Keeping backups of your files is extremely important if you're working with data you can't afford to lose, and thankfully, there are numerous ways to back up your files so you don't risk losing anything important. One way you may not know about, however, is the Shadow Copy feature on Windows 11, as well as previous versions of Windows.

Shadow Copy quietly creates backups of your files and keeps a history of them, so not only do you have a backup of your latest files, but also a history of them so you can roll back to a previous version if needed. If you've ever looked into a file's properties and saw a Previous Versions tab but didn't get what it does, that's what Shadow Copy enables.

Setting up Shadow Copy is a bit unconventional, but if you'd like to create backups of your files this way, we're here to show you how to do it.

Setting up Shadow Copy in Task Scheduler

Shadow Copy isn't a feature you can easily access through the Windows UI. Instead, the best way to set up Shadow Copy is to use Task Scheduler to set up regular backups. Of course, you can also run it manually, but manual backups aren't the best way to go about it since you never know when you'll forget to do it. Here's how to set up automatic backups using Shadow Copy and the Task Scheduler:

1. Open the Start menu and type Task Scheduler then choose the first result from the options you see.
2. From the pane of the left, select the Task Scheduler Library, then right-click it and choose New folder.
3. Name the folder anything you want, such as My tasks.
4. Select the new folder and right-click it, then choose Create task.
5. Enter a name of your choice for the task in the Name field.
6. Check the radio button that says Run whether user is logged on or not, and make sure the Do not store password checkbox is unchecked.
7. Check the Run with highest privileges checkbox.
8. Switch over to the Triggers tab and click New.
9. Ensure the Start dropdown field at the top is set to On a schedule, then use the options below to choose the frequency of your backups. You can choose what day and time you want the task to run, depending on your choice.
10. When you're done, click OK.
11. Now, switch to the Actions tab and click New.
12. Set the Action dropdown menu to Start a program (this should be the default setting).
13. Under Program/script, enter the text wmic.
14. Next to Add arguments (optional), and the following text, replacing C: with the drive letter of the volume you want to back up:

    shadowcopy call create Volume="C:\"

15. Click OK.
16. Finally, switch over to the Settings tab.
17. Ensure these three options are enabled:
    1. Allow task to be run on demand
    2. Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed
    3. If the task fails, restart every
18. Click OK to finish creating the task.
19. You'll be asked for the username and password for the account that will run the command. If your Windows account is your Microsoft account, use that password, not your Windows Hello PIN.
20. If you want to create a backup right away, right-click the task on your task list and choose Run. You can do this any time you don't want to wait for the scheduled task.

With this feature set up, Windows will back up your files regularly on the same drive as the original files. You'll have to make sure there's enough space available for shadow copies to be created.

Recover files from Shadow Copy

Files backed up using Shadow Copy will be stored in a hidden folder, but you can access its contents by using the Previous Versions feature we mentioned at the start. To get a previous version of a file:

1. Right-click file in File Explorer and then choose Properties.

   If you accidentally deleted the items, right-click its parent directory instead. This way, you can find a version of the folder that still had the file.

2. Switch to the Previous Versions tab.
3. A list of previous backups will appear. Choose the one you want to restore and click Open to view it, or Restore to restore that version over the current one.

   If you're restoring a deleted file, it may be better to use Open to open the parent directory, and the copy the file from the backed up folder to the main one. Otherwise, you need to restore the entire folder.

Other ways to use Volume Shadow Copy

While this method is the more "traditional" way to access Volume Shadow Copy, Windows actually has a couple of other features that serve a similar purpose and rely on the same overall technology. A notable one is System Restore, which automatically backs up copies of your system on a regular basis so you can restore them in the event that your system stops functioning as intended. We've covered System Restore in the past, so you can check that out here.

Alternatively, the File History feature also does something similar, backing up previous versions of your files. but it requires an external drive to be enabled on Windows 11.

Don't lose access to your files

Shadow Copy has been a Windows feature for over two decades at this point, and while it disappeared for a bit, it's still a fully functional feature on Windows 11. Using the traditional Shadow Copy method is probably not the easiest way to create backups of your files, but it gets the job done, and it's not that hard to set up, and it's free.

This kind of backup is mostly made to account for human errors like accidentally deleting or modifying a file, but it won't protect you against drive failures or a stolen device. It's a good diea to keep other backups of your files for extra peace of mind.