Windows 11 - Previous versions, cannot seem to get it working.

andrew129260 · Nov 5, 2022

So back on windows 7 it was fairly straightforward, right click a file, choose properties and previous versions.

When I moved to windows 10, I had to manually enable the Shadow copy service and set it to automatic startup, plus enable the system protection which was not enabled by default on a clean install (same with win 11), then create a task under task manager which would run the wmic shadowcopy call create Volume='C:\' command.

Only then would it work and the previous versions tab would function correctly without having to use file history.

Now however, I am on windows 11 22H2 and I cannot for the life of me get the previous versions feature to work following the steps I did for windows 10.

Not sure what I am missing here. Should I give up and use file history? I could use it over my network connected to my router or something, but I would rather just use previous versions the way it used to work. I do my backups manually. The main reason I use it is it's very convenient to restore virtual machine files back to a previous state before a change was made etc.

Ghot · Nov 6, 2022

@andrew129260

We've all had to make one or two changes when moving on from Windows 7.

Most have realized, that you just can't beat 3rd party backup software. Programs like Macrium Reflect or AOMEI Backupper.
All those out-dated Microsoft methods, didn't really work... ALL the time. 3rd party backup software does.

I think once you give one of them a try, you will see how utterly useful they are.

andrew129260 · Nov 6, 2022

Ghot said:
@andrew129260

We've all had to make one or two changes when moving on from Windows 7.

Most have realized, that you just can't beat 3rd party backup software. Programs like Macrium Reflect or AOMEI Backupper.
All those out-dated Microsoft methods, didn't really work... ALL the time. 3rd party backup software does.

I think once you give one of them a try, you will see how utterly useful they are.

I already use macrium reflect. That has nothing to do with my question......

cereberus · Nov 8, 2022

andrew129260 said:
So back on windows 7 it was fairly straightforward, right click a file, choose properties and previous versions.

When I moved to windows 10, I had to manually enable the Shadow copy service and set it to automatic startup, plus enable the system protection which was not enabled by default on a clean install (same with win 11), then create a task under task manager which would run the wmic shadowcopy call create Volume='C:\' command.

Only then would it work and the previous versions tab would function correctly without having to use file history.

Now however, I am on windows 11 22H2 and I cannot for the life of me get the previous versions feature to work following the steps I did for windows 10.

Not sure what I am missing here. Should I give up and use file history? I could use it over my network connected to my router or something, but I would rather just use previous versions the way it used to work. I do my backups manually. The main reason I use it is it's very convenient to restore virtual machine files back to a previous state before a change was made etc.

It was always a but of a fudge to get shadowcopy working like Windows 7. I am not surprised it is not working in Windows 11.

It is not clear exactly what you are trying to achieve. I assume you can only revert to version at point a shadowcopy was made in a Restore Point?

If all you want is backups that you can restore, there are a number of file syncing tools.

AOMEI Backupper Pro has a syncing feature which will sync in real time, sync on demand, sync one direction from folder A to B i.e. add a file to folder A and it gets synced to folder B, same in reverse B to A. It also has a two-way syncing feature i.e. add file to either folder A or B, and it gets synced to folder B or A.

Of course, that only keeps latest version of file once you save file you are working on.

If you want to be able to go back to one of several previous versions, File History Backup will do the job, but there are other 3rd party tools that will do similar.

SIW2 · Nov 8, 2022

andrew129260 said:
So back on windows 7 it was fairly straightforward, right click a file, choose properties and previous versions.

When I moved to windows 10, I had to manually enable the Shadow copy service and set it to automatic startup, plus enable the system protection which was not enabled by default on a clean install (same with win 11), then create a task under task manager which would run the wmic shadowcopy call create Volume='C:\' command.

Only then would it work and the previous versions tab would function correctly without having to use file history.

Now however, I am on windows 11 22H2 and I cannot for the life of me get the previous versions feature to work following the steps I did for windows 10.

Not sure what I am missing here. Should I give up and use file history? I could use it over my network connected to my router or something, but I would rather just use previous versions the way it used to work. I do my backups manually. The main reason I use it is it's very convenient to restore virtual machine files back to a previous state before a change was made etc.

You could have look with shadowcopyview . If that seems to work, then the shadows are fine.

ShadowCopyView - Shadow copy viewer for Windows 10/8/7/Vista

Simple tool for Windows 10/8/7/Vista that lists the snapshots of your hard drive created by the Volume Shadow Copy service of Windows

www.nirsoft.net

andrew129260 · Nov 8, 2022

cereberus said:
It is not clear exactly what you are trying to achieve. I assume you can only revert to version at point a shadowcopy was made in a Restore Point?

Yeah, so for example on windows 7 and 10 I would use my virtual machines and would be able to restore to a version a day ago or a few days ago for instance by right clicking the virtual machine folder and using restore previous versions. I would dedicate a fair bit of drive space to system restore/shadow copies. This made it easy cause it was all on the same drive and I could quickly restore a file without having to hookup an external backup drive or use file history over a network drive for example. I understand it's not a backup, and it wasn't 100% relied on, just convenient.

SIW2 said:
ou could have look with shadowcopyview . If that seems to work, then the shadows are fine.

Thanks, I tried this. It seemed to show only a few copies, and not all of my virtual machine folders, despite having more than enough space. Strange. And it does not show up under the previous versions tab in file explorer.

It seems to me though the best course of action is to just hookup an external hard drive to my router and use that for file history. The problem being that I noticed file history seems to backup every hour and while you can adjust the settings it doesn't seem to account for laptops, and I dont want the laptop battery draining trying to do a file history backup every hour. I could use one drive, as that respects power settings, but I dont want to pay for more storage that would be needed for large virtual machine files.

Hope this all makes sense, and thanks all.

(yes again, I understand its not a backup, and I do use macrium for system image backups.)

SIW2 · Nov 8, 2022

I just booted into win11 created a shadow copy and couldn't get anything to show under previous versions tab

cereberus · Nov 10, 2022

andrew129260 said:
Yeah, so for example on windows 7 and 10 I would use my virtual machines and would be able to restore to a version a day ago or a few days ago for instance by right clicking the virtual machine folder and using restore previous versions. I would dedicate a fair bit of drive space to system restore/shadow copies. This made it easy cause it was all on the same drive and I could quickly restore a file without having to hookup an external backup drive or use file history over a network drive for example. I understand it's not a backup, and it wasn't 100% relied on, just convenient.

Thanks, I tried this. It seemed to show only a few copies, and not all of my virtual machine folders, despite having more than enough space. Strange. And it does not show up under the previous versions tab in file explorer.

It seems to me though the best course of action is to just hookup an external hard drive to my router and use that for file history. The problem being that I noticed file history seems to backup every hour and while you can adjust the settings it doesn't seem to account for laptops, and I dont want the laptop battery draining trying to do a file history backup every hour. I could use one drive, as that respects power settings, but I dont want to pay for more storage that would be needed for large virtual machine files.

Hope this all makes sense, and thanks all.

(yes again, I understand its not a backup, and I do use macrium for system image backups.)

Pretty sure there is a setting to limit number of backup versions in FHB. It should not do any backups after first one unless anything has changed.

You could just create a simple robocopy batch file that backups up your vhds if they have changed on source drive to backup drive, then assign a shortcut to run it on demand?

PGomersall · Nov 10, 2022

It seems Microsoft removed access for the Previous Versions tab in File Explorer; this will only work when using File History.
If you are using wmic shadowcopy call create Volume='C:\' you will need to use a 3rd party tool to view and extract files like ShadowExplorer or ShadowCopyView. The copies are been created, just that Microsoft for all their wisdom have hidden them.
Pete

BruceR · Nov 10, 2022

See Restore Files or Folders from File History in Previous Versions

It works for me in Windows 11 22H2:

PGomersall · Nov 10, 2022

But this was discussing Previous Version\Shadow Copy without using FileHistory as that need a separate drive attached.

BruceR · Nov 10, 2022

PGomersall said:
But this was discussing Previous Version\Shadow Copy without using FileHistory as that need a separate drive attached.

... or not:

andrew129260 said:
It seems to me though the best course of action is to just hookup an external hard drive to my router and use that for file history.

andrew129260 · Nov 14, 2022

thanks for the ideas everyone. I'll need to think about my next course of action

SIW2 · Nov 14, 2022

PGomersall said:
But this was discussing Previous Version\Shadow Copy without using FileHistory as that need a separate drive attached.

I would like to know if that is possible.

Brink · Nov 14, 2022

If a file, folder, or drive was not included in a restore point, added to File History, or included in a Windows Backup, then there will not be any previous versions available for it.

Add or Remove Previous Versions from Context Menu and Properties in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the Previous Versions tab on the properties page and Restore previous versions context menu for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11. You can right click on a drive, file, or folder, and click/tap on Properties to see a Previous Versions tab...

www.elevenforum.com

SIW2 · Nov 14, 2022

If a file, folder, or drive was not included in a restore point,..then there will not be any previous versions available for it.

It doesnt seem to work if a file folder or drive is included in a restore point.

Only seems to work if file history or windows backup are used.

There might some registry value that would be a workaround, but I dont know what it is

Brink · Nov 14, 2022

SIW2 said:
It doesnt seem to work if a file folder or drive is included in a restore point.

Only seems to work if file history or windows backup are used.

There might some registry value that would be a workaround, but I dont know what it is

I agree the restore point option is not as reliable for previous versions.

Windows 11 - Previous versions, cannot seem to get it working.

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computer

Active member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Active member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computer

Well-known member

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Administrator

My Computers

Well-known member

My Computers

Administrator

My Computers

Similar threads