Create a System Restore Point with a Desktop Shortcut

Posted on January 12, 2010 at 5:33 am

System Restore is a great Windows feature, especially for those of us who install and delete software on a daily basis. When the feature first debuted, most of us would set a restore point each and every time we downloaded anything.

But as time has passed, most of us have become lazy with our restore points because of the long navigation process required to reach this tool. In a perfect world, we would have a desktop icon we could click to effortlessly create a restore point. Well, the world might not be perfect, but we can still easily have such an icon.

Step 1: Write two lines of Visual Basic Script

This is not nearly as hard as it sounds. Just open Notepad and type (or copy/paste) this:

rp = “Shortcut created restore point from ” & WScript.ScriptName

GetObject(“winmgmts:\\.\root\default:Systemrestore”).CreateRestorePoint rp, 0, 100

Your screen should look like this:

Now, click File then Save As. Name your file something like “System Restore Script” so you will remember what the file is. Instead of saving it as a .txt file, type .vbs after your chosen file name. You can save this file in any directory, so long as you remember where it is for the next step.

Step 2: Create a shortcut

Go to your desktop and right click in a blank space. Click New and select Shortcut.

Click Browse and find the file you just created. Click Open. Now type wscript.exe in front of the path of the file you just selected and click Next.

In the next window, name your shortcut. Click Finish when you are done.

Your shortcut will now appear on your desktop.

Step 3: Test your shortcut

To make sure your shortcut works, double click it. Now open the system restore by going to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore. You should see the restore point you just made in the description.

You will know the restore point is the one you just made because it will start with “Install: Shortcut created restore point”—a phrase you should remember from the first line of code we typed in step 1.

From this same window, if you click Choose a different restore point and then Next, your restore point should appear at the top of the list.

Now there are no excuses not to use the System Restore feature—just click your shortcut right before you download files or install software.

» Filed Under Computer Tips

Comments

25 Responses to “Create a System Restore Point with a Desktop Shortcut”

Phil said on : January 12th, 2010 at 4:08 pm

Great idea…except I can’t get this to work for me. I’ve never worked with vbs.

When I create it as you show, after I take the step to “create shortcut,” I get an error message that says the procedure cannot find file “C:\wscript.exe”C:\[file name and path]“. In other words, it puts “C:\” in front of wscript.exe.

Then I tried putting a space between wscript.exe and the file path name. That produced an icon. But clicking the icon produced an error message that referred to missing information.

What did I do wrong?

Katie said on : January 12th, 2010 at 5:12 pm

Hi Phil! When you create your shortcut, try browsing for your new vbs file first, then typing the wscript.exe in front of it.

When I click “properties” on my shortcut, it shows the target as: C:\Windows\System32\wscript.exe “C:\Users\user\Desktop\Online-Tech-Tips Restore Script.vbs”

So, what you’re pasting back to me up there has two problems with it:

1. wscript.exe is located in c:\windows\system32\wscript.exe rather than just c:

2. your quotation marks should just go around the directory where the script file is located.

You can edit your shortcut by right clicking it and choosing properties. Click the shortcut tab, then edit the target.

Let me know which operating system (XP, Vista, 7) you’re using if this still doesn’t fix it

Phil said on : January 12th, 2010 at 8:42 pm

Katie,

Thanks so much! Mine’s still not working, so I’ll take you up on your offer to help. I’m using XP.

OK, here’s what’s in my Target field in the Shortcut tab of the shortcut’s properties:
C:\windows\system32\wscript.exe”C:\VBS Scripts\System Restore Script.vbs”. I copied and pasted this here so it would be accurate. I had stored the VBS file in a folder named VBS Scripts.

In that same tab in properties, the “Start in” field has a weird-looking name in it: %windir%

I’ll appreciate any suggestion. Thanks for helping a total newbie!

Katie said on : January 13th, 2010 at 7:30 am

Phil,

hmmm… let’s try changing the “start in” to C:\Windows\system32 (that’s what is working on mine).

Then, add a space in your target field between the script and the second “c” like:

C:\windows\system32\wscript.exe ”C:\VBS Scripts\System Restore Script.vbs

Just in case you haven’t already, make sure your system restore function is turned on, and your script appears in the directory as a .vbs rather than a .vbs.txt (I don’t know how many times I’ve done that one–typos are the cause of about 85% of all bugs).

Let me know if that works

joetronics said on : January 13th, 2010 at 4:14 pm

My problem is that the term “RB” is not recognized by the program. I get an error in a box on the desktop.

So, is everyone sure this will work in XP, cause thats what I got, and it ain’t working…….

Also, when you go to copy/paste from the article (like it says to do) – you lose the “”"” – you get a small black square box instead. So, something is wrong there also…

Clifford said on : January 13th, 2010 at 4:18 pm

Great, great tip!

Thanks.
I noticed Line 2 was modified and the blank line removed. The modification involved removing the extra ) after winmgmts. Racked my brains for 30 minutes, goggle’d the errors I was receiving (4) as I tried different combos until FINALLY removed the ).

voila! Restore point created.

Is there any way to insert a command so that there is some screen activity (twirling windmill or something) while working? I hit it twice, not realizing HD led was steady.

This will get a lot of use.

Cliff

Clifford said on : January 13th, 2010 at 4:19 pm

joetronics,

Try rp rather than RB

Clifford said on : January 13th, 2010 at 4:22 pm

joetronics,

here is what I used and it worked:

rp = “Shortcut created restore point from ” & WScript.ScriptName
GetObject(“winmgmts:\\.\root\default:Systemrestore”).CreateRestorePoint rp, 0, 100

the text is on 4 lines due to the size of the box.

joetronics said on : January 13th, 2010 at 4:26 pm

sorry, I meant RP – I copied and pasted – restored the “” from the black boxes – and tried it three times – still the same thing……

joetronics said on : January 13th, 2010 at 4:44 pm

Ok, for some reason it started working, so all is cool now.

Thanks for the help

Katie said on : January 14th, 2010 at 6:55 am

Cliff – try adding a message box to tell you the script worked. Just add this to a new line at the end of your script file:

Msgbox(“Restore Point Created!”)

In Windows 7, there is a bit of lag between when I click the script and when the box pops up–about 20 seconds.

Clifford said on : January 14th, 2010 at 8:03 am

joetronics,
You are right. Just created this from scratch on NB and the ” from the box in Step 1 had to be replaced manually. The ones in the box do not work. Probably different character set.

Also, had “Invalid character in Line 2 col 1″. Went into the shortcut properties and gave it Run as Administrator. Worked fine.

Katie, thanks for the message box. Added another Msgbox to advise process is in action. Here is what the final vbs looks like.

rp = “Shortcut created restore point from ” & WScript.ScriptName
Msgbox(“Restore Point Being Created!…Please Wait”)
GetObject(“winmgmts:\\.\root\default:Systemrestore”).CreateRestorePoint rp, 0, 100
Msgbox(“Restore Point Created!”)

Cornell said on : January 14th, 2010 at 4:52 pm

This is how I’ve been doing it with XP for quite a while.
First, Create a System Restore shortcut and put it on the Desktop.

Afterward, whenever I want to create a restore point, it’s then very simple.
1. Click on the shortcut whenever I want to create a restore point.
2. Create a restore point.

Your way seems like a lot more tedious.

Clifford said on : January 14th, 2010 at 5:22 pm

Cornell,
Different strokes for different folks. Does your way work in Vista/Win7?

I also did it “your” way when I had XP. OTT’s way in vbs is not “a lot more tedious” past the creation of the script file. One advantage is the msgbox Katie included.

Gadgetman496 said on : January 16th, 2010 at 11:41 am

This is still not working for me on XP! Any other ideas?

simonett said on : January 16th, 2010 at 12:53 pm

I had to change the “fancy” quotation marks (slanted or curly) on this page into plain-text (straight & vertical) quotation marks. There was an error compiling the brief Visual Basic script that I copied without change from this page, until I noticed that all quotation marks on this page web remain “fancy” when copied into either Notepad or EditPad, (my favorite plain-text editor). After fixing that issue it compiled and worked beautifully. Thank You!

pavid said on : January 16th, 2010 at 2:16 pm

I too had some problems with the script as presented. It seems the “fancy quotes” used by the typesetter were causing a problem both with the script and the message boxes. Once I replaced all “fancy quotes” with regular quotes everything worked fine. BTW thanks Katie for the message box idea. It’s much better than hanging in the “dark” while the script is running and never knowing when it actually finishes. I’m using Win 7.

Sher said on : January 17th, 2010 at 8:23 am

Followed directions exactly but didn’t work for me in Vista Home Premium…

??

esgee said on : January 17th, 2010 at 8:42 am

Fantastic tip ! {And Cornell’s point is also good).

Had the same problem with the fancy quotes, but it worked perfectly when I replaced them in regular quotation marks.

Katie’s “messagebox” tip is great, too. Thanks everybody !!!

Peter Hopkins said on : January 17th, 2010 at 2:56 pm

This looks like a really good shortcut but I’m new at vbs scripts and I keep getting the following error:
Script C:\Util\SystemRestorePoint.vbs
Line 1
Char 6
Error Invalid character
Code 800A0408
Source Microsoft VBScript compilation error

This is the script I’m trying to use:
rp = “Shortcut created restore point from ” & WScript.ScriptName

GetObject(”winmgmts:\\.\root\default:Systemrestore”).CreateRestorePoint rp, 0, 100

Thanks for any help you can give me
Peter

Ken Mason said on : January 17th, 2010 at 6:16 pm

Here’s a link to Single Click Restore Point, a script compiled into an EXE. It doesn’t require a VBS knowledge. This even works in Win7!

http://tec-updates.blogspot.co.....point.html

Clifford said on : January 17th, 2010 at 9:20 pm

# 18 Peter,

Look at #12 1st paragraph. Replace the quotes from example by typing them yourself.

Morris said on : January 17th, 2010 at 9:23 pm

I’m running Win 7 64. Had fun tweaking this to get it to work. Used Katie’s suggestion for a message box. But still had the “Char” problem! So, I copied it to Word (couldn’t do a thing with the quote marks in Notepad), AFTER I turned OFF -unchecked- Replace “straight quotes” with “smart quotes”. (It’s in Word’s Windows Circle button, Word Options, Proofing, AutoCorrect Options).

Once I got that done, copied it back to Notepad, where i could save it as a .vbs file. So far so, good, but it STILL didn’t run. That’s when I remembered someone writing about running it as Admin. OK, right clicked on the icon, options, finally found the Run as a an Admin dialog box, checked. Ran it, accepted the program (win 7 is unbelievable paranoid – GOOD!)

Ran like a charm. First the Hold your horses msg box came up. Waited a few seconds, hit OK, waited a few more seconds (a minute or 2??) then a box saying the Restore Point was created came up. Piece of cake? Not quite, but enlightening, nonetheless. Thanks to all who contributed to my success.

Peter Hopkins said on : January 17th, 2010 at 9:47 pm

Thank you, replacing the quotes fixed the problem.

Stephanie said on : January 26th, 2010 at 8:33 am

I opened notepad and copied the script into it and changed the quotes to plain quotes and saved as .vbs. Followed all the instructions and kept getting error codes. I tried this over and over again. Got nowhere.

I went looking for further info, especially as to why vbs scripts don’t work on my Netbook with Win 7 starter edition. Haven’t found out why they don’t work yet.

I found a solution on a different site but credited this site (online-tech-tips) and the site where I downloaded a file to create the shortcut for me.

If not for http://www.online-tech-tips.com/, I wouldn’t have continued my pursuit for a quick way to create system restore points. I create them every time I boot up as well as every time I download and then install programs. Believe me, it’s NOT overkill.

I posted a shorter version of this on Twitter for the benefit of those looking for this and for those who don’t know they need it but they should get the hint now!

Windows 7 – System Restore Point Shortcut:
sevenforums.com/tutorials/494-system-restore-point-shortcut.html

This link shows you how to confirm that you created a system restore point. I couldn’t get the VBS script to work but I’m using the Windows 7 starter OS on my netbook.

Thank you to everyone who posted the script, adjustments to it, helpful tips and notes to make it work.

Steph