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

 

[Hairy Scot]

I did indeed use option 1 and found that over the next two days recovery points were still being created at boot up and at 12 hour intervals.

 

[Brink]

Hairy,

Go ahead and try OPTION TWO and OPTION THREE as well to disable the triggers to see if having all three options disabled can stop it for you.

 

[JimJoe]

Hmmm. My Vista Home Premium was set for startup and at midnight. I changed it to when the computer would more likely be on in the evening.

I wanted to restore to an earlier restore point, but even with 'shore more than 5' checked, there were only 5 there.

So hopefully my changes will help more get created. And make a restore point that works when I try it.

 

[Brink]

Hello Jim,

Just as a reminder, that when it's time for the task, a system restore point will only be created if it detects changes made to the system since the last time a system restore was made. Otherwise, a system restore point would not be created.

Plus, it also depends on how much HDD space you have allocated for restore points for how many can be stored.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[JimJoe]

I changed it fomr 20 gb max to 45 gb max.

Thanks Brink !

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Jim. Hopefully that should keep a few more restore points in storage for you.

 

[fire00]

Hi guys - funny thing - my system (win 7 x64) is creating system restore points although the task schedule is completely disabled (see picture).

It's being created when new driver or windows update was installed.

Anyone?

 

[Brink]

Hello Fire, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Did you also turn off System Restore through system protection properties? If not, it will still create system restore points.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[fire00]

Thanks Shawn - but when I disable system restore then I'll also lose all created restore points, right? I want to keep some "clean" restore points which I created manually.

 

[Brink]

That would be correct. There's no other way to stop restore points from being created when you install drivers or updates that I know if. This is not part of the task in Task Scheduler.

I suppose that you could create a clean system image instead to use to do a system image recovery with if needed. You could also manually extract files from the system image if need be as well.

 

[fire00]

Great -thanks for your answer!!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Fire. I hope that it will work for you.

 

[gtwyuser]

Easy to follow and very informative-but, what happened to the actions tab? You skipped that part, and my problem is that mine is blank. Somehow the program/script and optional argument boxes got wiped and I have no idea what is supposed to be typed in there. It's not hidden either cause I tried running SR and no go. I don't know why they went blank, but with no command in the box SR won't run. If you see this please reply. thanks--gtwyuser

 

[Brink]

Hello Gtwyuser, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I didn't forget the Actions tab. There's nothing in it that can be set to change the restore point schedule, so there wasn't any point in having it included. That's all.

Here's a screenshot of the Actions tab to help you get your's restored.



Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[gtwyuser]

To Brink-from gtwyuser. Perfect, that's exactly what I was looking for and your surprisingly prompt reply was dead on. I came to right place. Thanks again. gtwyuser

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome mate.