System Restore is a built-in tool that comes baked into Windows and offers the ability to take a snapshot of your current system state which is then saved as a “restore point” whenever your computer detects significant changes. If in case something goes wrong after installing updates, drivers, or apps, or after accidentally changing system settings in the registry, the system restore points can be used to restore your laptop or PC to a previous state.
That said, here’s a step-by-step Guide that explains everything from creating a System restore point to restoring your Windows 11 PC in case something goes wrong.
Step 1: Configuring System Restore Point
System Restor Point should be enabled by default, in case it’s not, here’s how you can create and configure a System Restore Point manually:
- Click on Start on your Windows 11 taskbar and search for Create a restore point and click the top result. This opens a System Properties page.
- On the System Properties page click on the Hard Drive partition that you want to create a System Restore Point for followed by Configure . [In most cases you will have to select (C:) (System) as this is where your Operating System is installed]
- Clicking on configure opens a System Protection window. In there click on “Turn on system protection” to enable System Restore, Additionally, you can use the Max usage slider to select how much maximum disk space is allocated for storing System Restore Points.
Step 2: Creating a System Restore Point
Although System Restore automatically creates a new restore point every week or when you install a system update/application, it’s still recommend that you try to create System Restore points before you make substantial changes to the registry or other system preferences as detailed in the steps below:
- In the system properties window that we opened in the very first step of this article click on the button that says Create. This should open a new Create a restore point dialog box.
- In the Create a restore point dialog box, type in the name for your restore point so you can remember it later and then click Create.
- Once you have created a system restore point it will notify you that it was created successfully, you can now click on Close.
Step 3: Using System Restore Point if Something Goes Wrong
Now that you know how you can enable and create a system restore point on your Windows 11 PC, let’s see how you can restore your system to an earlier stage in case something goes wrong:
- In the system properties window that we opened in the very first step of this article, click on System Restore.
- In the System Restore window that appears on the screen click Next to commence the restoration process.
- Now you will be prompted to select a restore point that you want to revert to. (In our case we will be selecting the one we created earlier).
- Once you’ve selected a sepcific Restore Point you can click on Scan for affected programs to view what changes were made just before the restore point was created, then click Next.
- Upon clicking on next you will be asked to Confirm your restore point you want to restore to. Once confirmed click on Finish to start the system restore process.
Your PC will now restart and start the restoration process which might take half an hour or more depending on your PC. Once completed you will be greeted with a window that says you’ve successfully restored your PC and you’re done.
