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19 February 2024  Ashley S. Miller  Specialist of Customer Service Dept.
 

Summary
Discover effective solutions to enable file history in Windows 10. Learn how to quickly resolve the problem with automatic backups in this article. Let's solve it together.



Table of contents

table iconI. What is file history, and what is the reason why file history cannot be enabled?
table iconII. How to solve the problem that Windows 10 cannot enable file history?
table iconIII. Use Renee Becca to automatically backup files regularly
file history windows 10 not working

I. What is file history, and what is the reason why file history cannot be enabled?

File History automatically backs up files in folders like “Documents”, “Music”, “Pictures”, “Videos”, and “Desktop” on your computer, as well as offline OneDrive files. It can also backup data from other hard disk folders besides the C drive. Folders are scanned periodically and backups are made when file changes are detected.
Windows File History
Windows 10 may sometimes not enable File History due to a setting change caused by updates. By default, after an update, the “File History” function is set to “Off“, meaning files in folders like “Documents“, “Music“, “Pictures“, “Videos“, and “Desktop” won’t be backed up automatically. To enable File History, you must manually adjust the setting.
Now that you know what the File History feature is and why it might not work, let’s fix it.

II. How to solve the problem that Windows 10 cannot enable file history?

1. Restart the file history setting

If you update your Windows 10 system, the file history function may be turned off by default. You can enable File History on your device by following the steps below.
a , enabled through Windows settings
Step 1: Press Windows + I to open the Windows settings window, select Update and Security.
Win + I key
windows updates and security
Step 2: Select the (Backup) function in the left menu bar and click on the right (Add drive) to designate the location for saving the backup. It is recommended to choose another mobile hard disk or U disk if there is only one main hard disk in the computer to prevent data loss from hard disk damage.
Add drive device, Windows backup
Step 3: Click (More Options) to set the frequency of backing up files, the maximum time to keep the backup, and manually add the folders you want to back up.
Windows backup options
b , enabled through the control panel
Step 1: Search for “Control Panel” in the search box on the lower left corner to open the window. Then, select “System and Security” and choose “Save backup copies of your files with file history.”
Keep backup copies of your files with File History
Step 2: Select the Select Drive option on the left side and choose the drive device to save the backup. Follow the prompts to open the file history.
turn on file history

2. Check Windows Services related to File History

Step 1: Run the Windows 10 service.msc control dialog.
windows Key + R
enter service msc in windows 7 run
Step 2: Enter the command SFC /scannow in the command prompt window and press Enter. System File Checker will scan and fix system files. Restart the device after repair to check for problem resolution.
● File History Service
● Volume Shadow Copy
● Windows Search
enable file history service

3. Run the SFC command

The SFC command can be used to check why certain Windows functions are not working, and to repair corrupt files on the system. The specific operation steps are as follows:
Step 1: Search (cmd) directly in the search box in the lower left corner, and select (run as administrator) to open the command prompt tool.
run as administrator
Step 2: In the opened command prompt window, enter the command (SFC /scannow) and press the (Enter) key. Next, System File Checker will perform a system scan and fix problematic system files. After the repair is complete, restart the device to see if the problem is resolved.
Enter the SFC command
The three commonly used methods to solve the problem of Windows 10 not enabling file history can be complemented by using professional data backup tools. One recommended tool is Renee Becca which allows for system, hard disk, partition, and folder/file backup and restore. It also offers regular automatic backup with options for incremental or differential modes, saving time and disk space. Easy to use and efficient.

III. Use Renee Becca to automatically backup files regularly

1. What is Renee Becca?

Renee Becca is a tool specifically designed for system and hard disk data backup and restoration. It utilizes incremental/differential backup technology to save time and disk space. In addition to system backup, it also supports partition backup, hard disk backup, file backup, and disk cloning to meet all your needs.
main interface of renee becca
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2. How to backup data with Renee Becca?

Backing up data with Renee Becca is very simple, the specific steps are as follows:
Step 1: Download, install and run Renee Becca on the computer, and select the (File Backup) option in the main interface (Backup) column.
File backup of Renee Becca
Step 2: Select the files needing backup in the source device, then choose the hard disk partition for storing the backup data in the destination.
how to back up files in renee becca
In addition, in (task plan), you can make a daily/weekly/monthly automatic backup plan and click (confirm) to enable the automatic backup function.
schedule regular backup in Renee Becca
In Renee Becca, you can select from 5 backup schemes based on your needs: version chain mode, single version mode, overall mode, incremental mode, and diff mode.
select a backup mode in Renee Becca
Renee Becca has 5 backup plans to choose from:
Version chain mode: Only the latest 5 versions are kept, and useless old versions are automatically deleted after the backup is completed.
Single version mode: Only the latest version is kept, and the previous version is automatically deleted after the backup is completed.
Entire mode: Creates a full backup.
Incremental mode: After the initial full backup, only incremental backups are created.
Differential mode: After the initial full backup, only differential backups are created. You can view the difference between incremental backup and differential backup.
Step 3: Click the (Backup) button to start executing the backup file command based on your settings. Monitor the progress of all backup tasks on the task bar. After the backup is complete, click the (Restore) button to restore the files to the specified hard disk when needed.
recover backup files from renee becca
Step 4: Then select the location where the files are to be restored, and click the (Restore) button.
recover file in renee becca
Table of contents