Point-in-Time Restore: A Comprehensive Guide to Windows 11's New Recovery Feature

Windows 11’s Point-in-Time Restore, one of the most efficient methods for system recovery, has arrived with the June 2026 optional update (KB5095093). However, the feature can consume up to 50GB of disk space, depending on your system's configuration.

This feature becomes essential when your PC is stuck in a boot loop, providing a quick recovery option without the need to reinstall Windows. Once its functionality is understood, the 50GB storage usage may seem justified.

What is Point-in-Time Restore in Windows 11?

Point-in-Time Restore is an integrated full-system recovery feature in Windows 11, available across Home, Pro, and Enterprise editions. It automatically creates snapshots of the entire OS volume at regular intervals, storing them locally on your PC.

In case of a system issue, users can boot into the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), select a snapshot taken before the issue emerged, and restore the system to that state. This feature leverages Windows’ Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), a technology that has been part of Windows since the XP era and is also utilized by backup software.

How Much Storage Does Point-in-Time Restore Use?

According to Microsoft documentation, the storage limit defaults to 2% of the disk size, with a minimum of 2GB and a maximum of 50GB. For example:

• On a 2.5TB drive, 2% equals 50GB.
• On a 512GB drive, it uses approximately 10GB.
• On a 256GB drive, it consumes around 5GB.

Importantly, this space is not pre-reserved. VSS only uses free disk space as restore points are created, adhering to the configured maximum. If the total size of snapshots is 8GB, the remaining space remains available for system and application use.

Additionally, Microsoft has integrated Point-in-Time Restore with Windows’ reserved storage system, further minimizing its impact on available disk space.

Default Settings and Customization

By default, a new restore point is created every 24 hours in the background. On Windows Home and unmanaged Pro editions, users can adjust settings from the Settings > System > Recovery menu, but frequency and retention period adjustments are reserved for Enterprise IT administrators via Intune or CSP policies.

The default retention period is 72 hours (3 days), after which older snapshots are automatically deleted. Enterprise admins can configure settings to create restore points as frequently as every 4 hours and adjust retention periods to as short as 4 hours or as long as 24 hours.

Automatic and Manual Management

Restore points are automatically deleted in cases where:

• The 72-hour retention window is exceeded.
• The configured VSS storage limit is reached.
• Free disk space on the OS volume drops below 20GB.

If the system encounters critical conditions such as a full disk or memory allocation issues, all existing restore points may be wiped. Additionally, the drive must have sufficient free space to accommodate the combined size of all restore points for the feature to function properly.

Devices with an OS volume of 200GB or larger have the feature enabled automatically. On smaller drives, users must manually enable the feature. For enterprise-managed devices, the feature remains off by default until Windows 11 version 26H2 unless enabled by IT administrators.

How to Use Point-in-Time Restore

To enable Point-in-Time Restore:

1. Navigate to Settings > System > Recovery.
2. Click View or Edit under Point-in-Time Restore.
3. Approve the UAC prompt and toggle the feature on.

Once enabled, the first restore point is created in the background. To confirm, revisit the restore point list in the settings menu after some time.

Performing a Restore

To restore your system:

1. Boot into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). If Windows fails to boot three times consecutively, it will automatically launch WinRE.
2. From the WinRE menu, select Troubleshoot and choose Point-in-Time Restore.
3. If BitLocker encryption is enabled, provide your recovery key, which can be retrieved from your Microsoft account.
4. Select a restore point from the list, confirm the data loss warning, and click Restore.

The restoration process typically takes around 30 minutes on a lightly loaded system. After completion, your PC will boot into Windows 11 with all files, apps, and settings intact as they were at the time of the restore point.

Important Considerations

• Only the OS volume is restored. Secondary drives and partitions remain unaffected.
• Files synced to cloud services like OneDrive are preserved, though sync conflicts may arise post-restore.
• Restoring after a Windows edition change (e.g., Home to Pro) can lead to installation issues.
• Files encrypted with EFS (Encrypting File System) may prevent the restoration process.

A Valuable but Imperfect Feature

Microsoft has made significant strides to enhance the stability of Windows systems. Initiatives like the Driver Quality Initiative (DQI) aim to improve the quality of drivers distributed through Windows Update. The company has also pledged to stop downgrading graphics drivers, addressing a long-standing user frustration.

However, third-party hardware partners remain a challenge. For instance, HP's BIOS updates caused BitLocker loops earlier this year, and the June 2026 update led to boot failures on some HP devices. Unlike Apple, which controls a limited number of hardware configurations, Microsoft must contend with a wide array of hardware and firmware from numerous manufacturers, making perfect stability across all configurations an unrealistic goal.

While the 50GB storage requirement might seem high, it is a small price to pay for a feature capable of saving your system from catastrophic failures caused by bad updates or other issues.

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