Windows 10: How can I keep Windows 10 System Restore Points and shadow copies from being deleted after...

I have both Windows 10 and Windows 7 installed in separate extended partitions on a single hard disk. Windows Vista is also installed on a primary partition which functions as the System Partition for both the Win10 and Win7 boot partitions. When either Win10 or Win7 is booted, it becomes the C-drive, with the Windows Vista partition becoming the D-drive.


My problem is that if System Restore Points are created and active in Windows 10, once I switch and boot into Windows 7, after exiting and returning to Windows 10, all the restore points and their corresponding shadow copies are gone.


My question is how can I prevent a Windows 7 session from automatically deleting the System Restore Points and shadow copies created in Windows 10 or if this isn't possible, is there any way to recover deleted System Restore Points when I boot into Windows 10 again. This is a question which has been asked many times both in the Microsoft Community and other forums. There is common advice given to resolve the problem that doesn't work. See https://social.technet.microsoft.co...enever-i-boot-to-win7?forum=win10itprogeneral as well as https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/e42784ab-bbe4-456b-99cd-5f8536eb9839/win10-system-restore-points-disappear-whenever-i-boot-to-win7?forum=win10itprogeneral


I have followed the instructions at these links using regedit add an offline subkey to the System\Mounted Devices key and made entries under both Win7 and Win10 to take each other's partitions offline. The best result I get with this is that restore points and volume shadow copies created under Windows 7 are preserved after a boot into Windows 10, but restore points created under Windows 10 are still always deleted after booting Windows 7.


I would like to know what Windows 7 is doing during its session that deletes the Windows 10 restore points and whether there is a way to back them up under Windows 10 before quitting and going to Windows 7. I have tried a number of different approaches under Windows 10 to provide administrative access to and back up the System Volume Information folder and/or its individual file contents. Unfortunately, I've found that restoring the backed up Windows 10 System Volume Information folder after the restore points have disappeared using Acronis TrueImage does not work to bring the restore points back. I'm wondering whether also restoring the Windows Registry from the time the restore points existed would help, but I haven't tried that yet.


I later learned about Windows shadowcopy viewers https://techjourney.net/access-view-system-restore-shadow-copy-previous-versions-backup-files-in-windows/ and discovered that all Windows 10 shadow copies disappear after a Windows 7 boot just like the restore points. I've read that the Shadow Copies while they exist are indexed in a Global Catalog file and am wondering whether backing up the Windows Catalog folder in the \Windows\System32 directory would help, or if there's any way to back up the Windows 10 shadow copies on the Win10 partition before booting into Windows 7.

:)

 

About deletion of Shadow Copy or System Restore in Windows 10

Hello,

Today I did a Disk Defragment on C: Drive in Windows 10. Before Defragmentation, I had 151GB/200GB, but after defragmentation now I have 147GB/200GB.

I searched on the internet and found that there might be some shadows copies done. Now according to a post in Microsoft Support, I was able to see that almost 3.57 GB is consumed by system restore. My question are :

1. Are System Restore and Shadow Copy same? Because both of them are consuming the same amount of space.
2. If I delete a system restore point at this point (Currently, I only have the latest restore point after Defragmentation), will it create any other problems?
3. Lastly, Are Shadow copies or the Windows Restore points automatically deleted?

Thanks in advance.

 

About deletion of Shadow Copy or System Restore in Windows 10

Are System Restore and Shadow Copy same? Yes plus shadows can be used by some Backup/System image programs. If you delete your System Restore its OK as long as everything seems working correctly - but should something go haywire you might
need a system restore point to get windows back working.

You can open a command prompt(admin) and see your shadows;

Code:

VssAdmin list shadows

While there you can delete all shadows too

Code:

VssAdmin delete shadows /all

If you delete them, you might consider making a new fresh System Restore Point after running your defrag, then the shadow will be inserted after the end of the defraged files.

 

Restore Point and Shadow Copy

Greg Carmack,



Many thanks. Followed your suggestions for System Restore and although the Win 10 menus are different I found that System Protection was already “On” Turned off, rebooted and turned back “On” and was able to create a Restore Point for first time
in months.



Followed your suggestions on recovering the ability to create “Shadow Copy,” and create a backup my files was also successful. Had spent many hours following Microsoft Support instructions to no avail.



Again, many, many thanks.