PowerShell WMI SystemRestore

Introduction to PowerShell WMI SystemRestore

This real-life task for PowerShell is to control your desktop computer’s system restore points.

We will employ the WMI SystemRestore class to enable, or disable, the protection settings for restore points.

(Screenshot of Control Panel, System, Advanced Tab)

Topics for SystemRestore

• WMI Class SystemRestore
• Set-SysRestore Function
• Disable-ComputerRestore
• Get-ComputerRestorePoint
• Restore-Computer

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WMI Class SystemRestore

At the heart of this example is [WmiClass]"\\$SysName\root\default:systemrestore". Once we assign it to the variable $SysRestore, we can apply one of two methods, .Disable("C:\") or .Enable("C:\").

The rest of the script consists of two wrappers, one to switch between "Enable" and "Disable", the other wrapper is the function called Set-SysRestore.

Set-SysRestore Function

It is traditional to name PowerShell functions using existing verbs such as ‘get-‘ or ‘set-‘.  At the heart of this function is the switch ($RestoreOpt) which calls upon the WMI class systemrestore.  It is this parameter which provides the option to enable or disable the system restore.

One important point, you need to supply a different value for $sysName.

Note 0:  This is one of those PowerShell scripts where you need to ‘Run as Administrator’.  Also Restore Points are a feature of client operating systems such as Windows 7 or Vista, and not servers.

Note 1:  Trace the two options for the -RestoreOpt parameter.  The last line puts the function Set-SysRestore to work, and disables the system restore on the C:\.

Note 2:  To turn on your restore, issue the reverse command:
Set-SysRestore -RestoreOpt enable -SysName YourComputer

Example:
Set-SysRestore -RestoreOpt enable -SysName MyComputer

Note 3: Pay close attention to -SysName, your Windows 7 or Vista machine is unlikely to have an IP address of 192.168.1.166.  You could of course use the hostname.

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Possible Reasons for Turning Off System Restore

When I was trying to repair a Vista machine, I got into a knot trying a system restore; this was because the anti-virus program kept giving a false positive reaction to a file that I was trying to repair.  By creating a PowerShell function I was able to control system restore while I sorted out the anti-virus problem.

Maybe the drive has run out of free space and you need to stop system restore consuming any more disk space.

Disable-ComputerRestore

One Advantage of the above WMI technique is that you can turn off system protection on the D, E or other drives.  However, if you just wish to disable system restore on the C:\ drive then you can use PowerShell v 2.0’s Disable-ComputerRestore cmdlet.

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Enable-ComputerRestore

Let us assume that you fixed the anti-virus program, or the low disk space problem that made it desirable to turn off creating restore points.  It’s a straightforeward task to reverse the above script by changing the Disable verb for Enable:

Get-ComputerRestorePoint

In this scenario you wish to view a list of restore points, possibly with a view to recovering the computer to a former state.

PS F:\powershell\Text\SEO> Get-ComputerRestorePoint

See more on PowerShell restore computer »

Summary of PowerShell SystemRestore

Thanks to PowerShell’s [WMI] we can access SystemRestore and thus enable or disable protection of the C:\ or another drive.

See More Microsoft PowerShell WMI Examples:

• Home   • PowerShell Get-WmiObject   • Win32_ComputerSystem   • Free WMI Monitor

• WMI Class  • [WMI] Type  • Win32_printer   • Win32_product   • SystemRestore   • WMI Services

• WMI Disk   • DNS   • Memory  • PowerShell -Filter   • Check Server UpTime   • ConvertToDateTime

Please email me if you have a script examples. Also please report any factual mistakes, grammatical errors or broken links, I will be happy to correct the fault.