Securely Disable System Restore In Windows 10

Windows has a native utility named "System Restore", which basically takes a snapshot of your operating system, and stores It In the form of Restore Points. If your PC corrupts, you can select any Restore Point and your computer will go back to when It was functioning correctly. This also means that anyone with physical access to your system, can do the same. In this tutorial, I will show you how or securely disable System Restore.


So what's the purpose of this? Well, If you have multiple users on your PC and a System Restore Is performed, It will undo certain changes and If you've previously Installed applications and personalized your PC, they may well be affected.

As a safeguard, I will demonstrate how to securely disable It using the Group Policy Editor, which Is native to Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise and Education Editions. So without further delay, let's rip Into this tutorial.

Step One:
To access System Restore, navigate via the following directory:
Control Panel > System and Security > System > System protection

You will then see the System Restore option as Illustrated below. This Is what will be disabled.

Step Two:
We'll disable It via the Group Policy Editor, by firstly opening the Run menu, entering gpedit.msc and then hitting OK.

Step Three.
The Group Policy Editor window will now open, so navigate to the following directory:
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > System Restore

Then on the right pane, double-click on Turn off System Restore as shown below.

Step Four:
To the left of the window, click the Enabled radio button and to finalize the process, hit OK.

Last Step:
Now let's see If the change has taken effect. As per Step One above, I've accessed System Restore and as you can see, the option Is Grayed out, hence securely disabled.

Final Thoughts:
Without question, System Restore serves It's purpose very well Indeed, by reverting your operating system to a previously functioning state. However, as already mentioned, applications and personalized settings can be lost If a given user decides to do It without your knowledge. It's so simple to securely disable It, thus makes perfect sense to do just that.

To reverse the change and have System Restore accessible as per It's original state, go back to Step Four above and select the Not Configured radio button. Don't forget to hit OK.