How do you restore an older version of the registry in Windows XP?
I run Win98 on one of my computers and just had to restore an older
version of the registry after letting a reg cleaner program screw it
up. In Win98 that is done from the Dos prompt. But I know XP dont
have a true dos prompt, so how would you do this restore? I dont need
to do it, just curious.
I asked in a Windows98 newsgroup (crossposted from this XP newsgorup)
and no one could answer it.
And fo the heck of it, would this also be the same method for Win2000,
Vista, and Win7? (I also have Win2000 installed).
Thanks
The recovery console, gives you the DOS prompt. You can either install
the recovery console, as a boot time option, or you can run it
from the installer CD. If you own a pre-built computer, then some
other path may be needed (not sure what would be best there). Pre-built
computers don't necessarily come with a genuine installer CD as such.
The recipe here, describes some usage of the recovery console, as part
of bootstrapping yourself enough to do a recovery.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545
Using an installer CD, you can see an option here.
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/img/gif_wxp/rcons00.gif
I have two eligible partitions on my computer here, and the next window
in the process, allows you to select one of them to work on. Since I have
different administrator passwords on these partitions, I can verify based
on the password, that I'm accessing the correct one. If the administrator
password entered, doesn't work, I must be pointed at the wrong partition.
http://www.techrepublic.com/i/tr/cms/contentPics/5835305-Recovery-Console-F.gif
Note that, even some later versions of Windows, and their recovery/repair CDs,
can be used for their DOS prompt as well. For example, a Windows 7 or Windows 8
installer DVD, can be booted and you can get a DOS-like prompt there. Problem
there is, the commands have different names (no fixboot or fixmbr for
example, names like bootrec or the like).
There are probably a ton of different ways to get a repair environment
running, and I haven't used half of them.
In terms of copies of the Registry, System Restore saves copies. If
you have System Restore disabled, your options are pretty limited.
There is an "empty" but operational set of registry files available
on C:, as described in KB307545, but they're only good enough for
bootstrapping you to the point you can run System Restore again. If
you didn't have any "full" registry files, files that had the benefit
of all the program installers writing to them, then the registry
recovery might be pointless, and a reinstall might be the best
option.
If you don't have System Restore turned on, then you had better be
doing backups of C: with great regularity... Or alternately speaking,
be prepared to reinstall from scratch if there is a problem. If you
don't have a lot of programs installed, that might be an option for
you.
Paul