Fortunately, al,l editions of Windows starting from Windows 8 offer the File History feature. This lets you back up important files on an external storage device. If you are curious about the File History feature and want to use it, this post will elaborate on how to enable it on your system.
What Is the File History Feature in Windows?
Microsoft released the File History feature for Windows 8 and has since improved it over the years. The File History feature allows you to create a backup of essential files and folders on an external storage device. It is different from a system image or Windows backup because it backs up only specific files and folders, rather than duplicating the complete C: drive.
Usually, the File History feature backs up Documents, Music, Pictures, Downloads, Videos, offline OneDrive files, and Desktop folders. But you can add more folders you want to back up using File History.
Is Windows File History Any Good?
Yes. The File History feature is undoubtedly a much-needed feature for Windows users. Earlier, you could only rely on manual backup of folders on an external storage drive. Or you could create a Windows backup, but that would be huge in size.
The File History feature lets you preserve the contents of the most important folders, where most apps save their files. You can also add additional folders, which is a crucial feature that was missing when Microsoft introduced File History for Windows 8.1.
File History will routinely backup your files and folder using the default setting, but you can make changes to it. For example, you can exclude folders you don’t want to backup, change the backup frequency, or even add more folders.
What Happens When File History Is Turned Off?
File History is not active by default when you install Windows. You need to enable the feature by accessing the Control Panel or the Settings app. When File History is off, Windows won’t automatically back up the data in Documents, Music, Pictures, Downloads, Videos, offline OneDrive files, and Desktop folders.
You can either create manual backups of these folders on another drive or enable File History to do the same. However, remember that you will have to keep the external storage drive connected at all times to ensure scheduled backups.
How to Enable or Disable File History in Windows
You can enable File History in Windows using the Settings app, Control Panel, Group Policy Editor, or the registry. Here’s the explanation of each of these methods.
1. Using Windows Settings
Windows 8.1 and 10 offer the complete File History options inside the settings app. You can use it to enable the file history feature, customize the storage device and frequency, and add or remove folders.
To enable File History using the settings app, do as follows:
Press Win + I to launch the Setting app. Then click on System > Storage. Scroll down and find the More Storage settings section. Click on the View backup options label. Check if the toggle Automatically back up my files is active. If it is, it means File History is active on your system. If you haven’t enabled File History, you will see Add a drive option. Click on it and select an appropriate external storage drive to back up your files. Then click on More options and then click the Backup now button. It will create a backup of your files on the drive. Scroll down to configure more settings related to the File History feature. If you want to disable the feature, retrace the first two steps of this method and click on the toggle to disable File History.
2. Using Control Panel
Windows 11 removed the complete File History option present inside the settings app. Microsoft shifted many settings in Windows 11, but you can access File History using the Control Panel. From there, you can enable/disable the feature as well as manage all the settings.
To enable File History using the Control Panel, do as follows:
Press Win + R to launch the Run command box. Then type Control panel in the text box and press the enter key. Control Panel will launch. Click on the System and Security option under Adjust your computer’s settings section. Scroll down and click on the File History option. You will see the “File History is off” message. Click the Turn on button to enable File History on your system. If an external storage drive is present, File History will begin backing up your files on it. The backup creation may take longer if you have bigger files in the Libraries folder, like videos or programs. To disable the File History feature revisit the option in Control Panel by retracing steps 1-3. Then click on the Turn Off button to disable it.
3. Using Group Policy Editor
If you have Windows Pro or Enterprise version can use the Group Policy editor to enable File History on your system. It’s not available by default on Windows Home; however, there is a workaround to access the Group Policy Editor in Windows Home, so be sure to do that before continuing.
Press Win + R to launch the Run command box. Then type gpedit. msc in the text box and press the enter key. The Group Policy Editor will launch. Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components. Scroll down and locate the File History policy under the Windows Components section. Double-click on Turn off File History setting to launch the edit window. This setting disables the File History feature on your system. So, if it is set to Enabled, click on the Disabled radio button to activate File History on your system.
4. Using the Registry Editor
You can use a simple registry tweak to activate File History on your system. However, you should always create a registry backup before making adjustments. Check our guide on how to back up your registry for more information.
To enable File History using the registry editor, do as follows:
Press the Win key and type Regedit. Right-click on the first relevant search result for registry editor and select the Run as administrator option. Go to the top address bar and paste the following path: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows. Now, right-click on Windows and select New > key. Name the new key FileHistory (no space in between). Now, click on the File History key and navigate to the right-hand side pane. Right-click on it and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value option from the context menu. Name the value Disabled and double-click on it to edit. Set the Value Data to 0. It will keep the feature active on your system. If you want to disable File History, set the Value Data to 1.
Use File History To Backup Important Files
These were the multiple methods to enable or disable File History on Windows. You can try enabling the feature using the Settings app. If you have Windows 11, you can enable it using Control Panel. You can also try using the Group Policy Editor or Registry Editor to enable or disable File History.
