You must enable system protection on this drive System Restore error

When you try to perform System Restore in Windows 11/10, and you see You must enable system protection on this drive status error, then this post will help you. Know the potential causes and how to fix the error in the following post.

The error message appears inside System Restore and it prevents users from running this utility on the disk they chose. The message is a status message for the selected drive that users want to restore.

You might encounter the error message due to these two distinct known causes;

System Protection feature is not enabled on your computer.
System Protection Service is not running on your computer.

You must enable system protection on this drive – System Restore error

If you see You must enable system protection on this drive issue, you can try our recommended solutions below and resolve the issue.

Enable System Protection via PowerShell
Restart the Volume Shadow Copy service
Rename system file and perform the System Restore via Command Prompt

Let’s get into each method and fix the issue.

1] Enable System Protection via PowerShell

In this solution provided you can successfully boot to Windows, there’s a simple PowerShell command which can bring back the system protection feature for the drive you want to restore. After that, you can visit System Restore settings to check whether you can enable System Protection for the drive where you have installed Windows.

Do the following:

Press Windows key + X to open the Power User Menu and then press A on the keyboard to launch PowerShell in admin/elevated mode.

In the PowerShell console, type in the commands below and hit Enter after each line.

enable-computerrestore -drive "c:\"

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=c: /for=c: /maxsize=5%

checkpoint-computer -description "Done"

The commands will take a couple of seconds to execute. After running the commands successfully restart your computer.

On boot, you can proceed to check if your System Restore is disabled or not. Here’s how:

Press the Windows key + R.
In the Run dialog box, type control system and hit Enter to open the Control Panel System section.
On the left side of the screen, click System protection to open System Properties.
Under the Protection Settings section, check to see if the Protection is switched to On under the drive you are using for your files and folders.
If the option is set to off, select the drive you want to turn on System Restore for and click on the Configure button.
The System Protection Settings for Windows 10 will open so check under Restore Settings for the Turn on system protection radio button. Make sure that this option is selected.
Click OK.

You can now try running System Restore and see if the You must enable system protection on this drive error message appears.

2] Restart the Volume Shadow Copy service

If the Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) Service isn’t running at all or if it’s broken, the System Protection used for System Restore may not work properly and you may receive the You must enable system protection on this drive error message. In this case, you should consider restarting the Volume Shadow Copy service before re-running System Restore to see if the problem will be resolved.

You can stop and restart the Volume Shadow Copy service via Command Prompt. Here’s how:

If you are not able to access your operating system at all, you will have to insert the Windows 10 installation media and boot your computer.
Choose your keyboard layout.
The Choose an option screen will appear so navigate to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt.
At the command prompt window, type in the commands below and hit Enter after each line.

net stop vss

net start vss

After you execute both commands, you can re-run System Restore via the command line or restart your PC and on boot run the utility from the GUI. The operation should run successfully without the error message.

3] Rename system file and perform the System Restore via Command Prompt

If System Restore is not working, then you can try running it using the command prompt. In this solution, you’ll need to run it, but before you do you have to rename two system files which can trigger the You must enable system protection on this drive error message.

Since this issue mostly occurs when you are not able to access your operating system, all troubleshooting will be run from the Advanced Startup options. Here’s how:

If you are not able to access your operating system at all, you will have to insert the Windows 10 installation media and boot your computer.
Choose your keyboard layout.
The Choose an option screen will appear so navigate to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt.
At the command prompt window, type in the command below and hit Enter.

cd %systemroot%\system32\config

Once you have navigated to the config folder inside System32, it’s time to rename two system files. You can do that by typing the two commands below and hit Enter after each one.

ren SYSTEM system.001

ren SOFTWARE software.001

After executing both commands, you can now run System Restore – type in the command below and hit Enter.

rstrui.exe /offline:C:\windows=active

System Restore should now open without the error message. Follow the instructions on-screen and see if your computer starts operating normally.

Hope this helps!

Also read: Could not configure the disk space used for System Protection 0x80042306

How do I enable system protection on this drive?

To enable system protection on your drive on Windows 11, open the Settings app and select the System tab. In the System tab, scroll down and select About. Then, click on the blue Advanced system settings beside Related links. It will open System properties. Select the System Protection tab. Select the drive for which System Protection is turned off and click on Configure. It will open the System Protection box. Check the button beside Turn on system protection and change the slider to 100% beside Max Usage under the Disk Space Usage section. Click on Apply and OK to save the changes.

How do I disable system protection on my C drive?

To disable system protection on your C drive, open the Settings app and select the System tab. In the System tab, scroll down and select About. Then, click on the blue Advanced system settings beside Related links. It will open System properties. Select the System Protection tab. Select the C drive and click on Configure. It will open the System Protection box. Check the button beside Turn off system protection. Click on Apply and OK to save the changes.