How to Create a System Restore Point Shortcut

By | October 6, 2021
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How to Create a System Restore Point Shortcut

This tip works in Windows 10 and Windows 11. The screenshots in this article are from Windows 11 but it works exactly the same in Windows 10. We’re hoping to show that Windows 10 and Windows 11 are kissing cousins. If you can use Windows 10, you won’t have much trouble learning Windows 11.

Creating Windows System Restore Points is a multi-step task. But did you know you can create a System Restore Point with a single click? It’s easy to do, and it works with Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Here’s how to do it.

1. Right-click on your desktop
2. Choose “New” > “Shortcut”
3. In the box under “What would you like to create a shortcut for” copy & paste this line:

powershell.exe -NoExit -Command "& {Checkpoint-Computer -description "MyRestorePoint" -restorepointtype "Modify_Settings"}

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4. Now give it a name, for instance, “Create Restore Point” would be nice.

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Shortcut on Windows 11 Desktop - Cloudeight InfoAve

5. Right-click on your desktop shortcut and choose “Properties”. Click “Advanced”.

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In the window that opens, tick the box that says, “Run as administrator”. Then click OK. Click Apply/Ok (Windows 10) or “OK” (Windows 11).

Restore Point Shortcut - Cloudeight InfoAve

Now when you click your new shortcut, you’ll see this:

Cloudeight InfoAve Windows tips and tricks

Now you can create a System Restore point with just a single click!

For more interesting reading about System Restore and how to use it, see these Cloudeight articles:

This article shows you how to use System Restore.

And this one shows you how to adjust the space allocated for System Restore to use.

22 thoughts on “How to Create a System Restore Point Shortcut

  1. Dennis Hayden

    Hi, I did what you suggested re Restore Point. At least I think I did because it didn’t work. I tried it the second time with the same result. When I click on the new Restore Point shortcut I just get a Power Shell page?????? I recall doing this one other time and I believe it worked then.

    Reply
  2. Dennis Hayden

    Dennis Hayden once more. I did it the third time and it still didn’t work. I can’t figure out what I am doing wrong. I took a picture of the power shell page I get but I can’t download it to you.

    Reply
      1. infoave Post author

        Make sure you’re copying the entire command

        powershell.exe -NoExit -Command "& {Checkpoint-Computer -description "MyRestorePoint" -restorepointtype "Modify_Settings"}

        Paste it into a notepad file and make sure you’ve copied it all. Then copy it into an ADMIN Command Prompt (instead of PowerShell).

        All the screenshots in the article were taken on my computers yesterday. The tip was tested on 2 Windows 10 and one Windows 11 PC on 6 OCTOBER 2021.

        Reply
  3. Jan

    Would only work for me in Windows 10 if I inserted %windir%\system32\rstrui.exe into the location box. Found that direction elsewhere. %windir%\system32\rstrui.exe

    Reply
    1. infoave Post author

      %windir%\system32\rstrui.exe only opens System Restore, it has nothing to do with creating restore points. You can do the same thing by opening a run box and typing RSTRUI and clicking OK.

      As far as our instructions go…
      Make sure you’re copying the entire command

      powershell.exe -NoExit -Command "& {Checkpoint-Computer -description "MyRestorePoint" -restorepointtype "Modify_Settings"}
      The command %windir%\system32\rstrui.exe merely opens System Restore it does not open the Create a Restore Point dialog.

      Paste it into a notepad file and make sure you’ve copied it all. Then copy it into an ADMIN Command Prompt (instead of PowerShell).

      All the screenshots in the article were taken on my computers yesterday. The tip was tested on 2 Windows 10 and one Windows 11 PC on 6 OCTOBER 2021.

      Reply
  4. Jan

    No, I take that back. It wouldn’t make a restore point, rather opened System Restore. Phooey.

    Reply
    1. infoave Post author

      I answered your other post. RSTRUI is the command to open System Restore.

      Reply
  5. james davis

    get a message missing “. error something missing in the copy and paste part

    Reply
    1. infoave Post author

      Make sure you’re copying the entire command

      powershell.exe -NoExit -Command "& {Checkpoint-Computer -description "MyRestorePoint" -restorepointtype "Modify_Settings"}

      Paste it into a notepad file and make sure you’ve copied it all. Then copy it into an ADMIN Command Prompt (instead of PowerShell).

      All the screenshots in the article were taken on my computers yesterday. The tip was tested on 2 Windows 10 and one Windows 11 PC on 6 OCTOBER 2021.

      Reply
      1. Dennis Hayden

        I did this, I copied it from Notepad and put it into Command Prompt {Admin} but all I got was a new restore point, not a short cut. Please don’t be concerned as it obviously worked for some and not for others. It must be something to do with differences in pc’s or ??
        As i said previously, I believe you gave instructions some time back for the same thing and if I remember correctly it worked.

        Reply
  6. Janet Cleavenger

    It worked perfectly on my computer and on my husband’s computer. I have a feeling some of these people are not copying and pasting the whole code. Janet

    Reply
  7. Cynthia Laine

    This time it worked, exactly the same procedure and same info I copied… Go figure! Whatever the reason, all is well.

    Reply
  8. Slayer58

    Mine wont work as well it says
    The string is missing the Terminator
    + CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : TerminatorExpectedAtEndOfString
    And before you say it I did copy the whole string
    powershell.exe -NoExit -Command “& {Checkpoint-Computer -description “MyRestorePoint” -restorepointtype “Modify_Settings”}

    Reply
    1. infoave Post author

      Terminator errors usually occur when you’re copying HTML and pasting it into a plain text-only application, like a command prompt or PowerShell. Copy the command and paste it into NotePad and then copy the code from left to right. Windows adds a space when copying right to left.

      Reply
      1. Slayer58

        That did the trick Sir seems I was doing it the wrong way, thank you very much.

        Reply
  9. Dennis Hayden

    I could not make your note work so I went back to one of your older notes and tried that. It worked. So, for whatever reasons, i haven’t a clue, thank you because I now have a system restore shortcut.

    Reply
    1. infoave Post author

      Funny thing. I was just a FYI tip. You can create a restore point almost as quickly by typing CREATE in taskbar search, press Enter and create a restore point.

      Reply
  10. Penny J.

    Worked on both of our computers. Only took a few seconds. Thank you for the tip!

    Reply

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