Enabling Shadow Copies in Windows 7

Curiously, Windows Protection is turned on for the system drive (C:) in Windows 7, but the Shadow Copy service is not running by default.

To ensure that VSS service operates whenever the computer is on, change the service Startup type to Automatic (Delayed Start).

By default, Windows shadow copies are created whenever a restore point is created. This usually occurs during Windows updates or when software is installed. They can be created manually as well. While there are sophisticated techniques to automated the regular creation of restore points, they are not obvious. A better approach is for users to save their work in a FreeNAS network share that has shadow copies enabled. The frequency of shadow copies is easily managed on FreeNAS shares.

Tip: You’re not able to selectively delete restore points from Windows. It’s all or nothing. Use CC from Piriform to delete individual restore points.

References

1. How to Enable Volume Shadow Copy in Windows 7
2. How do I configure and use shadow copy in Microsoft Windows?
3. Automatic Delayed Start Meaning
4. How to Delete System Protection Restore Points in Windows 7 and Windows 8
5. Piriform CC
6. Scheduling automatic creation of restore points in Win7
7. Enabling Shadow Copies on FreeNAS Personal Shares