If today the PC is not working properly or if some software or if some peripherals of the computer, such as the LAN, the wifi network, the audio, the bluetooth or other basic functions have errors and do not work, while yesterday or a few days before, everything was fine, the first solution, the easiest and fastest way to solve the problem, is still the " System Restore ".
This internal Windows function, which has always existed since the time of XP and can still be used in Windows 10, is a bit of a time machine that allows you to reload the configuration saved a few days ago, to cancel the changes and installations made and, therefore, to return the PC to the previous operation any possible problem.
READ ALSO: How to use system recovery
First of all, before using Windows 10 (and Windows 7) system restore, you need to check if automatic saving of recovery points is enabled. To do this, open the Start menu and then search for the Control Panel . In the Control Panel, change the view from Category to large icons and then, in the list of all Control Panel items, look for the Restore icon.
In the following tab, press on Configure system recovery . At this point, select each disk that is listed in the list of available drives, under the System protection tab, and press the Configure button to be able to select the Activate system protection option. Below you can then choose how much disk space to dedicate in percentage terms. The more space you dedicate to system restore, the more restore points can be created automatically to give you more chances to recover PC functionality. From the same screen, you can press the Create button to create a restore point manually and immediately .
To check the restore points created by the system, go back to the Restore tab of the Control Panel and click on Open System Restore . Go ahead to the first screen and see the list of recovery points created, the cause that led to their creation and the date. This function is a bit like a Time Machine, which brings the PC back to the situation of a few days before, canceling any changes made in the following days. With this option, the data that has been stored and the programs installed in the period between the current date and the chosen recovery point are deleted.
When there are problems on the computer, but it still starts and you can open this system restore screen, you can then choose to load the restore point closest to the current date, when the computer was definitely working. Recovery will begin loading by restarting your computer.
If the PC does not start and the desktop does not load, you can still load a previous restore point by starting the computer in safe mode with command prompt. To start system restore from the command prompt you need to run the rstrui.exe command.
If the PC no longer starts, you can restore the system configuration using the relevant option in the Windows 10 recovery console, as explained in a dedicated guide.
Recall that in Windows 10 the system restore is disabled by default and therefore you must always remember to activate the restore points.
In Windows 10, in addition, there are other ways to recover the functioning of the PC if it does not work, thanks to the Reset PC function that resets Windows 10 without deleting the data.
in another article we also saw how to restore or save data if Windows 8 doesn't start .
In the margins of this guide we must point out that, many times, restoring the system configuration is impossible and the process ends with an error message that says that everything has remained as it is, without any modification. Viruses and malware can be responsible for this error, but there may also be the possibility that there is no disk space to save the situation or that some system files or registry keys are missing or malfunctioning.
I believe that the System Restore is still, still today, the first solution to try when the PC has sudden problems that were not there yesterday, especially to solve Windows errors of which the cause is ignored.
In case there is nothing to do, we have seen several guides to restore your PC when it doesn't work:
- If Windows doesn't start and won't start, how to save everything and reinstall
- If Windows 10 doesn't work or doesn't respond, how to fix it
- Factory reset on PCs and laptops (Acer, Asus, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba etc.).
This internal Windows function, which has always existed since the time of XP and can still be used in Windows 10, is a bit of a time machine that allows you to reload the configuration saved a few days ago, to cancel the changes and installations made and, therefore, to return the PC to the previous operation any possible problem.
READ ALSO: How to use system recovery
First of all, before using Windows 10 (and Windows 7) system restore, you need to check if automatic saving of recovery points is enabled. To do this, open the Start menu and then search for the Control Panel . In the Control Panel, change the view from Category to large icons and then, in the list of all Control Panel items, look for the Restore icon.
In the following tab, press on Configure system recovery . At this point, select each disk that is listed in the list of available drives, under the System protection tab, and press the Configure button to be able to select the Activate system protection option. Below you can then choose how much disk space to dedicate in percentage terms. The more space you dedicate to system restore, the more restore points can be created automatically to give you more chances to recover PC functionality. From the same screen, you can press the Create button to create a restore point manually and immediately .
To check the restore points created by the system, go back to the Restore tab of the Control Panel and click on Open System Restore . Go ahead to the first screen and see the list of recovery points created, the cause that led to their creation and the date. This function is a bit like a Time Machine, which brings the PC back to the situation of a few days before, canceling any changes made in the following days. With this option, the data that has been stored and the programs installed in the period between the current date and the chosen recovery point are deleted.
When there are problems on the computer, but it still starts and you can open this system restore screen, you can then choose to load the restore point closest to the current date, when the computer was definitely working. Recovery will begin loading by restarting your computer.
If the PC does not start and the desktop does not load, you can still load a previous restore point by starting the computer in safe mode with command prompt. To start system restore from the command prompt you need to run the rstrui.exe command.
If the PC no longer starts, you can restore the system configuration using the relevant option in the Windows 10 recovery console, as explained in a dedicated guide.
Recall that in Windows 10 the system restore is disabled by default and therefore you must always remember to activate the restore points.
In Windows 10, in addition, there are other ways to recover the functioning of the PC if it does not work, thanks to the Reset PC function that resets Windows 10 without deleting the data.
in another article we also saw how to restore or save data if Windows 8 doesn't start .
In the margins of this guide we must point out that, many times, restoring the system configuration is impossible and the process ends with an error message that says that everything has remained as it is, without any modification. Viruses and malware can be responsible for this error, but there may also be the possibility that there is no disk space to save the situation or that some system files or registry keys are missing or malfunctioning.
I believe that the System Restore is still, still today, the first solution to try when the PC has sudden problems that were not there yesterday, especially to solve Windows errors of which the cause is ignored.
In case there is nothing to do, we have seen several guides to restore your PC when it doesn't work:
- If Windows doesn't start and won't start, how to save everything and reinstall
- If Windows 10 doesn't work or doesn't respond, how to fix it
- Factory reset on PCs and laptops (Acer, Asus, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba etc.).
