tell you what restore points you really have:
VSSADMIN LIST SHADOWSTORAGE
I am not having any luck following that piece..
o I downloaded MountLatestShowdowCoyp.bat file, placed it in the c:windows directory, and ran it
o I ran command prompt as administrator
o I typed MountLatestShadowCopy /? at the c:windows prompt
o I got 'not recognized as an internal or external command.
o same result typing MountLatestShadowCopy C:LatestShadow C:
o I ran command prompt as administrator
o I typed MountLatestShadowCopy /? at the c:windows prompt
o I got 'not recognized as an internal or external command.
o same result typing MountLatestShadowCopy C:LatestShadow C:
@whs:
That command got me somewhere..
Delete Restore Points Windows 10
Shadow Copy Storage association
For volume: (C:)?Volume{66477fab-91b6-11e0-b62d-806e6f6e6963}
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)?Volume{66477fab-91b6-11e0-b62d-806e6f6e6963}
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 B (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 B (0%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 30 GB (10%)
For volume: (C:)?Volume{66477fab-91b6-11e0-b62d-806e6f6e6963}
Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)?Volume{66477fab-91b6-11e0-b62d-806e6f6e6963}
Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 B (0%)
Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 B (0%)
Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 30 GB (10%)
As expected, there is no shadow copy because (as above) -- I have deleted even the most recent one, using warlock's strategy. And Windows Recovery confirms as much.
BUT, again, once I tickmark 'show more recovery points' -- those old ones still show up! As I suspect, there really are no images -- but somehow, they show up on the listing (second illustration in my original post), and I can't get rid of them..
Sorry I gave you the command for the total shadowstorage - my bad. For the individual restore points the command is:
VSSADMIN LIST SHADOWS
With this clarified, I would not worry about those old points showing up. There are probably some lost junctions floating around. Eventually they will disappear with some disk cleanup.
whs:
I got 'no items found'.
I have done all sorts of disk cleanup using Microsoft, CCleaner, and Wise Cleaner -- all to no avail. Those old, unreachable points taunt me every day.
I'd try a variation of this:
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-system-restore-in-windows-vista/
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-system-restore-in-windows-vista/
Make restore storage zero, reboot, and then turn it off completely.
Hi Scott:
Storage cannot be made to zero -- 1% is the lowest it will go. However, I did turn off the entire system restore feature -- rebooted -- set up system restore again -- and lo and behold -- the listing is exactly the same as it was -- except those old restore points are laughing even harder now. Sigh..
The lowest you can go with the shadowstorage is 300MB. The command is:
vssadmin resize shadowstorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=300MB
Just out of curiosity, did you back up the full images to an external ?
Yes, I have performed image backup's to my external drive -- but not using Windows Backup/Restore. I use EaseUS instead. And in any case, these backup's have completely different dates from what's shown on the list shown in my first post.
Grasping here before I bring out the bigguns ;)
Similar to last night's idea:
“…I would try running cleanmgr with
full admin rights. Rightclick a Command Prompt icon, and 'run as
administrator', then at the prompt:
start cleanmgr ”
full admin rights. Rightclick a Command Prompt icon, and 'run as
administrator', then at the prompt:
start cleanmgr ”
Via http://www.vistaheads.com/forums/microsoft-public-windows-vista-general/212662-disk-cleanup-vista-64-bit-not-deleting-older-restore-points.html
Sadly, the big gun didn't work. All nine of the old restore points are laughing hysterically.. :(
Have you tried using a third-party utility, such as CCleaner ?
Open CCleaner and select 'Tools' from the menu on the right.
Select 'System Restore' and you will see a list of all your restore points.
If those phantom restore appear in the list, highlight them one at a time and click on the 'remove' function at the bottom.
After you have removed all the offending restore points, I would suggest you close CCleaner and then reboot your computer.
Once you have rebooted, open System Restore and see if they are still on the list - and also if they are still 'seen' by CCleaner. If they have not been removed, the issue could possibly be somewhere in the registry - although I'm not sure where in the registry you would find the strings for the restore points - or if it's even there at all.
Hope this helps.
Hi Straspey:
CCleaner can't see those 'phantom' restore points, and thus can't delete them..
Topic Closed
This topic has been closed to new replies.
If you use the System Restore function in Windows 10 occasionally to revert your operating system to the last known stable point when it was working correctly, you might be interested in deleting a restore point to regain disk drive space. In this article, we will see how it can be done.
RECOMMENDED: Click here to fix Windows errors and optimize system performance
System Restore isn't a new feature of Windows 10. This technology was introduced in 2000 with Windows Millenium Edition. It allows you to roll back the installed operating system to the previous state. System Restore creates restore points which keep a complete state of Registry settings, drivers and various system files. The user can roll back the operating system to one of the restore points if Windows 10 becomes unstable or unbootable.
Here are some System Restore-related topics of interest:
Ensure that your user account has administrative privileges before proceeding.
To delete a system restore point in Windows 10, do the following.
- Open an elevated command prompt.
- Type or copy-paste the following command:
vssadmin list shadows
In the output, you will see the list of restore points available on your device. - To delete a specific restore point, type the following command:
vssadmin delete shadows /Shadow={shadow copy ID}
Substitute the {shadow copy ID} portion with the appropriate value from the previous step. For example, the command can look as follows:vssadmin delete shadows /Shadow={0bf10824-d71f-47c4-b942-343396d8f1f1}
To delete all restore points in Windows 10, do the following.
- Press Win + R keys together on the keyboard. The Run dialog will appear. Type the following in the Run box:
- The System Properties dialog will appear with the System Protection tab active. Click the Configure button to open the following window:
- Here, click the Delete button.
- In the next dialog, click 'Continue' to confirm the operation. This will remove all the restore points.
Alternatively, you can use the vssadmin console tool, as follows.
- Open an elevated command prompt.
- To delete all restore points, type the following command:
vssadmin delete shadows /all
Confirm the operation and you are done.
Tip: You can delete your restore points without prompting by adding the /quiet command line argument to the command above. The command will look as follows.
vssadmin delete shadows /all /quiet
To delete all but the most recent system restore point in Windows 10, do the following.
- Open Disk Cleanup in System Files mode (as administrator). Tip: See how to open an app as administrator.
- Select the drive for which you wish to clean up all but the most recent restore point.
- Switch to the 'More Options' tab.
- Under System Restore and Shadow Copies section, click the Clean up.. button and then confirm the action by pressing the Delete button.
- Now you can click Cancel to close Disk Cleanup without performing the rest of the Disk Cleanup unless you want to do so.
That's it.
RECOMMENDED: Click here to fix Windows errors and optimize system performance
Are you running out of hard disk space even after clearing out the temporary folder and other junk files? You may consider lowering the disk space allotted to System Restore or delete the System Restore snapshots which includes previous versions of files. Upgrading the hard disk is the ultimate solution though.
Deleting all System Protection Points
Cleaning up the System Protection points may sometimes be necessary during malware removal or when the hard disk is low on space.
- Press WinKey + R to bring up the Run dialog.
- Type
sysdm.cpl
and click OK. - Select the System Protection tab.
- In the System Protection options, select a drive-letter and click Configure
- Click Delete, and click Continue when prompted.
- Click OK, OK.
Deleting all but the most recent System Protection point
To delete all the restore points except the most recent one, use Disk Cleanup:
- Start Disk Cleanup (
cleanmgr.exe
) - Select the drive-letter from the list and click OK
- Click Clean up system files. This restarts Disk Cleanup to run in elevated mode.
- Select the drive-letter from the list and click OK
- Click the More Options tab
- Click the Clean up button under System Restore and Shadow Copies.
- Click OK.
This deletes all restore points except the most recent one, and thus potentially reducing the size of the System Volume Information folder.
Deleting a particular Restore Point
Windows allows you to delete a particular restore point programmatically, or using the
Vssadmin.exe
console tool (run from elevated Command Prompt). Here is the command-line arguments supported by Vssadmin.exe
ParameterDescription
/for=<ForVolumeSpec> | Specifies the volume for which the shadow copy is to be deleted. |
/oldest | Deletes only the oldest shadow copy. |
/all | Deletes all of the shadow copies for the specified volume. |
/shadow=<ShadowID> | Deletes the shadow copy specified by ShadowID. To get the shadow copy ID, use the vssadmin list shadows command. When you type a shadow copy ID, use the following format, where each X represents a hexadecimal character: |
/quiet | Specifies that the command will not display messages while it is running. |
One small request: If you liked this post, please share this?
One 'tiny' share from you would seriously help a lot with the growth of this blog.Some great suggestions:- Pin it!
- Share it to your favorite blog + Facebook, Reddit
- Tweet it!
For a detailed information, check out post How to Delete Individual System Restore Points in Windows? which discusses a couple of methods to delete restore points selectively.
You'd like to read these articles:
About the author
Ramesh Srinivasan founded Winhelponline.com back in 2005. He is passionate about Microsoft technologies and has a vast experience in Windows — delivering support for Microsoft's consumer products. He has been a Microsoft MVP (2003-2012) who contributes to various Windows support forums. Pola papercraft spongebob costume.
If you are making good use of the system restore feature in Windows, then you realize that all the restore points are taking up a lot of storage space in your hard disk. The good thing is you can easily delete system restore points as needed to gain back lost space.
Delete All Old System Restore Points at Once
Delete System Image Restore Point
Windows provides an option to quickly delete all but recent restore points. However, this option is buried deep and you may not find it unless you know where to look.
To delete all old restore points, search for “Disk Cleanup” in the Start menu and open it.
The above action will open the Disk Cleanup utility. Select “Primary (C:)” from the drop-down menu and click on the “OK” button.
Click on the “Clean up system files” button. Since the restore points are system files, you cannot see them unless you choose to clean up the system files.
This action will re-open the cleanup wizard. Select the C drive and click on the “OK” button.
You will see a new “More Options” tab in the window. Navigate to the new tab and click on the “Clean up” button under “System Restore and Shadow Copies” section.
In the confirmation window, click on the “Delete” button. As soon as you do, Windows will delete all the old restore points while keeping the recent ones.
Delete Old System Restore Points Individually
If you’d rather pick and choose which restore points to delete, you can do that too. Since Windows has no specific option to delete individual restore points, we are going to use a free and lightweight third-party tool called System Restore Explorer. Download and install it like any other software.
After installing, launch it by searching for it in the Start menu. As soon as you launch it you will see all restore points. By default, the software will hide the restore points created in the last five days. If you want to see them, uncheck the “Hide restore points created in the last 5 days” checkbox.
The good thing about this software is that you can mount the restore points and see what’s in them. It’s very useful if you want to recover files or folders. To mount a restore point, select it from the list and click on the “Mount” button.
The above action will mount the restore point and open it in the File Explorer. You can explore it like any other drive or folder.
Once you are done with that, click on the “Unmount” button to unmount the mounted restore point.
To delete a restore point, simply select it from the list and click on the “Delete” button.
Click on the “Yes” button in the confirmation window and you are done.
As you can see from the below image, deleting a restore point freed up around 5Gb of space.
Alternatively, if you are using CCleaner then you don’t have to install any other software. Open CCleaner with admin rights and navigate to “Tools -> System Restore.” Here you can select and delete any individual restore points as needed. However, you will miss the “Mount” feature provided by System Restore Explorer.
Do comment below sharing your thoughts and experiences about using the above methods to delete old restore points in Windows.
The Complete Windows 10 Customization Guide
In this ebook we’ll be exploring the multitude of options to fully customize Windows 10. By the end of this ebook you’ll know how to make Windows 10 your own and become an expert Windows 10 user.