Backup and recovery
A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a backup. Set one up, test a restore once, and know where to look when a file is gone.
- Enable System Restore and Create a Restore Point
- Restore an Old File Version With File History
- Recover a File from a Volume Shadow Copy
- Restore the Recovery Environment and Repair the Boot Record
- Create a Full System Image Backup With wbadmin
- Create a Backup Admin Account Before You Lock Yourself Out
- Export and Restore Your Windows Firewall Rules
- Back Up and Restore Your Wi-Fi Profiles Before a Reinstall
- Clone Windows to a Bigger SSD Without Reinstalling
- Set Up a Mirrored Folder Backup With robocopy and Task Scheduler
- Recover Data From a Drive Windows Wants to Format
- Restore the Classic Right-Click Menu on Windows 11
- Turn Off OneDrive Desktop Backup on Windows 11
- Repair a Boot Failure with Bootrec and Bcdboot
- Build a WinPE USB with the Storage Drivers You Need
- Encrypt a Folder with EFS and Back Up the Key
- Boot into Safe Mode and Get Back Out Again
- Extend C When the Free Space Is Not Next to It
- Back Up a Registry Key Before You Edit It
- Read UPS Battery Status and Set Up a Safe Shutdown
- Back Up Every Driver Before a Reinstall
- Resolve Steam Cloud Save Conflicts
- Set Up a Two-Drive Mirror With Storage Spaces
- Recover Deleted Files Before They Are Overwritten
- Build a Multi-Boot Rescue USB With Ventoy
- Keep Two Folders in Sync With Syncthing
- Back Up and Move Retro Saves Between Emulators
Error codes
- 0x80070091 The directory is not empty
- 0x81000037 Backup failed: volume shadow copy error
- 0x81000033 Backup failed: files could not be read
- 0x80042302 A Volume Shadow Copy service component failed
- 0x8004230F The shadow copy could not be created
- System Protection is off There are no restore points to go back to
- There was a problem resetting your PC Reset this PC failed
- File History has no drive File History cannot find a backup drive
- Backup drive is not NTFS File History cannot use this drive
- Backup failed (BitLocker locked) The backup cannot read the encrypted drive