How to Recover Specific Files from a Restore Point in Windows
The System Restore Point feature in Windows is a very useful feature that helps you a lot when an error or problem occurs that makes the computer not work normally. The function of this feature in short is to save a backup copy of all the important files in the system partition, which usually has the symbol (:C) before installing a new program, driver or update for Windows, with the possibility of creating a restore point manually when the user sees the need for it. Then later, if a problem occurs, the system state can be returned to the time when the restore point was created and the damaged files are replaced with those that were backed up.
But what if you only want to restore specific files from a restore point instead of restoring your entire system to the state it was in before the restore point was created? Maybe you need to do this when you accidentally delete a DLL file from your system files, a program, or accidentally delete a file from your desktop. Whatever the reason, you can easily access the contents of the restore point and extract what you need from it — here's how.
Extract files from a restore point
While there are many ways to back up files stored on your computer, whether using external programs or built-in features in Windows such as Files History , if we assume that you have not done this step before but need to recover important files that were accidentally deleted from the C partition, you can view the contents of the restore point so that you can copy the required files without having to restore the entire restore point. Unfortunately, Windows does not provide an option for this, but we will use a simple external tool that does the job perfectly.
First: How to create a restore point on Windows
As we mentioned in the introduction, Windows automatically creates a restore point when you install a new program, update drivers, or install a new Windows update, but if you haven't used the System Restore Point feature before, you can start creating a new restore point manually in simple steps in case any problems occur in the future. There are more than one way to do this, you can even set your computer to create a restore point every time you turn it on , or add the Create a restore point button to the right-click menu .
But the official way is to open the search bar by pressing the Win + S keys together, then type " System Protection" and press Enter. From the window that will appear, click " Create", then type a description of the restore point and click Create and wait until a backup copy of all files stored on the C partition is created, but this will not take long, as the restore point feature relies on a technology called " Shadow Copy ", which creates an exact copy of the files and collects them in one compressed package.
Later, if things go wrong and Windows no longer works normally, you can resort to a restore point to return the system to the state it was in before it was created. The usual way to do this is to open the System Protection window again, then click the "System Restore" button.
From the window that appears, click "Next" and the restore points that have been created over the past period will appear. The name of each point and the date it was created are displayed. But as we mentioned before, you do not need to restore the entire restore point if you only need a specific file or some files, just make sure that there is a restore point that was created before these files were lost/corrupted and then continue with the steps in the next paragraph.
Second: Recover specific files from a restore point
Method 1: Using ShadowCopyView
You can rely on NirSoft's ShadowCopyView to view the contents of the backup created by a Windows system restore point, but the tool not only lets you explore files but also extract them individually. Like most NirSoft programs, ShadowCopyView is a portable tool and therefore does not require installation on the device, and the tool is less than 1 MB in size.
As for the method, it is very easy. First, run the tool and it will display all the restore points in a list, but the names of these points are not displayed, only the date and time of their creation. So if you are not sure which restore point you want to access, you can open the search bar in Windows and type the command [ rstrui.exe ] then Enter. From the window that appears, you can find out the identical restore points in terms of time and date.
Anyway, once you select a restore point from the list in ShadowCopyView, the contents of the backup will appear at the bottom. You can go to the folder or file you are looking for and select it, or select several other files in the same folder by holding down the Shift key.
Then right-click and choose "Copy Selected Files To". From the window that will appear, click the Browse button represented by the ( … ) icon and select where to save these files. Then click the "Do it!" button. The selected files will immediately be extracted from the backup created by the restore point and saved to the specified location.
Method 2: Using Shadow Copy Explorer
It provides a simple interface where users can manage the restore points that are created in the Windows system, with the ability to create restore points manually, delete restore points, or restore the computer to the state it was in when that restore point was created. You can also see how much space each restore point is using on the hard drive.
But this is not the most important feature in Shadow Copy Explorer , but the most prominent function is to allow browsing the files saved in each restore point and extracting specific files from them, so you will not have to perform a full restore process. All you have to do is select a restore point and click Mount to open a folder with all the files included in this restore point with full control over it.
Shadow Copy Explorer does not require installation, just run it and a list of current restore points will appear, with all the control buttons at the top such as the Create, Delete and Restore point button, and you can also enable or disable the System Restore feature in the first place.