How to Fix Windows Stuck on System Restore

System Restore in Windows is a valuable feature designed to roll back your system to a previous state, undoing changes that may have caused issues. However, users occasionally encounter the frustrating scenario of Windows being stuck on the System Restore process. In this comprehensive guide, we explore the potential reasons behind this issue and provide a detailed step-by-step approach to troubleshoot and resolve the problem, ensuring a smooth recovery of your system. See Fix 0x800f0831 Error when installing Windows update, How to fix Windows Update Error Code 0xC1900101 – 0x30018 on Windows 10/11.

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Potential Causes of Windows Stuck on System Restore

Insufficient Disk Space: If there’s not enough space on the drive where Windows is installed, System Restore may struggle to complete.

Corrupted System Files: Existing corruption in system files can interfere with the restoration process.

Third-Party Interference: Antivirus programs or other third-party applications may interrupt System Restore.

Unstable Windows Update: Incomplete or interrupted Windows updates can lead to issues with System Restore

Step-by-Step Guide to Fix Windows Stuck on System Restore

Run System Restore from Advanced Startup

If you encounter issues with System Restore while running it from within your account, it’s possible that an incompatible software or service is causing interference with the process. To avoid potential conflicts in such situations, consider executing System Restore from Advanced Startup. Follow the steps below:

Access Windows Recovery Environment by booting from a Recovery or Windows Installation Drive. Choose “Repair your computer” on the Install screen.

Select to “Troubleshoot” in the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE).

Click on “Advanced Options.”

In the advance options, select “System Restore.”

Follow on-screen instructions to complete the process.

Run System Restore in Safe Mode

Access the Windows Recovery Environment and navigate to “Advanced options.” Then, select “Startup Settings.”

In the Startup Settings, click on “Restart.”

After the system restarts, Press 6 or F6 for Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

After the system reboots, in Command Prompt, enter ‘rstrui‘ to initiate System Restore.

Follow on-screen instructions for safe mode restoration.

Try Another Restore Point

Start the System Restore utility. Choose “Next” and enable “Show more restore points.”

Select an alternative restore point, click Next. Click Finish to start the process.

Follow on-screen instructions to complete the process.

Perform Startup Repair

Should the Advanced Startup System Restore become stuck during initialization, it typically suggests errors within your boot manager. To address this issue, follow the steps below to execute Startup Repair.

Access Advanced Startup or WinRE using a bootable Windows drive and navigate to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Repair.

Resolve boot manager errors with the Startup Repair tool.

Repair Corrupt Disk Sector and Windows Files

Encountering this problem can occur when System Restore attempts to recover files over a corrupted disk sector or damaged system files. To address such issues, perform CHKDSK, DISM, and SFC scans for comprehensive repairs.

It is advisable to execute these scans from the Advanced Startup options to mitigate the risk of third-party interference. To do this,

Access Windows Recovery Environment using an external USB installation media. Navigate to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.

Now, you’ll need to identify the temporary drive letters assigned to each drive since the Recovery Environment might reassign them. To do this, type “notepad” and press Enter to launch the text editor. Navigate to File > Open for access to a graphical file and folder exploration tool using the command “advanced-startup-command-prompt-notepad.”

Next, expand “This PC” from the left navigation pane and inspect each drive to determine the drive letters for both your operating system (OS) drive and the installation media.

Proceed to the USB drive and enter the Sources folder. Verify the file extension of the ‘install’ file, checking whether it is esd or wim. You may need to adjust the ‘Files of type’ to ‘All Files’ initially. Here the extension for the install file is .esd.

After confirming the information, close the Open file window and Notepad. In the Command Prompt, input the following commands, substituting the appropriate drive letters and the ‘install’ file extension:

DISM /Image:D:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:\Sources\install.wim /LimitAccess

Next, enter the following command:

SFC /Scannow /offbootdir=D:\ /offwindir=D:\windows

Finally, enter the following command:

CHKDSK D: /R /X

These commands are vital for system recovery, so ensure accurate replacement of drive letters and the ‘install’ file extension.

Reset PC or Reinstall Windows

If previous solutions fail, reset your PC through Advanced Startup. Choose Troubleshoot > Reset this PC > Keep my Files.

Follow on-screen instructions. If the issue persists, consider a clean Windows reinstall using installation media.

Conclusion

Resolving a stuck System Restore involves a step-by-step approach, from using advanced startup options to repairing disk errors. Each solution caters to specific issues that might be causing the interruption, ensuring a successful restoration of your Windows 11 system.