System Restore Task - Change Automatic Restore Point Schedule

How to Change the Automatic System Restore Point Settings in Vista Task Scheduler​

   Information

By default System Restore is scheduled to create a restore point at 12 AM every day (Daily trigger) and at every system startup (At startup trigger) in Task Scheduler if any system changes were made from the last time it checked. This will show you how to change these schedule settings, or disable one or both triggers.

   Warning

System Restore will need to be turned on for this scheduled task to be able to run.

Here's How:

1. Open the Start Menu.​

A) In the white line (Start Search) area, type taskschd.msc and press Enter.​

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B) Go to step 3.​

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OR​

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2. Open the Control Panel (Classic view).​

A) Click on the Administrative Tools Icon.​

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B) Click on Task Scheduler.​

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3. Click on Continue in the UAC Prompt.​

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4. In the left pane click on the triangle next to Task Scheduler Library, Microsoft, and Windows to expand the folder tree. (See screenshot below step 5)​

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5. Click on the SystemRestore folder.​

A) Choose a option or options below to do.​

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OPTION ONE

To Disable or Enable this Task Completely

6. To Disable this Task Completely -​

NOTE: This will disable both the Daily (OPTION TWO) and At startup (OPTION THREE) triggers regardless of how they are set individually. You will not have anymore automatic restore points created with this task disabled. You can still manually create a restore point though. For how, see: How to Create a System Restore Point in Vista​

A) In the middle pane, right click on the SR task and click on Disable. (See screenshot below step 5)​

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B) Go to step 22.​

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7. To Enable this Task Completely -​

NOTE: Check to make sure that each Daily (step 12 in OPTION TWO) and At startup (step 17 in OPTION THREE) trigger is also set as Enabled.​

A) In the middle pane, right click on the SR task and click on Enable. (See screenshot below step 5)​

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B) Continue to OPTION TWO.​

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OPTION TWO

To Change Only the Daily Trigger Settings

NOTE: You will need to have the task enabled in step 7 to use this trigger. This is the trigger that creates a restore point at 12 AM every day by default. If you do not want to change these settings, then continue to OPTION THREE.​

8. In the middle pane, right click on the SR task and click on Properties. (See screenshot below step 5)​

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9. Click on the Triggers tab. (See screenshot below step 10)​

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10. Click on the Daily trigger to highlight it and click on the Edit button.​

NOTE: These are the default settings for the Daily trigger in the screenshot below.​

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11. To Disable the Daily Trigger -​

NOTE: This is if you only wanted to have restore points create with the At startup (OPTION THREE) trigger instead.​

A) Uncheck the Enabled box and click on OK. (See screenshot below step 12)​

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B) Continue to OPTION THREE.​

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12. To Enable the Daily Trigger -​

A) Check the Enabled box. (See screenshot below)​

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B) If the default settings for the Daily trigger schedule are not what you want, then make any changes that you would like.​

NOTE: For more details about each of these settings, see STEP FIVE here: How to Create a Task in Vista Task Scheduler​

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C) Click on OK.​

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D) Continue to OPTION THREE.​

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OPTION THREE

To Change Only the At startup Trigger Settings

NOTE: You will need to have the task enabled in step 7 to use this trigger. This is the trigger that creates a restore point at every system startup by default. If you do not want to change these settings, then continue to OPTION FOUR.​

13. In the middle pane, right click on the SR task and click on Properties. (See screenshot below step 5)​

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14. Click on the Triggers tab. (See screenshot below step 15)​

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15. Click on the At startup trigger to highlight it and click on the Edit button.​

NOTE: These are the default settings for the At startup trigger in the screenshot below.​

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16. To Disable the At startup Trigger -​

NOTE: This is if you only wanted to have restore points create with the Daily (OPTION TWO) trigger instead.​

A) Uncheck the Enabled box and click on OK. (See screenshot below step 17)​

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B) Continue to OPTION THREE.​

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17. To Enable the At startup Trigger -​

A) Check the Enabled box. (See screenshot below)​

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B) To Speed Up Startup Time - Make sure that under Advanced Settings, the Delay task for box is checked and you have an amount of minutes set that you want for System Restore to run after startup.​

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C) If the default advanced settings for the At startup trigger schedule are not what you want, then make any changes that you would like.​

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D) Click on OK.​

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E) Continue to OPTION FOUR.​

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OPTION FOUR

To Change the Conditions for the Task

NOTE: You will need to have the task enabled in step 7 first. This will effect how both the Daily (OPTION TWO) and At startup (OPTION THREE) triggers run. If you do not want to change these settings, then continue to OPTION FIVE.​

18. In the middle pane, right click on the SR task and click on Properties. (See screenshot below step 5)​

A) Click on the Conditions tab. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: These are the default settings for the Conditions tab in the screenshot below.​

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B) Make any changes you would like.​

NOTE: For more details about each of these settings, see STEP SEVEN here: How to Create a Task in Vista Task Scheduler​

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C) Continue to OPTION FIVE.​

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OPTION FIVE

To Change the Settings for the Task

NOTE: You will need to have the task enabled in step 7 first. This will effect how both the Daily (OPTION TWO) and At startup (OPTION THREE) triggers run. If you do not want to change these settings, then continue to OPTION SIX.​

19. In the middle pane, right click on the SR task and click on Properties. (See screenshot below step 5)​

A) Click on the Settings tab. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: These are the default settings for the Settings tab in the screenshot below.​

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B) Make any changes you would like.​

NOTE: For more details about each of these settings, see STEP EIGHT here: How to Create a Task in Vista Task Scheduler​

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C) Continue to OPTION SIX.​

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OPTION SIX

To See the Task History

NOTE: This will show you what the run and error history for this task is. This can be handy to help troubleshoot any problems with the task, or you just want to see when it ran. If you do not want to see the history, then go to step 21.​

20. In the middle pane, right click on the SR task and click Properties. (See screenshot below step 5)​

NOTE: You can also just click on the History tab in the bottom half of the middle pane instead.​

A) Click on the History tab. (See screenshot below)​

NOTE: In the bottom pane you can get more details about a selected history event listed in the top pane.​

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B) Go to step 21.​

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21. Click on OK. (See screenshots from below either steps 10, 15, 18B, or 19B)​

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22. Close Task Scheduler.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Create a Task in Vista Task Scheduler
• How to Have a Task Wake up the Computer to Run in Vista Task Scheduler
• How to Create a System Restore Shortcut in Vista
• How to Create a Create System Restore Point 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 Use Disk Cleanup in Vista
• How to Stop System Restore Points from being Deleted in Vista when Dual Booting with XP
• How to Turn System Restore On or Off in Vista
• 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

 

[mike_mty]

Txs for this...useful

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Mike, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Shawn

 

[the.lost.one]

How does it decrease boot up time? The default option for the startup trigger is to delay the task for 30 minutes. Apparently, system restore does NOT run before windows boots up. It does 30 minutes AFTER it has booted up.

ImageShack - Hosting :: capturezg7.jpg

 

[Brink]

Hi the.lost.one.,

It was suppose to be to check to make sure that the delay time is sufficient and enabled to help speed up startup time. I updated the tutorial to make this more clear.

Thank you for pointing this out to me.

Shawn

 

[the.lost.one]

Ah great. Thank you for clarifying

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. Thank you for pointing this out and helping to make it more clear for others.

Shawn

 

[Randy Stanford]

This was very useful. I hope that the error messages will slow down, now. I also get the MUI error even though I only need English. I used the same access to disable that option, too. Will any new issues be created by my disabling the MUI?

Thanks.
Randy

 

[Brink]

Hi Randy, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Since you only use one language, I do not believe you will have any problems with it disabled. Check your event viewer logs every so often. If you see any errors related to lpremove.exe, then just enable it again.

Description of the scheduled tasks in Windows Vista

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[bennys]

Hello Shawn!
You directed me here from the System Restore Tutorial. I followed all steps in this tutorial but still can't figure out how to extend the time the restore points are saved from 1 day(current) to 4-5 days period. I'm not being very clear with my wordings. Sorry. What I mean is presently, SR only allow me to choose the restore points from today. What if I want to select yesterday's restore point? What must I do?

Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hi Bennys,

In Option Two (step 12), you can change it to be something other than Daily (ex: Weekly), or change the recur every (how many days) instead.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[bennys]

Thanks for your help once again. That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

 

[Jim R]

I pretty much leave it alone but have changed the amount of drive space allowed for Windows to use for Restore Points.

Jim

 

[Brink]

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

 

[superneat]

thanks again!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Superneat.

Shawn

 

[oondric]

uhm.. help please :D

the Restore thing isnt there --;

 

[Brink]

Hello Oondric,

You have quite a few task folders missing there. Did you delete them?

Other than reinstalling Vista, you can see if doing a System Restore using a restore point dated when you thing they were still there. You might have to keep doing older restore points until you find one that they are there in afterwards.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[oondric]

lol.
thanks for the quick reply thar ;]

no. i didnt delete any folders. i reinstalled vista yesterday. i dont think system restore was installed with the vista i have. =\

no restore points have been made. even after before and after the installation of programs. i have tried to make restore points from the anitvirus program i'm using that automatically makes restore point before the clean up of the infected files/programs

an error comes up saying that the automatic system restore point option has been turned off. i have tried looking for the 'turn on automiatic system restore points' option but i cant find it.

heres a link to a thread that i have made.


Link:
Link to "A few missing .exe's"

thanks.
much appreciated for all your efforts ;]

 

[Brink]

I say that you may have a bad installation of Vista. You might consider formatting and doing a clean install of Vista to see if runs better this time.