Deleting All Restore Points

Written by Barry Dysert (last updated February 10, 2020)

1

System restore points can consume many gigabytes of storage on your hard drive, depending on its size. If you're temporarily limited by hard-drive space, you may want to delete all the restore points to free up some room. This should only be considered a temporary measure, however, because restore points will get created again, and you'll be back to the same situation.

To delete all restore points, start System Protection. Use Windows' built-in search capabilities to look for "restore point," without the quote marks. In the search results you should see a result for "create a restore point." Select this result and Windows displays the System Protection tab of the System Properties dialog box. (No, you aren't creating a restore point, but this is the fastest way to display the System Protection dialog box across all applicable versions of Windows.) (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The System Protection tab of the System Properties dialog box.

Select the drive whose restore points you want to delete and click Configure. Windows displays the System Protection dialog box for the drive you selected. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The System Protection dialog box (for a specific drive).

Click the Delete button and you are prompted to ensure you really want to delete the restore points associated with the disk drive. Click Continue to delete them or click Cancel to back out of the delete operation. Then OK your way out.

 This tip (11295) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Author Bio

Barry Dysert

Barry has been a computer professional for over 35 years, working in different positions such as technical team leader, project manager, and software developer. He is currently a software engineer with an emphasis on developing custom applications under Microsoft Windows. When not working with Windows or writing Tips, Barry is an amateur writer. His first non-fiction book is titled "A Chronological Commentary of Revelation." ...

MORE FROM BARRY

Creating a Library

Creating a library can be done with just a couple of clicks. Although it appears that libraries have some issues, you can ...

Discover More

Understanding File Types and Extensions

File types (or extensions) are key to using Windows effectively. When you double-click a file in Windows Explorer or File ...

Discover More

Using the SHIFT Statement

Sometimes your batch file needs to accept an unknown number of parameters. This is easy to deal with if you know about ...

Discover More
More WindowsTips

Changing the Size of Icons Used by Windows

Microsoft Windows can be highly personalized to suit your needs. This personalization includes the ability to change the ...

Discover More

Better Sound with Windows Sonic

Windows 10 allows for better sound through the use of Windows Sonic. Windows Sonic is Microsoft's solution for better ...

Discover More

Finding Your Wi-Fi Password

Connecting devices to your wireless network is generally easy, you select the network and enter the password. But, what ...

Discover More
Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is seven less than 8?

2020-02-10 09:18:27

Len Richards

You don't mention anything about Disc Cleanup .... you can remove all but the latest restore point instead of deleting them all which is a lousy idea .... if your system creates a restore point every week and you remove them all and something goes wrong you have nothing to use ... restore points are gone

i find your tips lacking in information that should go with the tip and you mention nothing about the consequences of having no restore points

Newest Tips
Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.