Windows – How to Archive a Restore Point Permanently

system-restorewindows

Since Windows updates typically create restore points, which delete older versions.

If you have explicitly created a known GOOD restore point, is there a way to save it somewhere? The problem happens when opening system restore only to discover 32 Windows updates deleted what you need.

Can a system restore be exported somewhere?

Best Answer

Restore points are saved as Volume Shadow Copies. They can be mounted and backed up. Start a command shell with admin rights. Then typing

vssadmin list shadows

will give a list of available shadow copies. Pleas note that the list will be empty if the system is not set up to make restore points.

Pick the one you want and mount like so:

mklink /d <mount point> <shadow copy volume>

Actual example:

mklink /d c:\shadow_copy1 \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy1\

Copy any files, or the whole shadow copy. Remove when finished:

rd c:\shadow_copy1

[EDIT] It seems you can create disk images from Volume Shadow Copies, though I haven't tried this yet: http://windowsir.blogspot.com/2009/11/working-with-volume-shadow-copies.html

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