Restore Previous Versions of Files and Folders
Restoring files from a regular backup can take several hours or even longer if the backup is stored offsite; it typically requires administrator-level resources to accomplish the task. To reduce the administrative effort, you can enable the Previous Versions feature on Windows 10, which uses the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to generate local shadow copies, and then you can restore previous versions of files and folders within seconds.
The Previous Versions feature enables users to view, revert, or recover files and folders that have been modified or deleted. Previous Versions requires either the File History feature or restore points that the Backup And Restore (Windows 7) tool created. One of these features must be configured for you to be able to use the Previous Versions feature.
After you have enabled File History or created a backup by using Backup And Restore (Windows 7), your system will have created a shadow copy (or a snapshot) of your data, such as the files and folders located in your user profile. The snapshot tracks the changes to the files and folders on the drive, but it should be seen as complementary to the existing backup solution that is in use. Because the snapshot data is not a complete copy of files and is typically stored on the same drive as your data, it is not considered a replacement for traditional backups.
By default, Previous Versions monitors special folders, including AppData (Roaming), Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Favorites, Contacts, Downloads, Links, Searches, and Saved Games. With Previous Versions, you can browse in File Explorer to a location where your files and folders have been modified or deleted, and when you open the item properties, a Previous Versions tab lists the available restore points for your data. If the Previous Versions tab is empty, it might be that the file has not been modified, or the shadow copy has not yet made a snapshot.
Tip Do not confuse System Restore points and File History. The Previous Versions feature uses restore points that are created by either File History or the Backup And Restore (Windows 7) tool and not the restore points that System Restore creates.
If you configure both File History and Backup And Restore (Windows 7), you benefit from the creation of multiple restore points that will be available to Previous Versions.
To revert files using Previous Versions, use the following steps.
- Ensure that File History is turned on.
- Create a folder on your computer-for example, This PC\Documents\HomeWorking-and then create or save a text file in the folder.
- In File History, click Run Now.
- Open the text file and modify the contents, save them, and exit the file.
- Right-click the text file and select Restore Previous Versions.
The Text file has one previous version listed, which is the original file. If you modify the file again, another Previous Version is automatically created when File History creates the next Restore Point. - To create a new Restore Point manually, return to File History and click Run Now. Return to the Text file and notice that two file versions are now listed.
- Delete the Daily Journal.txt file.
- To recover the last version of the file that File History saved, right-click the This PC\Documents\HomeWorking folder and select Restore Previous Versions.
- Click the HomeWorking folder and click Restore.
- Verify that the Daily Journal.txt file has been restored to the This PC\Documents\HomeWorking folder and that the latest version has been recovered.
- Close File Explorer.
In a corporate environment, an administrator can enable shadow copies for folders shared over the network. This can be useful because, normally, when a user deletes a file contained in a shared folder, the files are permanently deleted and are not moved to the local Recycle Bin. Before the introduction of VSS technology, the only way to recover deleted files on a network share was from a backup, which is not very efficient. With shadow copying in place, the Previous Versions feature enables users to recover deleted files instantaneously without needing assistance from an administrator.
The VSS command-line tool vssadmin can be useful to review or troubleshoot VSS, for example, if you want to review the space that shadow copies use, create a new volume shadow copy, or suspect shadow copies are not working properly.
Some of the volume shadow commands available with vssadmin are listed in Table below.
Command Description Vssadmin adds Adds a volume shadow copy storage association shadowstorage Vssadmin create Creates a new volume shadow copy shadow Vssadmin list Lists registered volume shadow copu providers providers Vssadmin list Lists existing volume shadow copies shadows Vssadmin list Lists all shadow copy storage associations shadowstorage on the system Vssadmin list Lists volumes that are eligible for shadow volumes copies Vssadmin List Lists all subscribed volume shadow copy writers writers on the system Vssadmin delete Deletes volumes shadow copies shadows Vssadmin Delete Deletes volume shadow copy storage associations shadowstorage Vssadmin resize Resizes the maximum size for a shadow copy shadowstorage storage association