{"id":9086,"date":"2019-05-07T06:30:36","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T06:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=9086"},"modified":"2025-05-08T15:59:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T10:29:53","slug":"what-is-system-volume-information-can-i-delete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/what-is-system-volume-information-can-i-delete\/","title":{"rendered":"What is System Volume Information and Can I Delete the Folder"},"content":{"rendered":"

The System Volume Information folder is a hidden and protected folder located at the root of every drive or partition. It’s even found on your SD card, USB pen drive, and external hard disk if you have connected them to your Windows computer earlier. It’s is not a virus or malware.<\/p>\n

But, what exactly is the System Volume Information folder? Why is the folder so huge? Can you delete the folder?<\/p>\n

This System Volume Information FAQ page has answers to all your questions.<\/p>\n

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Contents<\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. What is the System Volume Information folder?<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Why is the folder not accessible?<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. How to gain access to the System Volume Information folder?<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. What does the folder contain?<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Why is the folder not visible in Explorer?<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Can I delete the System Volume Information folder?<\/a><\/li>\n
  7. Why is System Volume Information too large?<\/a><\/li>\n
  8. Prevent System Volume Information Creation on USB pen drives<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    <\/a>What is the System Volume Information folder?<\/h2>\n

    System Volume Information (SVI) is the datastore folder used by the System Restore feature. However, it’s not only used by the System Restore feature. It’s also used by Windows Information Protection (WIP), formerly known as enterprise data protection (EDP), to store the encryption keys. In addition, SVI stores metadata and information used by Windows Backup, System Image Backup, Volume Shadow Copy service, and Windows Search indexing.<\/p>\n

    <\/a>Why is System Volume Information not accessible?<\/h2>\n

    The System Volume Information folder is restricted using NTFS permissions. By default, only the NT AUTHORITY\\SYSTEM<\/code> account (“LocalSystem”) has access (Full control) to the folder and its subfolders.<\/p>\n

    Even if you’re logged in as an administrator, you’ll see the following error message when accessing the folder:<\/p>\n

    Location is not available\r\n\r\nSystem Volume Information is not accessible.\r\n\r\nAccess is denied.<\/pre>\n
    \"what<\/p>\n
    If you need to get into the folder to check its contents, see the next paragraph.<\/p>\n
    <\/a>How to gain access to System Volume Information<\/h2>\n
    Only the SYSTEM<\/code> account has full access to the SVI folder by default. No other user or group can view the contents of this directory.<\/p>\n
    However, you can gain access to the System Volume Information folder using two methods:<\/p>\n
    Option 1: Run Command Prompt under the SYSTEM account<\/strong><\/h4>\n
    Using Microsoft’s PsExec.exe<\/code> utility or other third-party tools, you can start a Command Prompt session under the SYSTEM<\/code> account. It lets you view, modify or delete the contents of System Volume Information.<\/p>\n
    \"psexec<\/p>\n
    For more information, see the article How to Run a Program as SYSTEM (LocalSystem) Account in Windows<\/a><\/p>\n
    This option is preferred as there is no need to modify the folder permissions or access control entries (ACE or ACL) and later revert to the default.<\/p>\n
    Note that you can’t run File Explorer under the LocalSystem account. If you want to manage the SVI folder using GUI, you may use a third-party tool like File Commander or Total Commander (run as SYSTEM)<\/em><\/p>\n
    Option 2: Take ownership & assign full access to your account<\/h4>\n
    (This is not<\/strong> the preferred method. There are hundreds or thousands of files in the SVI folder, and you don’t want to mess up their permissions. But, if you need to do that, follow the steps below:)<\/em><\/p>\n
    You can modify the access control entry to assign your user account full control permissions for System Volume Information and its subfolders and files:<\/p>\n
    First, you need to change ownership<\/a> of those files individually — using Takeown.exe or via File Explorer.<\/p>\n
    From an admin Command Prompt window, run the following commands:<\/p>\n
    To gain access to the System Volume Information folder only:<\/strong><\/p>\n
    takeown \/f \"C:\\System Volume information\"\r\n\r\nicacls \"C:\\System Volume Information\" \/grant username<\/strong>:F<\/pre>\n
    You should be able to do a directory listing of the System Volume Information folder, but not in the subfolders. If that doesn’t serve your purpose and you want to alter the permissions recursively (across subfolders), run the set of commands mentioned below:<\/p>\n
    \n
    To gain access to the System Volume Information folder & subfolders & files (recursively)<\/strong><\/p>\n
    Important:<\/strong> Keep in mind that you can change folder ownership and permissions en masse, but reverting to the original permissions is not that easy, since hundreds or thousands of files (with different owner names) are involved.<\/div>\n
    The following procedure is usually recommended only when you want to delete the System Volume Information folder on a drive completely.<\/p>\n
    takeown \/f \"C:\\System Volume information\" \/r \/d y\r\n\r\nicacls \"C:\\System Volume Information\" \/grant username<\/strong>:F \/t \/c\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
    Restore the default permissions<\/strong><\/p>\n
    If you’ve not<\/strong> made the permission changes recursively, you can restore the original permissions easily. To do so, run these two commands:<\/p>\n
    icacls \"C:\\System Volume Information\" \/setowner \"NT Authority\\System\"\r\n\r\nicacls \"C:\\System Volume Information\" \/remove username<\/strong><\/pre>\n
    You should see the message Successfully processed n files; Failed processing 0 files<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
    As said earlier, the above commands (to restore the default permissions) won’t help if you’ve modified the SVI folder permissions, subfolders, and files en masse<\/em>.<\/p>\n
    (In all of the above examples, replace username<\/strong><\/code> with the actual user account name — e.g., Ramesh<\/code>)<\/em><\/p>\n
    <\/a>What does the System Volume Information folder contain?<\/h2>\n
    Here is the typical directory structure of the System Volume Information folder on the system drive:<\/p>\n
    C:.\r\n\u2502   IndexerVolumeGuid\r\n\u2502   Syscache.hve\r\n\u2502   WPSettings.dat\r\n\u2502\r\n\u251c\u2500\u2500\u2500EDP\r\n\u2502   \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500Recovery\r\n\u251c\u2500\u2500\u2500Windows Backup\r\n\u2502   \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500Catalogs\r\n\u2502           GlobalCatalog.wbcat\r\n\u2502           GlobalCatalogCopy.wbcat\r\n\u2502           GlobalCatalogLock.dat\r\n\u2502\r\n\u251c\u2500\u2500\u2500SPP\r\n\u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500OnlineMetadataCache\r\n\u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500SppCbsHiveStore\r\n\u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500SppGroupCache\r\n\u251c\u2500\u2500\u2500SystemRestore\r\n\u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500AppxProgramDataStaging\r\n\u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500AppxStaging\r\n\u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500ComPlusStaging\r\n\u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500FRStaging\r\n\u2502 \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500FRStaging{8665F319-6B09-46AE-AAEE-75CF8D2D0EC8}\r\n\u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500WindowsImageBackup\r\n    \u251c\u2500\u2500\u2500Catalog\r\n    \u2502       BackupGlobalCatalog\r\n    \u2502       GlobalCatalog\r\n    \u2502\r\n    \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500SPPMetadataCache\r\n            {17466c2b-b1e0-4958-b962-c0c19974d1a0}\r\n            {24499217-fe70-4f88-89e7-77fae19d93b5}\r\n            {4149d215-92c7-447c-bcb6-0cbfbe517afd}\r\n            {4277e4fa-9920-40c7-b307-22bcf52d492d}\r\n<\/pre>\n
    \"what<\/p>\n
    \n
    Whereas, on a USB flash drive or SD card (previously used on a Windows computer), the System Volume Information contains only these two files:<\/p>\n