How to Create a Restore Point Using the Command Prompt on Windows

If your Windows PC is having issues, you can restore your computer to an earlier restore point when it was working without any issues. Creating a restore point using the System Restore dialog in Windows 11 and 10 is easy. But if you want to create one on a regular basis, there are quicker ways to do it.

Here we show you how to create and use a restore point using Command Prompt and PowerShell.

How to Enable System Restore Points on Windows

System Restore is enabled by default for the Windows OS boot drive. You can check if System Restore is enabled on your PC by accessing the Protection settings.

1. Press Win+ S to open Windows search.
2. Type restore point and then click on Create a Restore Point option from the search results.
3. Under the Protection Settings section, check if Protection is set to ON for your Windows (C:) (System) drive.
4. If not, select the drive and click on Configure.
5. Select Turn on System protection.
6. Next, set a disk space usage using the slider.
7. Click Apply and OK to save the changes.

How to Create a Restore Point Using Command Prompt

To create a restore point, you can use the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) command-line tool. Here is how to do it.

1. Press Win, and type cmd.
2. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
3. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command:

   wmic.exe /Namespace:\oot\default Path SystemRestore Call CreateRestorePoint "<My Restore Point Name >", 100, 7

4. In the above command, replace <My Restore Point Name> with a name any name you like. Then hit Enter to run the command.
5. If successful, you should see the following output.

   Executing (SystemRestore)->CreateRestorePoint()
   Method execution successful.
   Out Parameters:
   instance of __PARAMETERS
   {
   ReturnValue = 0;
   };

6. Exit the Command Prompt window.

How to Use System Restore From the Command Prompt

You can use the rstrui.exe command to launch the System Restore utility from Command Prompt. To do this:

1. Open Command Prompt, if not already open.
2. Type the following command and hit enter to execute:

    rstrui.exe

3. Command Prompt will quickly launch the System Restore utility. You can either select Recommended restore or Choose a different restore point to proceed.
4. Follow on-screen instructions to complete system restore.

If you encounter any issues during the restore process, follow these steps to fix system restore not working on Windows computers.

How to Create a System Restore Point From Desktop Shortcut

You can create a desktop shortcut to create a restore point using a WMI command-line tool script. With this, you don’t have to launch the Command Prompt and execute the command each time to create a restore point.

To create a restore point shortcut:

1. Right-click on the desktop and select New > Shortcut.
2. On the Create Shortcut window, type the following command for Type the location of the item field:

   cmd.exe /k "wmic.exe /Namespace:\oot\default Path SystemRestore Call CreateRestorePoint "My Shortcut Restore Point", 100, 7"

3. In the above command, change My Shortcut Restore Point to any name you like.
4. Click the Next button to proceed.
5. Enter a name for your shortcut and click Finish.
6. You can add a Restore Point icon to your shortcut to identify it easily. To do this, right-click on the Restore Point shortcut and select Properties.
7. Click the Change icon button in the Properties window.
8. In the address bar, type the following path and hit enter:

   C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll

9. This will load all the available icons. Scroll through the icons and select an appropriate icon.
10. Click OK to save the changes.

To create a restore point, right-click on the shortcut and select Run as administrator.

If you always want to run the shortcut as administrator, go to Properties > Shortcut > Advanced and select Run as administrator. Click OK and then Apply to save the changes.

How to Create a Restore Point Using PowerShell

Similar to Command Prompt, you can use Windows PowerShell to create a restore point.

1. Press Windows key, type powershell and open Windows PowerShell from the search results.
2. In the PowerShell console, type the following command:

   powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -NoExit -Command "Checkpoint-Computer -Description '<My Restore Point Name>' -RestorePointType 'MODIFY_SETTINGS'"

3. In the above command, replace <My Restore Point Name> with any name you like.
4. Hit enter to execute the command. PowerShell will show a progress bar to indicate the status. Once completed, close the PowerShell console.

Similar to Command Prompt, you can use the rstrui.exe command to open the System Restore utility. Launch the PowerShell console, type rstrui.exe and hit enter to execute. Then follow on-screen instructions to complete the process.

Quickly Create and Use System Restore with Command Prompt

System Restore lets you undo the changes that can cause your system to malfunction. Instead of dealing with the System Restore dialog, you can use PowerShell or Command Prompt to create a restore point.

Alternatively, you use the WIM command-line-based script to create a desktop shortcut and create restore points with a double-click.