Fix System Restore Cannot Find a Restore Point After Storage Sense on Windows 11

You try to run System Restore on Windows 11, but the tool reports that it cannot find any restore points. This happens shortly after you let Storage Sense clean up your drive. The cause is that Storage Sense, when configured to delete system restore points, removes the shadow copy data that System Restore needs. This article explains why Storage Sense deletes restore points and provides a step-by-step fix to recover or create new restore points.

Why Storage Sense Deletes System Restore Points on Windows 11

Storage Sense is a built-in Windows 11 feature that automatically frees up disk space by deleting temporary files, items in the Recycle Bin, and system restore points. The feature is enabled by default on many Windows 11 installations. When Storage Sense runs its cleanup cycle, it checks the option “Delete system restore points that are older than the specified time.” By default, this time is set to 30 days. Any restore point older than that threshold is deleted, which can leave you with zero restore points if all points were older than the cutoff.

System Restore works by taking snapshots of the Windows registry and critical system files. These snapshots are stored as shadow copies on the volume. Storage Sense targets the same shadow copy storage area during cleanup. If you have not created a restore point recently, or if all existing points are older than the Storage Sense retention period, you will see the “cannot find a restore point” error.

Steps to Disable Storage Sense from Deleting Restore Points and Create a New Point

1. Open Storage Sense settings
   Press the Windows key and type “Storage Sense.” Click on the result labeled “Storage Sense.” This opens the Storage page in Settings.
2. Turn off automatic cleanup of restore points
   On the Storage page, click “Storage Sense” to expand its settings. Scroll down to the section “Automatic User Content Cleanup.” Click the dropdown menu next to “Delete system restore points that are older than” and select “Never.” This prevents Storage Sense from deleting restore points during future cleanup runs.
3. Run Storage Sense manually to confirm the change
   Click “Run Storage Sense now” at the top of the Storage Sense settings page. This triggers an immediate cleanup that respects the new setting. After the cleanup completes, check if System Restore can find any points.
4. Open System Properties
   Press the Windows key, type “Create a restore point,” and click the result. This opens the System Protection tab of System Properties.
5. Check System Protection status
   In the Protection Settings section, verify that the protection status for your system drive (usually C:) is set to “On.” If it is “Off,” click “Configure,” select “Turn on system protection,” and set the max usage slider to at least 5% of your disk size. Click OK.
6. Create a new restore point
   Back in the System Protection tab, click the “Create” button. Type a descriptive name for the restore point, such as “After Storage Sense fix.” Click Create. Windows 11 will create a new restore point. You will see a success message when the process finishes.
7. Test System Restore
   Press the Windows key, type “System Restore,” and click “Create a restore point” again. In the System Protection tab, click “System Restore.” Click Next. You should now see at least one restore point listed. Select it and follow the prompts to complete the restore process if needed.

What to Do If System Restore Still Cannot Find Any Points

“System Restore cannot find any restore points” even after creating a new point

If you have created a new restore point but System Restore still shows no points, the shadow copy storage might be corrupted. Open Command Prompt as Administrator by pressing the Windows key, typing “cmd,” right-clicking “Command Prompt,” and selecting “Run as administrator.” Run the command vssadmin list shadows. This shows all existing shadow copies on the system. If no shadows appear, the shadow copy storage is empty. Run vssadmin resize shadowstorage /for=c: /on=c: /maxsize=5GB to allocate storage space, then create a new restore point again.

“System Restore cannot protect this drive” error

This error indicates that the system drive does not have enough free space for shadow copies. Free up at least 5% of the drive capacity by deleting unnecessary files or moving them to an external drive. Then re-enable System Protection as described in step 5 above.

“System Restore failed to extract the original copy of the directory” error

This error usually means that a restore point exists but is corrupted. Run the System File Checker tool: open Command Prompt as Administrator and run sfc /scannow. After the scan completes, restart your PC and try System Restore again.

Item	Storage Sense Deletes Restore Points	Storage Sense Keeps Restore Points
Description	Storage Sense removes shadow copies older than the set retention period	Storage Sense skips shadow copy deletion entirely
Default setting	30 days	Never
Effect on System Restore	All points older than the cutoff are lost; new points may still be created	All existing points remain; new points accumulate
Recovery method	Disable the setting, then create a new restore point	No action needed; points are preserved

You now know why Storage Sense deletes restore points and how to stop it from doing so. After disabling the cleanup of restore points in Storage Sense settings, create at least one new restore point to ensure you have a fallback. For advanced protection, consider setting the max usage slider in System Protection to 10% of your disk size to store more restore points.