I was looking to delete a specific restore point on a Windows 10 machine using the command line. There are several guides available out on the web. For example:
https://softwarekeep.com/help-center/delete-windows-restore-points
Also the ofifical Microsoft guide:
You can also reference the built in help for vssadmin using the command line (e.g, type vssadmin delete shadows)
Delete Shadows /For=ForVolumeSpec [/Oldest] [/Quiet]
Delete Shadows /Shadow=ShadowId [/Quiet]
Delete Shadows /All
– For the given ForVolumeSpec deletes all matching shadow copies.
If /Oldest is given, the oldest shadow copy on the volume is deleted
If /All is given, then all shadow copies on all volumes that can be deleted will be deleted. If /Shadow=ShadowId is given, the shadow copy with that Shadow Copy ID will be deleted. Only shadow copies that have the ClientAccessible type can be deleted.
– The Shadow Copy ID can be obtained by using the List Shadows command. When entering a Shadow Copy ID, it must be in the following format:
{XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX}
where the X’s are hexadecimal characters. This ID can be obtained
through the List Shadows command.
Example Usage: vssadmin Delete Shadows /For=C: /Oldest
I was using the /Shadow=ShadowId option, but always received the error:
vssadmin delete shadows /shadow={aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-dddd-eeeeeeeeeeee}
Error: Invalid option value.
What finally solved it for me was to NOT use PowerShell. Using the identical command in Command Prompt was successful and you should be presented with:
Do you really want to delete 1 shadow copies (Y/N): [N]?