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

 

[oondric]

lol. thanks for the fast reply again o-o

i've reinstalled vista a few times within the last week. (4+?)


and most of mai drivers uninstall themselves when i install vista.

 

[ionvista]

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.

same with bennys' problem.

how can i select last month restore point instead of last 5 days?

thanks..

 

[Brink]

Hello IonVista, and welcome to Vista Forums.

This is not the same issue Benny was having though. Benny wanted to know how to set the amount of days for the task to save them instead.

To select an older restore point to use to do a System Restore, you would select the "Older than 5 days...." option (if available) to see them. From there, you would select the restore point with the date that you wanted. Keep in mind though that restore points are only store up to 90 days, and when the max storage space has ran out the older restore points will be deleted to make room for the new one.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ionvista]

then how can i select the restore point that was made more than 1 week ago?

anyway thanks for the fast reply...

 

[Brink]

If the option is not there from my post above, then it may have been deleted and you will not be able to select it.

 

[Travelin]

I setup the Task Scheduler according to your tutorial to create a couple of restore points each day. The Task Scheduler History tab tells me that the actions are being carried out as scheduled. However, when I check the System Restore listing of restore points that have been created, usually only one restore point each day is recorded there.

I have looked at all the options in the Task Scheduler to ensure that everything is enabled properly and all the Triggers are present and all looks good, and as I mentioned, the Task Scheduler History tab shows the scheduled actions are being carried out.

So, I'm curious, why am I not seeing all of the scheduled Restore Points in System Restore?

 

[Brink]

Hell Travelin, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Using these tasks, a system restore point will only be created when the task is scheduled if Vista detects a change in your system.

However, you can create a new task to run a program instead for when you like. The program can be the Create Instant Restore Point shortcut. It will create a new restore point everytime it runs, no matter if there was a change or not to your system.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Travelin]

Hello Shawn,

Thanks for the explanation. I assumed that using the Task Scheduler to create Restore Points would be the equivalent of manually creating a restore point. If I understand your reply correctly, the Task Scheduler will not actually create the restore point unless there is a change to the system, but, won't this happen after the change to the system, not before?

Paul

 

[Brink]

If you create a new task using the shortcut above, then it is the same as creating a restore point manually, but only having it done automatically for you instead by the new task.

The default System Restore tasks only create a restore point if it detects a change when that task runs at it's scheduled time. Yes, the change would have had to happen before the default tasks runs for it to create the restore point though.

 

[Travelin]

Thanks, puzzling though. I thought the point of using the Task Scheduler to create restore points is to have restore points created on a schedule whether or not there have been changes to the system.

I am working on the shortcut you suggested, but my preference is to have the Task Scheduler automatically create restore points for me on a set schedule even if there are no changes to the system. From your reply, I guess that's not possible.



Thanks, Paul

 

[Travelin]

The Desktop Shortcut for Creating a System Restore Point works perfectly. Thanks, it makes manually creating Restore Points much, much easier. Thank you.

 

[Brink]

If you create a new task in Task Scheduler to run the shortcut ("program"), then you will get exactly that.

 

[Travelin]

Great idea! Thanks.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Travelin.

 

[pacinitaly]

Hello again,
mine does not work.
I have not added software or changed any hardware (laptop)

are there any reg files to do the changes?

 

[Brink]

Hello again,
mine does not work.
I have not added software or changed any hardware (laptop)

are there any reg files to do the changes?

It will not create a restore point with this task unless it detects changes on your system to warrant creating one at time of the scheduled task though.

 

[pacinitaly]

Hello again,
mine does not work.
I have not added software or changed any hardware (laptop)

are there any reg files to do the changes?

It will not create a restore point with this task unless it detects changes on your system to warrant creating one at time of the scheduled task though.

Thanks Shawn,

 

[Brink]

You're welcome.

 

[Hairy Scot]

Hi Shawn,

I followed the instructions to disable the task and ensured it showed disabled before I closed the scheduler window. However it managed to enable itself again!
Any idea how this might happen?

Does disabling this task have any effect on the creation of restore points when software or application changes are made?

 

[Brink]

Hello Hairy,

Did you use OPTION ONE to disable the task completely? This will disable it.

If so, it will still show enabled in the Trigger tab even though the Task is indeed disabled. This is also the same in the reverse. If all Triggers are disabled, then the Task will not run even if the Task is enabled still.