System Restore Point Shortcut

How to Make a "Create System Restore Point" Shortcut in XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8​

   Information

This tutorial will provide you with a create a manual system restore point shortcut that will instantly create a restore point with an optional description and success message in XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

System Restore isn't available for Windows RT.

   Note

Restore points contain information about registry settings and other system information that Windows uses. System Restore points do not include personal user files in the C:\Users\(user-name) folders.

   Warning

For this shortcut to work, you must have System Protection turned on for the C: (Windows) drive. If you do not have it on, then you will get the error below when you try to use the shortcut.

EXAMPLE: Create System Restore Point with description and message shortcut
NOTE: When you click on the Create System Restore Point shortcut, you will see this window. Just type in a name for the restore point, and click on OK to create the restore point.

OPTION ONE

To Create the "Create Restore Point" Shortcut

1. Do step 2, 3, or 4 below for what type of shortcut you would like to use to create a restore point with.
2. For an Instant Create Restore Point Shortcut
NOTE: This shortcut will instantly create a restore point named Instant Restore Point in System Restore without prompting for a description or giving you any type of success message. If you didn't get an error, then the restore point was created successfully after a few moments.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 5 below.
Instant_Restore_Point.zip

Download


3. For a Create Restore Point with Description Prompt Shortcut
NOTE: This shortcut will prompt you to enter a description name for the restore point, then create the restore point. If you didn't get an error, then the restore point was created successfully after a few moments.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 5 below.
Restore_Point_Shortcut.zip

Download


4. For a Create Restore Point with Description and Success Message Shortcut
NOTE: This shortcut will prompt you to enter a description for the restore point, create the restore point, and give you a successfully completed message when it's finished.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 5 below.
Restore_Point_Message_Shortcut.zip

Download


5. Save the downloaded .zip file to your desktop.

6. Unblock the downloaded .zip file.

7. Open the downloaded .zip file, right click on the Instant_Restore_Point (step 2), or Restore Point Shortcut (step 3), or Restore Point Message Shortcut (step 4) folder, and click/tap on Copy.

8. Navigate to and open the C:\Program Files folder in Windows Explorer, then right click or press and hold on an empty area in the folder window, and click/tap on Paste. (see screenshot below step 10)

9. If prompted by UAC, then click on Continue and Yes.

10. You should now see the Instant_Restore_Point (step 2), or Restore Point Shortcut (step 3), or Restore Point Message Shortcut (step 4) folder in the C:\Program Files window now. (see screenshot below)

11. Open the downloaded .zip file, extract (drag and drop) the Create System Restore Point or Instant Restore Point shortcut to your desktop.

13. You can now leave the Create System Restore Point (left screenshot below) or Instant Restore Point (right screenshot below) shortcut on the desktop or move it to where you like for easy use of it.

OPTION TWO

To Remove the "Create Restore Point" Shortcut

1. Navigate to C:\Program Files in Windows Explorer, then right click on either the Instant_Restore_Point (step 2 above), or Restore Point Shortcut (step 3 above), or Restore Point Message Shortcut (step 4 above) folder, and click on Delete. (see screenshot below)

2. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes (Windows 7/8) or Continue (Vista).

3. Right click or press and hold on the Create System Restore Point (left screenshot below) or Instant Restore Point (right screenshot below) shortcut, and click/tap on Delete.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Add "Create Restore Point" to Context Menu in XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Change the System Protection Disk Space Usage in Window 7
• How to Change the Maximum Disk Space Used for System Protection in Windows 8
• How to Turn System Protection On or Off in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 System Restore
• How to Delete System Protection Restore Points in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Create a System Restore Point in Windows 7
• How to Create a Restore Point in Windows 8
• How to Do a System Restore in Windows 7
• How to Do a System Restore in Windows 8
• How to Create a Windows 7 "System Protection Properties" Shortcut
• How to Automatically Create System Restore Points in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Create a System Recovery Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Stop System Restore Points from being Deleted in Vista and Windows 7 when Dual Booting with XP
• How to Extract Files and Folders from System Restore Points in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Enable or Disable Automatic System Restore Point Creation in Windows

 

[harpua]

Thanks for the input/help but I did use the one with the name -- IMHO, not just only a few extra keystrokes, but also a great reminder of what was going on at the time.

Yeah, you're right, the name one doesn't provide any confirmation of successful restore point creation either. I could have sworn it used to though, but I guess I was wrong about that.

I do have another short cut on my computer right click context menu (that I think I got from the utility I mentioned in my previous post) that brings up the system restore "restore files and settings" dialog with just one click (well two clicks if you count the click to bring up the right click context menu). That dialog contains the name of the last restore point created so it provides a two click way of checking and obtaining confirmation that the restore point that was just named was actually created. Of course one still doesn't know if the restore point will actually work as intended without successfully using it to do an actual restore. I have found on occasion that my system restore points fail to successfully restore, but most of the time they work.

 

[ToniB]

thanks for the tip - I'll look for that. That'll provide at least a bit more reassurance.

Not knowing if the restore point will actually work is frustrating but, with it that close at hand, remembering to do more restore points before significant events will be easier so hopefully one of the last several will work (or Win7's weekly one).

 

[Florio]

.zip files don't seem to be working

Hi Shawn,

Hope you can help me. Neither the Create System Restore Point nor the Instant System Restore Point are working for me, and I'm sure it's because I have an Italian language version of Windows 7. I get the following message when I try to open Instant Restore Point:

Impossibile trovare il file di script C:\Program Files\Instant_Restore_Point\Instant_Restore_Point.vbs

which basically means that the file cannot be found. This is evidently because 'Program Files' is called 'Programmi (x86)' on my computer. Is there some way I can change the directory within the .vbs file (or where necessary), or do you know if I can find an Italian version of the .zip file?

Many thanks,

Florio

 

[Brink]

Hello Florio,

Yes, you can right click on the shortcut, click on Properties, change the Target to have the correct language version of the path to the VBS file, then click on OK to apply.



Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Florio]

Thanks very much, greatly appreciated!
Florio

 

[Florio]

... spoke too soon! I cannot change the name. Even though I have indicated the correct directory, the new name [i.e., Programmi (x86) instead of Program Files (x86)] is apparently not valid. Any suggestions?
Florio

 

[harpua]

thanks for the tip - I'll look for that. That'll provide at least a bit more reassurance.

Not knowing if the restore point will actually work is frustrating but, with it that close at hand, remembering to do more restore points before significant events will be easier so hopefully one of the last several will work (or Win7's weekly one).

Another thing I feel that should be mentioned here is that while system restore can be very handy, convenient and useful for many situations (when it works), it is in no way a substitute for having a system (preferably automatic requiring little or no user intervention) in place and operating to make regular real backups of your entire configuration (i.e., C drive) plus data (if the data is in a separate partition on another drive. Having such backups (hopefully recent) is very very helpful when for some reason it is impossible to boot into Windows or when any restore points fail to work properly (has happened to me) to fix the problem at hand.

I'm sure most people here probably already do make system and data backups in addition to using system restore but I thought I should mention it just in case. And, of course there are numerous threads in which the various methods and approaches for backing up are discussed.

 

[Brink]

... spoke too soon! I cannot change the name. Even though I have indicated the correct directory, the new name [i.e., Programmi (x86) instead of Program Files (x86)] is apparently not valid. Any suggestions?
Florio

Florio,


Give this a try to see how it goes instead:

• After the VBS file has been "unblocked", move the Instant_Restore_Point folder with the VBS file in it to the "Program Files" (Programmi) folder instead and not Programmi (x86).
• Afterwards see how the shortcut runs with either of the location in the Target field below.

"C:\Program Files\Instant_Restore_Point\Instant_Restore_Point.vbs"

"C:\Programmi\Instant_Restore_Point\Instant_Restore_Point.vbs"


If not, then right click on the VBS file from the location above, and click on Send To and Desktop (Create shortcut). Next, rename the shortcut to what you like, and change the shortcut icon to this below.
%SystemRoot%\System32\rstrui.exe

 

[GerryR]

I have found that System Restore doesn't work more than about 60% of the time. Since I'm religious about backing things up, this doesn't kill me, but it can be a pain and for the majority of users who, being realistic, don't back up all that often, it can be a lot worse. Example: neither my brother nor his wife even own an external hard drive. They don't believe me when I tell them that they're playing with fire. At least she occasionally uses thumb drives, but not him - no way.

 

[huntforit]

create a restore point works great!

This shortcut works great for me!

I found that when you unzip the files to the desktop, you must copy the "Restore Point Shortcut" FOLDER into C:\Program files (the path is longer, but this is just an example).

The "create a restore point" shortcut will NOT work if you just copy the (unzipped) .vbs script file into C:\Program files.

The above info is for anyone who thought they could "take a shortcut" - - by just copying the file into C:\Program files ... (Like I did!).

I created a restore point for each of the five times I tested the shortcut right after installing it. I went to "System Restore" and confirmed that they were there, by looking at the recommended restore point and the "choose a different restore point" option.

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO TURN OFF THE UAC PROMPT JUST FOR THIS SCRIPT, so I can GET RIGHT TO IT?

 

[Brink]

This shortcut works great for me!

I found that when you unzip the files to the desktop, you must copy the "Restore Point Shortcut" FOLDER into C:\Program files (the path is longer, but this is just an example).

The "create a restore point" shortcut will NOT work if you just copy the (unzipped) .vbs script file into C:\Program files.

The above info is for anyone who thought they could "take a shortcut" - - by just copying the file into C:\Program files ... (Like I did!).

I created a restore point for each of the five times I tested the shortcut right after installing it. I went to "System Restore" and confirmed that they were there, by looking at the recommended restore point and the "choose a different restore point" option.

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO TURN OFF THE UAC PROMPT JUST FOR THIS SCRIPT, so I can GET RIGHT TO IT?

Hello Huntforit,

Did you unblock the files in step 8 before you moved them into the C:\Program Files folder?

 

[huntforit]

unblocked files and shortcut doesn't work

I followed the instructions to "Unblock a File to stop the "Open File - Security Warning" Prompt for the File.

I can no longer create a restore point. I originally followed all the steps except the "unblocking" and it worked fine except that I kept getting the "open file security warning".

BTW, when extracting the files, a folder is created named "Restore Point Shortcut" that only contains the "CreateRP.vbs" file. The shortcut itself is created outside of this folder. i was able to unblock the CreateRP file, but NOT the actual shortcut file.

I also tested the CreateRP file and it reacts the same way as the create a restore point shortcut - it will allow me to create one after I "approve" it.

Anyway, I took screenshots of the results of the various steps. The screenshot names are what I did and are numbered in the order in which I did them. (phew!)

 

[Brink]

No worries. You will just have to move the folder into the C:\Program Files folder first before you will be able to unblock the shortcut on the desktop. See steps 8 to 13 for more on this.

 

[huntforit]

unblocked files, still have "open file security warning".

"No worries. You will just have to move the folder into the C:\Program Files folder first before you will be able to unblock the shortcut on the desktop. See steps 8 to 13 for more on this."


Tried the above a million times now and "open file security warning" still pops up even though the vbs file is unblocked. This is on my Windows 7 Starter version netbook. The shortcut works great on my home premium desktop.

I tried the instant create restore point shortcut - see screenshot please - and it does the same thing.

Thank you.

 

[Brink]

Hello Huntforit,

You will always get a UAC prompt for you to click on YES before it will run elevated though.

You could use the tutorial below to create a elevated task shortcut to run the VBS file instead so that it run elevated without giving you a UAC prompt.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11949-elevated-program-shortcut-without-uac-prompt-create.html

 

[huntforit]

I created an elevated task shortcut and it worked for a different program, but I can't find the executable name in C:\Windows\system32\ to create a system restore point.

What is it, please, or is that a secret?

 

[Brink]

Hunforit,

You can create a elevated task shortcut using the VBS file in the tutorial on the first page.

 

[alfred01]

Great Tutorial Shawn. Thank You, David

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome David. Thank you.

 

[DShuck]

Hello;

When I downloaded and and unzipped the first Shortcut creation file (shown below) and executed it I received the following error:

"The system cannot find the path specified"



OPTION ONE
To Create the Shortcut
1. For a Create Restore Point with Description Shortcut
NOTE: See the example above for what you will see when you use this shortcut. A) Click on the Download button below to download the file below. Restore_Point_Shortcut.zip