Disabling the Windows System Restore feature avoids some I/O operations to the file system and can reduce the growth of an instant clone's or a linked clone's virtual disk.

With System Restore, you can revert a machine's state to a previous point in time. You can achieve the same result with the push image operation for instant clones and the recompose or refresh operation for linked clones. Furthermore, with instant clones, when a user logs off, the machine is recreated, making a system restore unnecessary

The following steps apply to Windows 7 and Windows 8. The steps might vary on different Windows operating systems.

Procedure

  1. In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.
  2. Log in as an administrator.
  3. Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.
  4. Select Task Scheduler and click Open.
  5. In the left pane, expand Task Scheduler Library, Microsoft, Windows.
  6. Double-click SystemRestore and select SR.
  7. In the Actions pane, click Disable.