>>>I disabled System Protection but the program still stalls at "disabling system restore"
It means that Windows could not delete the Restore Point either.
Perhaps the Restore Point is corrupted and the error message was sent to Windows logs (System Event Viewer).
Let's delete the corrupted Restore Point manually as follows:
-open Windows Command Prompt 'as administrator'.
-type the command:
>vssadmin Delete Shadows /For=C: /All
The command deletes all Restore Points on C: drive.
If it gives you an error, please send us the screen shot of the Command Prompt window.
Information about the error reportes in System Event Viewer would be also helpful
(click win+R, type "eventvwr", open Windows Logs-->System).
You can also type
>vssadmin List Shadows
to see the list of existing Restore Points. If System Protection is disabled, the list should be empty.