System Restore Points - Stop XP Dual Boot Delete

How to Stop System Restore Points from being Deleted in Vista and Windows 7 when Dual Booting with XP​

   Information

When you are dual booting XP with Vista and/or Windows 7, this will show you how to stop XP from deleting all of the System Restore Points and Shadow Copies in Vista and Windows 7 everytime you start XP.

You must be logged in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

For more information, see also:

• Microsoft Help and Support: KB926185
• System Restore "restore points" are missing or deleted

   Note

In Vista and Windows 7, shadow copies are used to maintain System Restore Points. Additionally, shadow copies are used to maintain Complete PC Backup files. Therefore, when you access the volume from an earlier operating system (XP), it will delete all restore points and all except the most recent versions of Complete PC Backup files in Vista and Windows 7.

   Tip

This problem occurs because the volume snapshot driver that is included with Vista and Windows 7 uses disk structures that are incompatible with earlier versions of Windows. Therefore, the earlier operating system deletes Vista and Windows 7 shadow copies with the associated restore points. This behavior occurs because the earlier Windows operating systems do not recognize the new disk structures.

   Warning

This does not actually fix the problem. It is a workaround that will stop XP from deleting the restore points and shadow copies. After you restart XP, you will not be able to access the volume Vista and/or Windows 7 is on from XP. However, you can still access the volume that XP is on from Vista and Windows 7.

It has been reported that some 3rd party disk defragmentation programs could also delete your restore points when used.

OPTION ONE

Using a REG File Download

   Warning

This needs to be done in XP, not in Vista or Windows 7. This download assumes that Vista or Windows 7 is installed on the D: drive as the second OS. If this is not true for you, or you need to add another drive to be hidden from XP, then do OPTION TWO below to do this manually with the drive letter that your Vista or Windows 7 is installed on instead.

1. To Stop XP from Deleting Restore Points ​

A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below.​

​

Stop_XP.reg​

​

​

B) Go to step 3.​

2. To Restore Default Settings in XP​

​

A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below.​

​

Restore_Default_Settings.reg​

​

​

3. Click on Save, and save the .reg file to the Desktop.​

​

4. Right click on the downloaded .reg file and click on Merge.​

​

5. Approve the merge when prompted.​

​

6. Restart XP to apply the changes.​

​

7. When done, you can delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.​

​

OPTION TWO

Manually Through Registry Editor

   Warning

This needs to be done in XP, not in Vista or Windows 7.

1. Open the Start Menu, click on My Computer to open it, then make note of the drive letter for the Vista and/or Windows 7 installation that you wan to prevent XP from seeing to prevent their restore points from being deleted.​

​

2. Open the Start Menu, click on Run to open it,, then type regedit and press Enter.​

​

3. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)​

​

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices​

​

​

4. To Stop XP from Deleting Restore Points​

​

A) In the left pane, right click on MountedDevices and click on New and Key.​

NOTE: If you already have the Offline key under MountedDevices, then skip this step and go to step 4C. (see screenshot below step 4C )​

​

B) Type Offline and press Enter.​

​

C) In the right pane of Offline, right click on a empty area and click on New and DWORD Value. (see screenshot below)​

​

​

D) Type \DosDevices\D: and press Enter. (see screenshot below step 4F)​

​

NOTE: While in XP, if your Vista or Windows 7 is not showing as being on the D: drive in Computer, then substitute D: with the drive letter that it is shown to be on instead. For example, if it is shown to be on the E: drive, then type \DosDevices\E: instead. Repeat this step if you wish to hide another drive letter from XP.​

​

E) In the right pane, right click on \DosDevices\D: and click on Modify.​

​

​

F) Type 1, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)​

​

​

G) The registry should now look like this. (see screenshot below)​

​

​

​

H) Repeat steps 4C to 4G for any other drive letter that you want to prevent them from being seen by XP.​

​

I) Go to step 6.​

5. To Restore the Default XP Settings​

​

A) In the right pane of Offline, right click on \DosDevices\D:, and click on Delete. (see screenshot below step 4H)​

​

B) Click on Yes to confirm the deletion.​

​

C) Repeat step 5 for any other listed drive letter that you would like XP to be able to see again.​

6. Restart XP to apply the changes.​

​

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Create a System Restore Shortcut in Vista
• How to Create a System Restore Point in Vista
• How to Undo the Last System Restore in Vista
• How to Do a System Restore in Vista
• How to Change the System Restore Disk Space Usage in Vista
• How to Turn System Restore On or Off in Vista
• How to Create a Create System Restore Point Shortcut in Vista
• How to Make a "Create System Restore Point" Shortcut in XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Add "Create Restore Point" to Context Menu in XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Change the Default Boot Partition in Vista
• How to Create a Complete Computer Backup and Restore Image in Vista
• How to Change the Automatic System Restore Point Settings in Vista Task Scheduler
• How to Enable or Disable Create Vista System Restore Point when New Device Driver is Installed
• How to Enable or Disable Create Vista System Restore Point when a Application is Installed
• How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP
• How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows Vista and XP
• How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista

 

[Brink]

Strange, I'll have to do some testing and keep an eye on this over at Seven Forums to see if anyone else reports this as well.

Test hiding the Windows 7's from each other to see if that stops the restore points from being deleted.

 

[Dxvid]

This solution worked fine when I had two separate hard disks with XP on one and Vista on the other. But now I have the disks in raid 0 it doesn't seem to work. Does a raid 0 setup need different settings?

 

[Brink]

Hello David,

I haven't tried in a RAID setup, but I would think that as long as you hid the Vista partition letter in XP, that it would still work.

 

[Dxvid]

Yes I have hidden the Vista letter but it's not working and I can also access Vista folders from XP My Computer, which shouldn't be happening either.

It's a strange one - but thanks for your help.

 

[Brink]

Strange, may be a glitch in the RAID drivers.

 

[f4racer]

Hi Brink, Thanks to your excellent tutorials I decided to take the plunge and go dual boot with 7 and XP. Everything seems to be working well, except for XP deleting restore points in 7. 7 is installed in a primary partition on HD 1 along with 4 logical partitions in an extended partition. XP is installed in a primary partition on HD 2. I've done Option 2 with the registry edit, but can still access all the other partitions on HD 1. Any help you can give me would be most appreciated. Thank you. Jim

 

[Brink]

Hello Jim, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Double check to make sure that you did this in XP and not in Windows7, and that you used the correct drive letter of the Windows 7 drive as it shows in XP.

 

[f4racer]

Yep, I did it in the XP registry. In 7 HD2 shows as H drive, while in XP it shows as D drive. I tried to stop XP from accessing any of the other partitions, with no luck so far. I even tried shutting off system restore in XP and 7, except for C drive in 7.
Jim

 

[Brink]

Jim,

It appears as Windows 7 was installed first, but how did you setup and install your dual boot? I'll see if I can do some testing using the same way you set it up to see what I can find.

 

[f4racer]

Yes, 7 was installed first, then I installed XP on HD 2. After XP installed I booted into 7 by changing the boot order in the bios, ran EasyBCD 2.0, then booted into XP and tried Option 1, but that didn't seem to do anything, so I went with Option 2 and edited the registry. Hope that helps...

 

[Brink]

Ok Jim,

After some testing, I see that the Windows 7 C: drive letter will still show up in XP, but when you open it in XP's Computer window, it will just be blank and inaccessible after you used the tutorial to "Stop XP" from seeing it. Normally you would be able to open the Windows 7 drive letter and explorer it if it was not stopped in XP with this tutorial.

 

[f4racer]

Well dang, I must be doing something wrong then. Not only can I open all the folders, I can also edit stuff in them..Maybe I should delete the registry entries and do them again.

 

[Brink]

Strange. Did you restart XP afterwards?

 

[f4racer]

Yep, I've restarted XP many times since then. I did notice that indexing was enabled on all the drives, so I turned it off on every drive but XP. Don't know if that would do anything, but just in case...
I then deleted the registry entries, rebooted, entered them again, rebooted and...WOO HOO!
I can see the drives, but they appear empty, just like you said they should. To make sure I booted into 7, created a restore, booted into XP, then booted back into 7 and it was still there.
I can't thank you enough for helping me sort this out. Whatever they're paying you, it ain't enough!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Jim. Must have just been a mistake somewhere the first time. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

 

[f4racer]

I think I'll call it "The Case Of The Missing Colon".
Seems that when I did it the first time I entered \DosDevices\C instead of \DosDevices\C:...etc.
What's that saying about knowing just enough to get yourself in trouble?
Anyway keep up the good work.

 

[Brink]

LOL

 

[Ex_Brit]

Sorry to wake up an old thread, but is there any danger of Virtual XP doing the same? I ask because I have Virtual XP in Virtual PC (not on a virtual drive however) on my Win 7 test partition M: and it may be just a coincidence but all my restore points from Vista on C: and D: and Win 7 on L: and M: disappeared.

However, in Virtual XP all it sees is its own drive (which it labels C and a totally fictitious removable A: drive that I don't even have.

So it would be difficult to tell it to ignore something it doesn't officially see in the first place.

As I said I didn't give XP a virtual drive, I simply installed VPC and then XP SP3.

Just curious as to anyone's thoughts on this.

 

[Brink]

Hello Peter,

I would think that since the XP VM didn't see your Vista or Windows 7 installations that it shouldn't be deleting you restore points as well.

If you manually create a restore point in Vista and Windows 7, do they get wiped out soon after you start the XP VM?

 

[Ex_Brit]

Thanks, that's what I thought. You're right, once I created some restore points they stuck. It must have been my file cleanups that were to blame.

I had never played around with virtual-anything until now so am a bit unfamilar with it, but I must say, it's nice to have XP back again, even if it's hiding inside one of my Win 7's!
:D