Admin Tips
- Windows Server 2008/2003/2000/XP/NT Administrator Knowledge Base
  - Windows Vista
    - Admin Tips
      - Misc
        Free up disk space

Section(s): Misc
Published on Apr 28, 2006.
Last Modified on Apr 28, 2006.
Last Modified by MitchTulloch.
Rated 3.2 out of 5 based on 11 votes.

How to free up disk space used by System Protection in Windows Vista.

Windows Vista's System Protection feature can eat up a lot of disk space on your system, and while it's supposed to return space to you if you need it, if you find yourself running low on space you can free space up manually by doing the following:

Start the System utility in Control Panel
Allow the UAC prompt
Select the System Protection tab
Clear the checkmark beside the volume System Protection is enabled on.

Note that this will delete all restore points for that volume, so note that if you do this you won't be able to restore your system to a previous condition if you need to.

Cheers,
Mitch Tulloch, MVP

Note: This tip is based on a pre-release version of Windows Vista and may not reflect functionality in the final product.

About MitchTulloch

Mitch Tulloch was lead author for the Windows Vista Resource Kit from Microsoft Press, which is the book for IT pros who want to deploy, maintain and support Windows Vista in mid- and large-sized network environments. Mitch was also the author of Introducing Windows Server 2008 and technical project lead for the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Resource Kit, both books also from Microsoft Press. For more information on these and other books by Mitch, see http://www.mtit.com .