Backing Up the Registry
It’s very important to backup the registry before you make any changes as you can seriously damage your computer system if you make a mistake.
We recommend using Windows Backup or an industry standard backup software application to keep your system backed up on a regular basis. Since we also know that hardly anyone does this, it’s important to know how to backup your registry before making any changes.
Manual Steps to Export Registry Subkeys
If you are editing a single subkey in the registry, it may make sense just to backup that subkey versus the whole registry. Follow these steps to backup a subkey:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click the subkey that contains the value that you want to edit.
4. On the File menu, click Export.
5. In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg) file, type a file name in the File name box, and then click Save.
Do not use this process if you want to backup an entire area of the registry, for example all of HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Instead, follow the next process and use Windows Backup to backup the registry.
Backing Up the Registry Using Windows Backup
1. Click Start, click Run, type ntbackup.exe, and then click OK.
2. On the "Welcome to the Backup and Restore Wizard" page, click Advanced Mode.
3. Click the Backup tab.
4. On the Job menu, click New.
5. Click to select the check boxes for the drives that you want to back up. If you want to be more specific in your selections, expand the drive that you want, and then click to select the check boxes for the files or for the folders that you want.
6. Click to select the System State check box.
7. If you want to back up system settings and data files, back up all the data on your computer plus the System State data. The System State data includes such things as the registry, the COM+ class registration database, files that are under Windows File Protection, and boot files.
8. In the Backup destination list, click the backup destination that you want to use.
9. If you clicked File in the previous step, click Browse, and then select the location. You can specify a network share as a destination for the backup file.
10. On the Backup tab, click Start Backup. The Backup Job Information dialog box appears.
11. Click Advanced.
12. Click to select the Verify data after backup check box.
13. In the Backup Type box, click the type of backup that you want. When you click a backup type, a description of that backup type appears under "Description."
14. Click OK, and then click Start Backup. A Backup Progress dialog box appears, and the backup starts.
15. When the backup is complete, click Close.
16. On the Job menu, click Exit.
Backing Up the Registry in Windows Vista
Windows Vista streamlines the backup process and provides a single full computer backup interface.
Figure 29: Windows Vista Backup and Restore Center
The Backup and Restore Center (available under All Programs\Maintenance or the Control Panel) has several options to backup your computer. You can select to just backup your files or the entire computer. Additionally, if you select Backup Status and Configuration under the All Programs\Accessories\Tools menu on the Start menu, you can setup automatic backups to occur at some frequency.
These options eliminate some of the advanced settings you could do under previous versions of Windows, but reduces complexity significantly for most users.
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