system protection grayed out and unchangable

You will need to edit the Registry to fix this issue, copy and run each of these three commands in a Command Prompt as Administrator (Windows + X Keys and Select Command Prompt (admin)) - hit enter after each command . . 

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\SystemRestore" /v "DisableSR" /f
reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\SystemRestore" /v "DisableConfig" /f
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SPP\Clients" /v " {09F7EDC5-294E-4180-AF6A-FB0E6A0E9513}" /t REG_MULTI_SZ /d "1" /f

Don't worry if the first two keys are not found . . .

Then close Command Prompt and Reboot, you should now be able to configure System Protection (System Restore)

I Hope this Answers your Question!

Thanks for the help!  This was driving me crazy.....

I had to re-read the post to see you mentioned rebooting after the registry addition.  But it all is working now.

BTW, I learned the hard way, when changing the properties of the services, it's okay to have them attempt to restart themselves once, or twice, but don't put in the option to have them always try to restart.  It prevented my machine from shutting down.....

Live and learn...

Thanks again.