What is You must enable system protection on this Drive error in Windows 10?

In this post, we are going to discuss on “How to fix You must enable system protection on this Drive error in Windows 10” with several easy ways. You will be guided with easy automatic and manual methods to resolve the issue. Let’s starts the discussion.

‘System Restore’: System Restore is Microsoft Windows OS built-in feature allows you to revert or rollback your computer’s state including system files, installed applications, windows registry, and system settings to previous point in time. You are allowed in Windows 10 with ‘System Restore’ feature to recover your system from malfunctions or other problems.

System Restore is Windows utility program offers you to fix Windows PC issues by restoring computer to previous state when everything was working well. It is quite simple to perform System Restore in Windows 10 in order to resolve Windows PC issues. However, users reported that they faced ‘You must enable system protection on this Drive error’ while tried to perform System Restore operation in Windows 10 computer.

‘You must enable system protection on this Drive’ is error message appeared inside ‘System Restore’ window and it prevents you from running this utility on the disk drive you choose. This error is appeared as status message for the select hard disk drive which you want to restore. The possible reasons behind this issue can be ‘System Protection’ that is not activated on your computer. It will be more difficult if you have accessed ‘System Restore’ through ‘Advanced Startup’.

Another possible reason behind ‘You must enable system protection on this Drive error’ can be disabled/stopped ‘System Protection Service’ running in computer. If you are facing the same issue, then you are in right place for the solution. Let’s go for the solution.

How to fix ‘You must enable system protection on this Drive error’ in Windows 10?

Method 1: Fix ‘You must enable system protection on this Drive’ error with ‘PC Repair Tool’

‘PC Repair Tool’ is easy & quick way to find and fix PC problems like BSOD errors, DLL errors, EXE errors, malware or viruses issues, system files or registry issues, problems with programs and other system issues with just few clicks. You can get this tool through button/link below.

⇓ Get PC Repair Tool

Method 2: Rename registry files using command prompt and then run System Restore

You can resolve the issue by rename two system files that causes this issue and then perform System Restore and check if it works.

Step 1: Restart your computer several times until ‘Advanced Startup’ window appear

Step 2: Once appeared, choose ‘Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt’

Step 3: In the opened ‘Command Prompt’, type the following command one-by-one and hit ‘Enter’ key after each to execute

cd %systemroot%\system32\config

ren SYSTEM system.001

ren SOFTWARE software.001

rstrui.exe /offline:C:\windows=active

Step 4: Wait to complete the process. Once done, restart your computer to see the changes and check if the trouble is resolved.

Method 3: Enable ‘System Protection’ feature in Windows 10 using ‘Windows PowerShell’

As mentioned, disabled ‘System Protection’ in Windows 10 can cause ‘You must enable system protection on this Drive error’. You can try to resolve the issue by enabling ‘System Protection’ feature. Let’s try.

Step 1: Press ‘Windows + X’ keys on keyboard and select ‘Windows PowerShell as Admin’

Step 2: Type the following command one-by-one and hit ‘Enter’ key after each to execute

enable-computerrestore -drive “c:\”

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=c: /for=c: /maxsize=5%

checkpoint-computer -description “Done”

Step 3: Wait to complete the process.

Step 4: To check if your System Restore is disabled or not, press ‘Windows + X’ keys on keyboard and select ‘Control Panel’

Step 5: Now, go to ‘System > System Protection Settings’ and click on ‘System Properties’

Step 6: Now, go to ‘System Protection’ tab and you will see ‘Protection Settings’. Check if ‘Protection’ is switched to ON under the driver you using for your files and folders

Step 7: Select the drive you want to turn ON System Restore for and click ‘Configure’ button

Step 8: Now, click on ‘Turn ON System Protection’ radio button in the opened window and then hit ‘Ok’ to save the changes. Once done, please check if ‘You must enable system protection on this Drive error’ is resolved.

Method 4: Start System Protection Service in Windows 10

It might possible to get ‘You must enable system protection on this Drive’ error while performing System Restore in Windows 10 if System Protection service is not running properly. You can resolve the issue by starting this service again.

Step 1: Press ‘Windows + R’ keys on keyboard, type ‘services.msc’ in the opened ‘Run’ dialog box and hit ‘ok’ button to open ‘Services’ window

Step 2: Locate ‘System Protection Service’ in the list of services, right-click on it and select ‘Properties’

Step 3: Select ‘Automatic’ from ‘Startup type’ dropdown and click on ‘Start’ button under ‘Service Status’ section

Step 4: Finally, click on ‘Apply’ and ‘Ok’ to save the changes and check if the trouble is resolved.

Conclusion

I am sure this article helped you on How to fix ‘You must enable system protection on this Drive error’ in Windows 10 with easy steps. You can read & follow our instructions to do so. That’s all. For any suggestions or queries, please write on comment box below.