System Protection Restore Points - Delete

How to Delete System Protection Restore Points in Windows 7 and Windows 8​

   Information

This will show you how to delete all, all but the most recent, or individual System Protection restore points for a selected hard disk in Windows 7 and Windows 8.

System Restore isn't available for Windows RT.

   Warning

If you delete all of the restore points, then you cannot restore the disk until System Protection is on and a restore point is created for the hard disk again.

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

OPTION ONE

Use System Protection Properties to Delete Restore Points

:warn:WARNING: This will delete all restore points (system settings and previous versions of files) for the selected hard disk.
1. Open the Control Panel (icons view) in Windows 7 or Windows 8, and click/tap on the System icon.

2. In the left side of System, click/tap on the System Protection link. (See screenshot below)

3. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

4. Close the System window. (See screenshot below)

5. Click/tap on the available hard disk drive or partition, that you want to delete the System Protection restore points for, to select it. (See screenshot below step 6)
NOTE: Windows should be the C: disk with (System). System Protection will need to be turned on for the selected disk to be able to delete the restore points.

6. Click/tap on the Configure button. (See screenshot below)

7. Click/tap on the Delete button. (See screenshot below)

8. Click/tap on the Continue button to confirm the deletion. (See screenshot below)

9. Click/tap on Close in the success prompt. (See screenshot below)

10. Click/tap on OK. (See screenshot below step 7)

11. Click/tap on OK. (See screenshot below step 6)

OPTION TWO

Use Disk Cleanup to Delete Restore Points

NOTE: This will help free up more disk space for the selected hard disk by removing all but the most recent restore point. This will also include deleting shadow copies (Previous Versions) that were created with a deleted restore point.
1. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type cleanmgr, and press Enter.

2. Select the hard disk you want to use Disk Cleanup on, and click/tap on OK. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You will not see this window unless you have more than one drive or partition on your computer.

3. You will now see this scanning screenshot below for a few seconds.

4. Click/tap on the Clean up system files button. (See screenshot below)

5. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.

6. Select the hard disk you want to use Disk Cleanup on, and click/tap on OK. (See screenshot below step 2)
NOTE: You will not see this window unless you have more than one drive or partition on your computer.

7. Click/tap on the More Options tab, and click/tap on the Clean up button under the System Restore and Shadow Copies section. (See screenshot below)

8. Click/tap on the Delete button in the confirm deletion window. (See screenshot below)

9. Close the Disk Cleanup window. (See screenshot below step 7)
WARNING: Do not click on OK unless you wanted to delete the checked files in the Disk Cleanup tab.

OPTION THREE

Use CCleaner to Delete Individual Restore Points

1. If you have not already, download and install the free program CCleaner and run it.

2. In CCleaner, click on the Tools icon, System Restore button, then select the restore points that you wish to delete and click on Remove. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You can press and hold the CTRL key while clicking on the restore points to be able to select random restore points.

3. Click on OK to confirm deleting them. (see screenshot below)

4. When finished, close CCleaner. The selected restore points have been deleted.

OPTION FOUR

Use "System Restore Explorer" to Delete Individual Restore Points

   Note

You could also use the System Restore Explorer program to mount specific restore points to be able to browse and copy individual files and folders from a mounted restore point back into Windows without having to use Previous Versions or to do a full System Restore.

For more on this, see:
How to Extract Files and Folders from System Restore Points in Windows 7 and Vista

1. If you have not already, download and install the free program System Restore Explorer and run it.

2. In System Restore Explorer, select a specific restore point that you would like to delete, and click on the Delete button. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If displayed, uncheck the Hide restore points created in last 5 days box to see all restore points.




3. Click on Yes to confirm the deletion. (see screenshot below)

4. When finished, close System Restore Explorer. The selected restore points have been deleted.

OPTION FIVE

Use "Manage Windows Backup disk space" to Delete System Image Restore Points

   Note

This option is good to delete the System Image Restore Point "Backup" type restore points like below.

1. Use step 5 in OPTION ONE of the tutorial below to select the Keep only the latest system image and minimum space used by backup option, and click/tap on OK.
How to Delete Windows 7 User Data and System Image Backup Files







That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Change the System Protection Disk Space Usage in Window 7
• How to Turn System Protection On or Off in Windows 7
• 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 Create a System Restore Point in Windows 7
• How to Do a System Restore in Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows 7 System Protection Properties Shortcut
• How to Automatically Create A System Restore Point at Startup
• How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 System Restore Configuration
• How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 System Restore
• How to Free Up and Recover Hard Drive Space in Windows 7
• How to Stop System Restore Points from being Deleted in Vista and Windows 7 when Dual Booting with XP
• How to Delete Shadow Copies in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Extract Files and Folders from System Restore Points in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Use File History Cleanup to Delete Older Versions of Files in Windows 8

 

[Brink]

Hello betaupsilon,

Are you able to use any of the other options to delete restore points without the others getting deleted?

 

[betaupsilon]

I am revisiting this issue now. I will try CCleaner & report back.

 

[betaupsilon]

I am revisiting this issue now. I will try CCleaner & report back.

I am not sure what is occurring, but I seem to be losing RESTORE POINTS with or without System Restore Explorer. I am doing experiments to attempt to isolate the cause or at least reproduce the problem.

Will report back.

 

[betaupsilon]

I am revisiting this issue now. I will try CCleaner & report back.

I am not sure what is occurring, but I seem to be losing RESTORE POINTS with or without System Restore Explorer. I am doing experiments to attempt to isolate the cause or at least reproduce the problem.

Will report back.

I think I found the problem, but I need a solution. To avoid placing files on the wrong partition during the installation process I hid the 2nd partition using "MINI PARTITION WIZARD". I then install the software on the partition of interest. After installation I UNHIDE the 2nd partition & REBOOT. I then discover that the RESTORE PTS on the 2nd partition have been wiped out.

What can I do?

 

[Brink]

betaupsilon,

I'm not sure there's anything you can do about it unless you stop hiding and unhiding the partition like that.

 

[betaupsilon]

betaupsilon,

I'm not sure there's anything you can do about it unless you stop hiding and unhiding the partition like that.

OK, I have a software package that wants to stash files onto another partition instead of the partition onto which the installation is designated. My solution was to hide the other partition, but I ran into the SYSTEM RESTORE problem.

Maybe I should shrink the 2nd partition to force the software to place the files on the partition where the installation is specified. I'll try that & report back.

 

[betaupsilon]

Maybe I should shrink the 2nd partition to force the software to place the files on the partition where the installation is specified. I'll try that & report back.

It appears that this alternative approach worked. I do not quite understand why the RESTORE PTS get eliminated when HIDING & then UNHIDING the partition. When UNHIDING the partition along with the correct drive letter assignment should the SYSTEM VOLUME file have the correct RESTORE PTS?

 

[Brink]

Great news, but I'm not sure why it happens either.

 

[betaupsilon]

It just occurred to me that manipulating any system partition with PARTITION WIZARD whether HIDING or changing the letter drive probably wipes out the SYSTEM RESTORE PTS. I will conduct an experiment & see if this is the case & report back.

I imagine someone probably has encountered this problem & maybe has a solution. Anyone know about this?

 

[betaupsilon]

It just occurred to me that manipulating any system partition with PARTITION WIZARD whether HIDING or changing the letter drive probably wipes out the SYSTEM RESTORE PTS. I will conduct an experiment & see if this is the case & report back.

I imagine someone probably has encountered this problem & maybe has a solution. Anyone know about this?

My experiment revealed that resizing or hiding the system partition will eliminate the RESTORE PTS. Changing the drive letter does not seem to delete these points.

So the question is can the RESTORE PTS be protected whenever making partition changes with PARTITION WIZARD?

 

[Brink]

Nope.

 

[rontokyo]

I installed System Restore Explorer but System Image Restore Points do not appear [they do, however, appear when I tick "show more restore points" on Windows System Restore. Any thoughts??

 

[Brink]

Hello Rontokyo,

I'm not sure why. Do they show up in CCleaner?

 

[RoWin7]

I had to use Sys Restore this week, and I had a choice of only 2 restore points. "Show more points" resulted in nothing more, and I chose one reluctantly. But when I searched for restores in CCleaner just now, it shows I have 7.