Previous versions of files. Restoring files from a previous version of Windows How to restore a version of Windows
In this article, I will tell you about a way to automatically save the latest changes to your files in Windows 7 once a day, in case you accidentally delete some necessary document or, for example, change it and save it without leaving an old copy. This method consists of saving previous versions of files using the built-in function in Windows “System Protection”, i.e. by creating restore checkpoints.
When deleting files from a computer, the “Recycle Bin” usually comes to the rescue, in which the file is placed before final deletion. From there, you can always restore the file and continue working with it. However, there are several nuances here:
Firstly, the volume of the recycle bin is limited (it is configured by the user himself) and some large files will not always be deleted immediately, past the recycle bin.
Secondly, the recycle bin can be emptied as a result of careless work in some system optimization programs, or you can empty the recycle bin yourself and then remember that there was something important there :)
Thirdly, in Windows the Recycle Bin sometimes glitches and when you open it, sometimes you may not see any files, although they actually are there.
Therefore, you definitely shouldn’t rely completely on the Recycle Bin in the sense that it will save all your files from accidental deletion... Well, in the end, the Recycle Bin will not save your file in any way if you accidentally changed it, then saved it and after some time, you suddenly need an original copy of the same file (for example, if the changes you made were incorrect and you need to take the original file and start over). After saving a file, there is no way to return its standard copy.
To have additional protection for your files from loss or unwanted, unnecessary changes, in Windows 7 you can use the System Protection feature. This feature is part of a tool to restore the system to a previous state. Windows has a special program that constantly monitors the state of the system, monitors its changes and saves important changes in the form of recovery checkpoints. Thanks to these restore points, Windows can be restored to one of the previous states, for example, the last day, week, month (depending on which restore points were created).
More information on how to restore Windows to a previous state is described in a separate article.
Windows 8 and 10 have a simple and convenient “Backup Service” function for setting up a full backup of your selected files and folders to another HDD at the specified time. This has been discussed.
In addition to the fact that the system protection function monitors system parameters and writes changes to special recovery checkpoints, it can also monitor changes to files that are also written to checkpoints, which allows us to then view the history of each file.
There is an important point. You can see previous changes only if you created a restore point in Windows before those changes. For example, you deleted a file from your desktop and a restore checkpoint was created up to this point. This means that you can then look at previous versions of the files in the desktop folder and see the file you deleted there. If a recovery point was not created before deleting the file, then you will not be able to restore it.
The same applies to changes in files. For example, you made some change to a file, saved it and then wanted to restore the original version of this file. This can only be done if a recovery checkpoint was created before the changes were made. Those. you will get 2 versions of your file: the one that was saved when creating the checkpoint and the file you modified.
The function of saving previous versions of files is not a full-fledged backup, since firstly, checkpoints will be created on the same disk where you store the original files. This means that in the event of a sudden failure hard drive, you will lose the files along with their saved previous versions. Secondly, if the system fails, you can restore previous versions of your files only by restoring the system to a working state!
Setting up saving of previous versions of files
To enable saving of previous versions of files, you need to go to the “System Protection” section.
This function can be quickly opened through Windows search by typing “Create a restore point” there. In the search results you need to open the found option of the same name:
Read more about how to use search in different versions of Windows.
You can also open required section manually by going to Start > Control Panel > > System and Security > System > System Protection.
In the “System Protection” window, from the list (1), select the local drive for which you want to enable the ability to save previous versions of files and click “Configure”.
At the top of the window, select one of the options: save both system settings and previous versions of files, or only previous versions of files (1).
In the first case, when creating the next checkpoint, Windows will save not only your files, but also system settings, which will allow you, in the event of any failures due to incorrectly configured parameters, to return the system to the state when these failures did not occur.
Below, using the slider (2), you need to indicate how much space as a percentage of the total space on the selected local disk will be allocated for storing previous versions of files and system settings (if you selected option 1 above).
Remember that if the allocated free space for storing checkpoints runs out, old checkpoints will be deleted.
To save the changes, click “Apply” and “OK”.
If there are several disks, then you will need to separately select each disk from the list and enable saving of previous versions of files!
How can I view previous versions of files?
If you are viewing previous versions of a file, the window will display a list of versions of the selected file, along with dates of modification. To view changes in a file, you need to select it and open it by double-clicking (or using the “Open” button at the bottom). This way you can look at different versions of the file you need and find the one where the changes you need were made.
To restore the selected version of a file, the easiest way is to drag it with the mouse from this window to the desired folder. The file will be restored immediately. If you click "Copy", an explorer will open where you can select a folder to restore the file. And if you click “Restore”, the file will be restored to the same folder where it was previously located, and if the same file (of a different version) is already located in this folder, then it will be replaced by the version that you are restoring.
If you are viewing previous versions of a folder, then the window will, accordingly, display all changes saved in recovery points in this folder.
Likewise, by opening different versions from this window, you can find the one you need and restore it.
How can I change the schedule for creating checkpoints?
By default, checkpoints that save changes to your files are created in Windows 7 every time you turn on your computer and at 0:00 every day.
This means that changes to your files will be saved twice during the specified periods. That is, if your file, for example, is changed during the day and you want to return these changes, then you will not be able to do this, since you initially do not create restore points during the day.
You can always change the schedule for creating restore points to your own. For example, the initially set time of 0:00 may be meaningless for many, because not everyone already uses a computer at this time of day. And if the computer does not work at the specified time, then the checkpoint, accordingly, will not be created.
In order to change the schedule, you need to use the built-in Windows program- task scheduler.
Open task scheduler by typing in Windows search word "Scheduler":
On the left side of the Scheduler window, navigate to Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > SystemRestore.
A task named “SR” will appear in the center of the window. Right-click on it and select “Properties”.
You can view and change the current schedule for creating recovery checkpoints on the Triggers tab (1). It is better to leave the “At startup” task. But you can change the “Daily” task by specifying a different time for creating points. Select "Daily" (2) from the list and click "Edit" (3).
In the settings window that opens, change the time after the word “Start” to one that is convenient for you.
It's best to choose a time when your computer is most likely to be turned on. Click "OK" to save the changes.
You can create a manual restore point at any time, if necessary. To do this, in the already familiar “System Protection” window, you need to click the “Create” button.
And in the window that opens, specify any name for the control point and click “Create” again.
In a few seconds the point will be created!
Using the task scheduler, you can configure any programs to autorun on a schedule, for example, when you turn on the computer. This is discussed in a separate article.
Conclusion
As a result of the manipulations performed, you will have a checkpoint created every day at the time you specified and as a result you will receive a backup copy of your files for every day. However, this method of saving previous versions of your files should not be confused with full-fledged backups, because full backups are always performed on a separate hard drive so that files are not lost even if your main drive fails. In Windows 7, unfortunately, there is no way to configure the quick creation of previous versions of files using scheduled backups to another hard drive. In this Windows, is there only such a simple option with recovery checkpoints, which was described in this article, or the ability to create an archive with the necessary data, which is already a reliable backup method and will be discussed in one of the subsequent articles.
How to restore Windows7 using the Windows.old folder. (step-by-step instruction).
It often happens that after a forced reinstallation of the system or some, often unconscious, manipulations, all information and all programs that are installed on the drive (C:) disappear without a trace. But not everyone knows that they do not disappear without a trace.
The whole point is that in Windows7, even after Windows reinstallation, the previous version is backed up in the folder Windows. old. This folder is located on drive C: and in itself is not capable, cannot be active, that is, the system boots from Windows folders, but files, packages and programs from the previous operating system remain in Windows. old . So how can you restore the system from this folder?
Before starting the recovery, find out whether there is a Windows.old folder on the drive (C:) and whether there is enough free space on your hard drive to install the operating system.
Next, we carry out everything, strictly following this manual.
- Click Start, and then select Computer;
- In the View submenu, select Details.
- In the “Free Space” column, carefully examine your local drive (C:) in the “hard drives” area.
- Double-click in the hard drive area, local drive (C:), and then check to see if the Windows.old folder has been deleted (many people delete it after installing the system so as not to clog up the hard drive).
If the Windows.old folder is not available, then you should not perform further actions, as they will be meaningless.
Next, right-click on the Windows.old folder. We look at the properties of the folder and make sure that it is smaller in size than the amount of free space on the disk (C:).Note. If the Windows.old folder is at least twice the amount of free space located on the local disk (C:), then it will not be possible to restore the previous version of Windows.
Next, launch the Windows Recovery Environment. - Insert the Windows 7 installation disc into the DVD drive and give the command to restart the computer.
- When the message “” appears, select everything that you will need in the further operation of the system, namely: currency, time, language, but all this can be configured in the installed system. After all this, click the “Next” button.
- In the “Windows Installation” window that appears, click the “ Restore your computer».
- In the “” window that appears, select the version of the operating system that you want to restore, namely Windows7. After all this, click the “Next” button.
- Next in the window that appears “ System Recovery Options"Open the command line, namely, select the command " Command line».
After all these manipulations, a command line window will open. Next in command line you will enter the commands that are described below. The following steps are intended to move the Windows7 folders to a new Win7 folder.
Note. When you enter one or more commands at the command prompt and press ENTER, the following message may appear:
"The system cannot find the file specified."
If such a message appears, then follow these steps, proceed to the next step in this section, and enter the command at the command prompt.
Important! After each command, press the "ENTER" key.
And so, we enter:
Move Windows Win7Windows
Move "Program Files" "Win7Program Files"
Move Users Win7Users
Attrib -h -s -r ProgramData
Move ProgramData Win7ProgramData
Rd "Documents and Settings"
Important! We observe all separating marks and spaces in the strictest order with the sample.
In the next step, we move the entire contents of the folder " Windows.old ».
Note. When you enter one or several commands in the command line and press the “ENTER” key, the following message may appear: "The system cannot find the file specified".
If this happens, then enter the following commands on the command line.
Important! After each command, press the “ENTER” key, and also do not forget to observe punctuation marks.
Enter the following commands:
move /y c:Windows.oldWindows c:
move /y "c:Windows.oldProgram Files" c:
move /y c:Windows.oldProgramData c:
move /y c:Windows.oldUsers c:
move /y "c:Windows.oldDocuments and Settings" c:
In the following commands (D:) represents the DVD drive. If the DVD drive on your computer is designated by a different letter, then use that letter in the command.
Type the following command and press "ENTER" if the previous operating system was Windows, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP or Microsoft Windows 2000.
D:ootootsect/nt52 c:
If the previous operating room Windows system was Windows Vista, then enter the following:
Type the following commands and press ENTER after each command:
Attrib -h -s -r boot.ini.saved
Copy boot.ini.saved boot.ini
After all these steps, close the command prompt window, and then restart your computer.
After rebooting, enter the following command at the command prompt and press ENTER:
Users who upgraded to Windows 10 have the option of returning to their previous operating system.
The so-called process Rollback is simple and can be done in just a few mouse clicks.
Windows 10 rollback conditions
In the context of our article, we will not list them all, but will say only about two - the ability to upgrade to “ten” and the ability to roll back to Windows 8 or 7. What does this give?
Firstly, it is convenient, and secondly, it significantly saves time.
The user does not need to install operating system in a classic way (download a new OS release, burn it to an optical disk or flash drive, transfer data from user folders, etc.).
Just follow a few steps and the new OS is already on your computer.
But do not forget that the offer is not valid on an indefinite basis, but only for a year from the start of sales of the tenth version, i.e. until July 29, 2016.
The system developers provided that after installation new version, some users will still want to return to their previous system.
The reason for this may be various factors - from an unusual interface to a lack of hardware drivers.
Just as with the update, there is no need to perform a classic reinstallation - just follow a few steps to roll back Windows 10.
During the system update process, the Windows.old directory is created, into which the data of the current system is copied and which serves as a backup copy.
Thirty days after installation, this directory will be deleted by the system automatically.
Deleting the Windows.old directory implies the impossibility of performing a rollback.
Note! The ability to roll back to Windows 7 or 8 is valid only for 30 calendar days after the update and provided that the user did not delete Windows.old.
Before you begin the return process, we recommend that you back up all important data to any available external drive or storage service.
How to downgrade Windows 10 to Windows 8.1/7
The sequence of actions when rolling back to Windows 7 is no different from the sequence of actions for the eighth version.
The current system will automatically install the OS version that was installed previously.
So let's get started:
Step 1. Go to the “Start” menu, “Settings” submenu.
Step 2. In the “Settings” menu, go to the “Update and Security” submenu.
Step 3. In the “Recovery” submenu, select “Return to Windows X”, where X is the version of the operating system that was before the update.
In our case, this is Windows 7. Click “Start”.
Step 4. We select the reason why the rollback is being performed, describe the essence of the situation in the “Tell me in more detail” field and click “Next”.
In other words, in addition to quickly restoring the system in the event of a failure, you can now also restore individual files if they were accidentally deleted, damaged, or if you simply need to quickly undo all changes made to a file.
Although restoring previous versions of files is a great feature of Windows 7, oddly enough, few people know about it and few people use it. In this article I will talk about this technology in more detail and explain how it works.
Briefly about previous versions
Although I advertise previous versions of files as a new feature, in reality, this is not entirely true. This technology has its roots in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, where it was implemented in the form. When you install the Shadow Copies of Shared Folders client on a computer running Windows XP that is connected to a server running Windows control Server 2003, restoring previous versions of files was also possible in Windows XP. The main innovation in Windows 7 is that this feature is now available entirely within a single operating system and does not require a connection to a server.
I also mentioned that legacy file versions are supported to some extent in Vista. More precisely - in Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate. This feature is not available in Home Basic, Home Premium and Starter versions. In Windows 7 it is present in all editions.
How it works
As you know, to create restore points, the operating system constantly monitors any significant changes, which include the installation of new applications, hardware, drivers, system updates or security patches through the Center Windows updates. When such changes are detected, the system automatically creates a restore point, which is essentially a snapshot of the system state, including important system files, including certain parts of the registry. At the same time, snapshots of all data files stored on the hard drive are also created.
However, making major changes to the operating system is not the only reason to create a restore point. By default, Windows 7 automatically creates a restore point once a day, and in addition, you can create such a snapshot yourself at any time.
In addition, when you create backups using the Backup and Restore tool, Windows 7 automatically tracks them and allows you to restore previous versions of files not only from restore points, but also from backups.
To use the function of restoring previous versions, right-click on the file and select the “Restore Previous Versions” option from the context menu (Fig. A).
Figure A: The Restore to Previous Version option is available in the context menu of any file in Windows 7.
The file properties window will open with the “Previous Versions” tab (Fig. B). As you can see, in my example, the file is part of both the restore point and the backup, so to restore it to a previous version, I can choose either option, depending on which date I'm interested in.
Figure B: When you use Backup and Restore, you can restore previous versions of files not only from restore points, but also from backups.
As you can see, there are three buttons on the Previous Versions tab: Open, Copy, and Restore. To check whether this is the version of the file you need, you can select it in the list and click “Open”. In this case, the file will be opened for viewing in the appropriate application - in my case it is Word.
The Copy button brings up a standard copy dialog box, similar to the Copy To command, and allows you to restore the file to another folder. Please note that the Open and Copy commands are only available for files saved to the recovery point and do not work for files from backups. The Restore button allows you to restore the file to exactly the state it was in when you created the restore point or backup.
What to consider
It is worth keeping in mind that previous versions of a file from recovery points will only be available if changes have been made to the file since the last recovery point was created. If the file has not been modified since then, a message will appear on the Previous Versions tab: “There are no previous versions available” (Figure C).
Figure C If the file has not changed since the last restore point was created, a message like this will appear.
However, this does not mean that the previous version of the file was not preserved in the restore point. If you simply open and save the current file, the previous version will immediately appear on the Previous Versions tab.
If a file has not been modified for several months, new versions will not be saved each time a restore point is created.
File recovery
Now that you have an idea of how the Restore Previous Versions feature works, let's see how to use it. Let's say I accidentally permanently deleted a Word document (Figure D) and then realized my mistake. Since the file is no longer there, there is nothing to right-click on. Instead, you need to open the "Previous Versions" tab for the folder in which you stored deleted file(Figure E).
Figure D: I accidentally deleted a Word document.
Figure E To recover a permanently deleted file, you need to open the Previous Versions tab for the folder in which it was stored.
To make sure that this folder is saved required file, I click the "Open" button. A folder opens, and in it is the file you are looking for. Now I can open it in Word and see the contents. Once I'm sure it's the file I want, I close Word, close the folder, and return to the Previous Versions tab. I click the "Restore" button. The dialog box shown in Fig. 1 appears. F. If I click the "Restore" button in it, the file will be restored to its original folder.
Figure F. Before restoring a file, the system prompts you to confirm the operation.
Although the warning in the dialog box states that the restore will replace the entire contents of the folder, in fact, only the deleted file will be restored. For example, there were several other files in my folder, and they remained untouched after recovery.
What do you think?
Did you know that there is a function to restore previous versions of files in Windows 7? If not, will you use this feature now? And if you have already used it, what are your impressions? Share your opinion in the comments!
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The File History utility in Windows gets its name from its ability to restore older versions of a file. This feature is part of all backup programs, although it is often called "Restore". Although the idea is the same: you remove the old version of the file from the backup archive. The File History feature makes it easy this process and working with files in general.
In order to return the old version of a file from a backup disk, you need to follow these steps.
- If you need to replace the current version with a new one: select "Restore" and then "Replace file in target application." The current file is replaced with the backup copy.
- In order to save both the current version and the restored backup, you must click “Restore” and select “Restore to”. Select the target folder for the recovered file.
- To view an archived copy: Click Open. The file has not been recovered, but you can view its contents to see if it contains the information you need.
4. Then click close Properties window when done. If there are no previous versions, you will see the message "There are no previous versions available after step 2. This means that the file is new and was not copied, that the file has not changed, or that backup copy this file does not exist. The File History utility is not a replacement for recovering a file from the Recycle Bin; if you delete a file, you need to restore it from the Recycle Bin.
File History only works with files in the folders you selected when setting up the utility.
Video: How to recover an unsaved or damaged Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint document
