How to Create and Use a Restore Point in Windows 10

A restore point can help undo a recent driver, application or system-setting change. Create one before a planned change; if a problem already exists, look for a point from before it began. Creating a point now cannot reconstruct yesterday's working configuration.

1. Choose the right recovery tool

Write down the symptom, when it began and the change that preceded it. For example, “printing stopped immediately after driver installation” gives you a specific result to test afterward. This is a diagnostic example, not a repair tested on the author's device. When only one driver is implicated, a targeted driver rollback may affect less software than a system-wide restore.

2. Check System Protection before you need it

1. Search Start for Create a restore point and open it. Alternatively, press Win + R and enter systempropertiesprotection.exe.
2. Under System Protection, select the Windows system drive and inspect its protection status.
3. If it is off, choose Configure > Turn on system protection. On a managed PC, ask the administrator if these controls are unavailable.
4. Choose a storage allowance appropriate to the drive's free space, then apply it. There is no universal percentage every PC should use.

The disk-space allowance limits restore-point storage. Older points can be removed as space fills; it is not a permanent archive. Check the available points before assuming an old configuration is still recoverable. Do not use Delete as a troubleshooting shortcut when those points are the only rollback choices you have.

3. Create a point and confirm it exists

On System Protection, choose Create, give the point a meaningful description such as “Before printer driver change,” and wait for the success message. If creation fails, record the error and do not proceed as though a rollback point exists.

For a non-destructive check, open System Restore and advance to its list. Confirm the expected description and timestamp, using Show more restore points if offered. Then cancel. Viewing the list does not require applying a restore. Keep an independent backup of valuable files even when the point is present.

4. Review what an existing point would change

Open System Restore from System Protection, or run rstrui.exe. Select a point that predates the observed failure. Use Scan for affected programs and retain the results: programs and drivers installed or changed since that point may need attention afterward.

Check the selected point again, then choose Next > Finish only when ready to run it. Allow the operation and restart to complete; do not force power off to hurry it along. If the machine is managed, coordinate the rollback rather than independently removing required security or business software.

5. If Windows will not start

If the sign-in screen is available, hold Shift while choosing Power > Restart to enter recovery. Windows may also enter its recovery environment after failed starts. Once there, choose Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System Restore and review the available point.

An encrypted device may request its BitLocker recovery key. Retrieve the key through the account or organization that holds it before continuing; do not clear the TPM or change firmware settings to bypass the prompt. See the recovery-key guide for account lookup routes, while noting that its Settings examples are for Windows 11.

If recovery is inaccessible, use Microsoft's Windows Recovery Environment documentation below for supported access options. Do not select Reset, reinstall Windows or format a disk merely because System Restore is missing. Those are different operations with different effects on files and applications.

6. Verify the result before making another change

After signing in, read the completion result and repeat the task that was failing. In the printer example, print the same test document before reinstalling the driver that preceded the fault. Record whether the symptom is fixed, unchanged or different. Check affected applications as well as the original problem.

If no suitable point exists, turning protection on now only helps with future changes. If restore fails, retain the exact error and chosen timestamp. Do not repeatedly apply unrelated points or disable security software without a documented reason. Use the symptom to choose a narrower repair or seek support with the evidence you collected. A completed restore is not, by itself, proof that the original problem was solved.

Documentation review: 12 October 2026. Procedures checked against Microsoft documentation. The screenshot is credited vendor documentation; no restore was performed on a user PC for this article.

Official references

Microsoft — Configure System ProtectionProtection settings, storage allocation and manual restore-point creation. Microsoft — Apply System RestoreReview affected programs, restore from Windows or recovery, and prepare the BitLocker key. Microsoft — Access Windows Recovery EnvironmentSupported recovery access routes when ordinary startup is unavailable.