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.​

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Stop_XP.reg​

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B) Go to step 3.​

2. To Restore Default Settings in XP​

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

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Restore_Default_Settings.reg​

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

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

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5. Approve the merge when prompted.​

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6. Restart XP to apply the changes.​

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

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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.​

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

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

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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices​

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4. To Stop XP from Deleting Restore Points​

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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 )​

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B) Type Offline and press Enter.​

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

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

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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.​

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

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

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

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

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I) Go to step 6.​

5. To Restore the Default XP Settings​

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

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B) Click on Yes to confirm the deletion.​

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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.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• 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]

Hi

I have just installed windows 7 64bit, tried the regedit fix in the registry for Windows XP to stop XP from deleting the restore points but I am not having any joy.

I have x 3 Disks on my system a 500gb disc partioned into 5 sectors with x 2 Windows XP systems one for web browsing and another non internet XP system for running audio programmes such as Cubase. Another 80GB disc which is just a back up space and a new 1TB Dish drive

I have installed Windows 7 on a new 1TB harddrive and as a result in shows on Drive L: in Windows XP installation for My Computer. I have created the offline key in mounted devices and the then created the D-word entry \DosDevices\L: The only thing was when I created the d-word entry I did not have the option to create a 32bit value only a D-word entry in regedit. Also the offline key shows as a folder rather than the "green play" type button as show in the graphic for the tutorial.

Have tried x 3 times with no joy.

Maybe I have missed something but would appreciate anybodys input / help

Hello Bradford, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Sorry, the green play button was just a custom icon I used to help indicate a opened key better. It is indeed a folder by default.

Did you also delete \DosDevices\L: in MountedDevices (step 4A)?

If you did all of the steps exactly in the turorial and still does not prevent XP from deleting Windows 7's restore points, then you could also turn on Bitlocker for the Windows 7 partition while in Windows 7 and not in XP if you have a Windows 7 Ultimate edition installed. Bitlocker will also prevent XP from being able to access the Windows 7 partition and stop XP from deleting the restore points.

 

[brapford]

Brink

Thanks for replying, yes I deleted the \DosDevices\L: as the first stepas per your guide.I'm right in thinking I had to do this when signed into XP and using reg edit in windows XP and not in windows 7.

I had wondered whether the D-Value issue ? and that in windows XP when I create the D-value its not shown as a 32 bit value as in your screen grab?XP has been on the system as dual XP boot for sometime and then I added Windows 7 on the new drive yesterday.

Unfortunately I only have Windows Home Premium so bit locker is not an option, so I'm a bit stumped at the moment..

 

[Brink]

Hmm, ok.

The "DWORD (32-bit) Value" is only in Vista or Windows 7. You will not see it in XP, but see "DWORD value" instead.

I'm assuming that you applied this in both installed copies of XP. Afterwards, did you create a restore point in Windows 7, check to make sure it's there, restart the computer to XP, then restart the computer to Windows 7 to see if the restore point is still there?

 

[brapford]

Brink

Thanks for clearing up the D-Word issue.

I had only added the registry entry to the web browsing installation and made a restore point in Windows 7 which then got deleted when I booted up the web install of XP.

Would the fact that I had not made an entry into the audio installation of XP delete restore points in Windows 7 even though i had not properly booted into this installation case Windows 7 system restores to be deleted?

regards


brapford

 

[Brink]

I had only added the registry entry to the web browsing installation and made a restore point in Windows 7 which then got deleted when I booted up the web install of XP.

At step 4A in Option Two, you would also need to delete \DosDevices\L: if it's listed in the MountedDevices key.
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Would the fact that I had not made an entry into the audio installation of XP delete restore points in Windows 7 even though i had not properly booted into this installation case Windows 7 system restores to be deleted?

I wouldn't think so since you didn't boot to that XP, but it wouldn't hurt to do it to this XP installations as well as a test to help rule it out as a cause.
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[brapford]

Brink

Managed to get it to work!

As things were not working beforehand and I had multiple disk drives I had hidden/disabled the new windows 7 drive from the older x 2 XP installations in systems manager/hardware for both XP installs so as they would not delete any windows 7 system restores.

I then reinput the necessary regedit entries in both XP installs and then renabled the the new drive in both older xp installs and hey presto whilst the L drive is listed in mycomputer you cannot see any data for it and both and system restores are saving fine in windows7.

The only issue I have now is somehting that has been mentioned on an earlier forum to do with the intel PCI Simple Communications Controller to run the intel desktop utilities in windows 7. will post something on the forum for that

PCI Simple Communications Controller - Windows 7 Forums

thanks again!


brapford

 

[Brink]

That's great news Brapford. I'm happy to hear that you got this issue sorted. Hopefully we'll be bale to help get the next one sorted over at SevenForums.

 

[Darkforce002]

every time I do the 2nd option, Xp resets the registery, so the Partition with Windows 7 in it still shows up. what do I do now?

 

[Brink]

Hello Darkforce, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Double check through the steps to see if you may have made a mistake somewhere.

Are you currently having a user profile error, or logged into a temporary profile?

 

[Darkforce002]

Well I turned off my computer for awhile to get some fresh air, and I booted into Xp and logged in and I went to my computer and now instead of having one partition named "Acer" (C: ) and another named "Local Disk" (D: ) I have 2 named "Local Disk" and the C: one has 0 bytes.

 

[Brink]

Double check through the steps to see if you may have made a mistake somewhere. You shouldn't have the Vista partition showing in Computer.

 

[Darkforce002]

Will I found out my system restore points are not being deleted anymore, I guess that the fake C drive (because when Ichecked it's properties it says 0 bytes free and 0 bytes used) is preventing Xp from deleting win7's system restore points.

 

[Brink]

That's great news.

 

[simrick]

That's great news.

Brink, I wonder if I might add to this old thread. I have a Vista HP 32-bit dual booting with W8 and had the same restore point problem - and your solution worked!! What a life saver! However, I also have an XP Pro dual boot with W8 and I can't use the solution: when in the XP OS, the partition with W8 is not showing in MyComputer, so I can't identify it, to add something to the registry. Might you have any ideas for me? or, point me in the right direction please? Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Brink]

Hello Simrick, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I've noticed that with Windows 8, it's also best to make sure that each OS is set to not have System Protection turned on for the other OS, and not for any same drives.

For example, in Windows 8, make sure that System Protection is only turned on for the Windows 8 drive, and not for the XP drive. You would also not want to have System Protection turned on for the same drive in both Windows 8 and XP at the same time.

 

[simrick]

Hello Simrick, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I've noticed that with Windows 8, it's also best to make sure that each OS is set to not have System Protection turned on for the other OS, and not for any same drives.

For example, in Windows 8, make sure that System Protection is only turned on for the Windows 8 drive, and not for the XP drive. You would also not want to have System Protection turned on for the same drive in both Windows 8 and XP at the same time.

Hi Brink. Thanks so much for your fast reply. I did as you suggested and turned off the system restore for the XP partition in the W8 OS. I also figured out that I had to "assign" a drive letter to the W8 partition (whilst in the XP OS) before I could do the registry hack and tell XP not to mount it. It appears to have worked! Thanks - you're the best!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome simrick. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[rdwray]

No doubt this works, but also blocks access to the drive listed in "Offline", how to I get around that?

 

[Brink]

Hello rdwray,

If you like, you could turn it back online in Disk Management while you need it, but just be sure to turn if back offline when finished to prevent the restore points from being wiped out.

 

[rdwray]

Hello rdwray,

If you like, you could turn it back online in Disk Management while you need it, but just be sure to turn if back offline when finished to prevent the restore points from being wiped out.

If I get this right: I can re-enable the access to the drives with Disk Management and not lose the restore point; question, it there a way to run a program (.reg) on shutdown to automatically change the registry setting?