How to Fix the System Restore Error 0x8004231F

When you create a System Restore point, the error code 0x8004231F may occur.

The restore point could not be created for the following reason:

Insufficient storage available to create either the shadow copy storage file or other shadow copy data. (0x8004231F)

Please try again.

The same error code occurs when you use a backup program based on Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).

Cause

The error code 0x8004231F indicates “VSS_E_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE” (Insufficient storage space for the shadow copy) occurs if there is insufficient disk space in one of the hard disk partitions.

Resolution

To resolve the error 0x8004231F, follow these steps:

Open the System Restore properties by running systempropertiesprotection.exe via Win + R.

Turn off protection for non-OS partitions. Ensure it’s turned on for the C drive.

Select the C drive and click Configure.

Increase the “Max Usage” slider a little bit so that more space is allotted for System Restore. Alternatively, you can free up disk space by clicking “Delete”. It deletes existing Restore Points and frees up disk space.

RELATED: How to Delete Individual System Restore Points

Additional Information

You can also use the Vssadmin command-line to view and modify the shadow copy space allocation.

To see the amount of storage space allocated and used for shadow copies, run the following command from admin command prompt:

vssadmin list shadowstorage

To allocate more storage (e.g., 20GB) for the OS partition, run the following command:

vssadmin resize shadowstorage /For=C: /On=C: /MaxSize=20GB

The changes will also be seen in the systempropertiesprotection.exe dialog.

RELATED: How to Lower the Disk Space Allotted to System Restore