How to prevent restoring previous versions of files from backups in Windows 10

If you want to prevent Other users from restoring previous versions of files from backup, then this article will guide you. You can block this functionality for the local previous versions and remote previous versions. All these things will be done with the Local Group Policy Editor and Registry Editor.

Windows allows users to restore a previous version of a file to get back deleted data. However, if you do not want to allow other users to restore a file from the previous versions from backups, here is what you can do. Apart from that, you can also hide previous versions list for local as well as remote files with the help of this article.

Prevent restoring previous versions of files from backups

To prevent restoring previous versions of files from backups in Windows 10, follow these steps-

1. Search for gpedit.msc in the Taskbar search box.
2. Click the Edit group policy in the search result.
3. Navigate to Previous Versions in the Computer Configuration.
4. Double-click on Prevent restoring previous versions from backups.
5. Select Enabled option.
6. Click the Apply and OK buttons.
7. Double-click on Prevent restoring local previous versions and Prevent restoring remote previous versions.
8. Select Enabled option.
9. Click the Apply and OK buttons.

Let’s check out these steps in detail.

At first, you will have to open the Local Group Policy Editor. For that, search for gpedit.msc in the Taskbar search box, and click the Edit group policy in the search result. After opening the tool, navigate to this path-

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer > Previous Versions

In the Previous Versions folder, you will get three settings, and they are-

• Prevent restoring previous versions from backups: If you enable this setting, it will disable the Restore button in the previous versions page. It works only when the previous version is saved on a backup.
• Prevent restoring local previous versions: It works when the user’s selected document/image, etc. is a local file. Apart from that, the Restore button will be grayed out.
• Prevent restoring remote previous versions: It is almost the same as the earlier setting. The only difference is that it works when the user has selected a previous version of a file on a file share.

Therefore, double-click on each setting one after one, select Enabled, click the Apply and OK buttons, respectively.

As mentioned earlier, you can hide the previous versions list irrespective of location. For that, navigate to the same path, and open these three settings-

• Hide previous versions list for local files
• Hide previous versions list for remote files
• Hide previous versions of files on backup location

Similarly, select the Enabled option, and click on Apply and OK buttons to save the change.

Prevent restoring previous versions of files from backups using Registry Editor

To prevent restoring previous versions of files from backups using Registry Editor, follow these steps-

1. Press Win+R to open the Run prompt.
2. Type regedit, and hit the Enter button.
3. Click on Yes button.
4. Navigate to PreviousVersions in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
5. Right-click on PreviousVersions > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
6. Name it as DisableBackupRestore.
7. Double-click on DisableBackupRestore to set the Value data as 1.
8. Click OK to save changes.
9. Create DisableLocalRestore and set the Value data as 1.
10. Create DisableRemoteRestore and set the Value data as 1.

Before making any change in the Registry Editor, it is recommended to create a System Restore point and backup all Registry files.

You will open the Registry Editor on your computer. For that, press Win+R, type regedit and hit the Enter button. After opening the Registry Editor, navigate to this path-

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PreviousVersions

Now right-click on PreviousVersions and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it as DisableBackupRestore.

Following that, double-click on DisableBackupRestore, set the Value data as 1, and click the OK button to save changes.

After that, you will have to create two more REG_WORD values by following the same method and name them as DisableLocalRestore and DisableRemoteRestore. Then, double-click on each value and set the Value data as 1.

If you want to hide the list of the previous versions from the corresponding property page, it is required to create three other REG_DWORD values.

• DisableLocalPage: Hide previous versions list for local files
• DisableRemotePage: Hide previous versions list for remote files
• HideBackupEntries: Hide previous versions of files on backup location

To create them, right-click on PreviousVersions key, and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Then, you can name each value as mentioned here. To enable each functionality, double-click on them one after one and set the Value data as 1.

At last, click the OK button to save all changes.

In case you want to re-enable the ‘previous versions’ functionality due to any reason, you have two ways. First, you can open those entries and set the Value data as 0. Second, you can delete those values from the PreviousVersions key.

That’s all! Hope it helps.