There a few guides that mention using wmic. Unfortunately, wmic has been completely removed from Windows in 2026, and some of the other workflow details have changed.
Step 1: Enable Shadow Copy for the disk you want to protect
Start -> Settings -> System left tab -> About in the main pane -> System protection under the Device info dropdown and to the right of Related Links.
Under the System Protection tab in the window that pops up, select the drive you want to protect. Click Configure....
In the window that pops up, under Restore Settings select the Turn on system protection radio button. Under Disk Space Usage, use the slider to select what percentage of the disk space you want to use for snapshots. Windows will automagically delete older snapshots to stay within this limit.
Click OK and OK.
Step 2: Create a Volume Shadow Copy scheduled task
Start -> Enter Task Scheduler and click on the corresponding System result.
In the window that pops up, click Create Task... in the right menu. In the General tab of the window that pops up, populate the Name: field with a string that has no spaces. Under Security options, select the Run whether user is logged in or not option and check Run with highest privileges. In the Configure for: dropdown, select Windows 10.
In the Triggers tab, click New.... In the Edit Trigger pop-up's Begin the task: dropdown, select At startup. Under Advanced settings, check Repeat task every: and select your desired frequency. I set mine to 1 hour. In the for a duration of: dropdown, select Indefinitely. Check the Enabled option. Click OK.
In the Actions tab, click New.... In the Action: dropdown, select Start a program. In the Settings section, enter powershell.exe in the Program/script field. In the Add arguments (optional): field, enter:
-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Invoke-CimMethod -ClassName Win32_ShadowCopy -MethodName Create -Arguments @{Volume='DriveLetterHere:\';Context='ClientAccessible'}"
Replace the DriveLetterHere with the drive letter you selected for protection in Step 1. For example, for the C:\ drive the arguments are:
-NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "Invoke-CimMethod -ClassName Win32_ShadowCopy -MethodName Create -Arguments @{Volume='C:\';Context='ClientAccessible'}"
Click OK.
Leave the Conditions tab as is. In the Settings tab, ensure Allow task to be run on demand is checked and click OK.
Step 3: Check that the task actually works
Right-click on the newly created task -> Run. After a while, the matching Last Run Result entry should show The operation completed successfully. (0x0) with a Last Run Time value.
Open File Explorer. Right click a folder in the protected drive -> Properties - Previous Versions tab. You should see a previous version matching the Last Run Time value.
You can browse and restore (to any location!) from any previous version snapshot by right-clicking it -> Open.
And that's all there is to it. Automatic snapshotting and snapshot rotation/prune is the most useful Windows feature nearly no one uses.