Windows 7 Actual Solution for System Restore Error Code 0x81000203

Fixer1234

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2012
Location
Virginia, US
There are a number of old posts regarding this problem and some people were able to fix their problem using the guidance provided. However, many people, including myself, were tearing their hair out because none of the provided suggestions worked. The suggestions included: ensuring Volume Shadow Copy was started and set to automatic, running all kinds of scans for hardware and software problems, checking settings that are not included in the Windows Home version, trying to access System Protection in safe mode (not present in safe mode), and shutting off virus checkers and firewalls. Unfortunately, two essential items were missing from all of these posts. I lucked across a post on another forum with the solution, and it works.

Like Volume Shadow Copy, the service Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider must also be started and set to automatic. With both of these services active, the System Protection tab will work. Then select the drive, click the Configuration button, and set the Maximum Disk Space usage to something more than zero (depending on how many generations of restore points you want, this should be at least a few GB and could benefit from substantially more).

For more details, see the following post: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...03-error/80e0d15a-b9a7-4055-8faa-6b8799ae7766
 
Thanks for the well written solution. Many of the other sites and links were not complete.
Problem fixed.
 
The solution given on this page to System Restore Error Code 0x81000203 works like a charm. Thank you.
It could also be helpful to know I got the above error after updating from I.E.8 to I.E10!! Needless to say I had to revert to I.E8!!
 
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