Manual Registry Backup and Restore?

[Guest]

I'm wondering if I can just manually make copies of the registry files, save
them to a CD, and then if needed, manually delete the corrupted files and
just copy the archived ones from CD back to the OS folders?

I know there are all sorts of automated backup solutions -- I just like to
keep things simple and hands-on.

These are the files I would copy -- from Wikipedia:

The following Registry files are stored in %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\:

* Sam - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM
* Security - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY
* Software - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
* System - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM
* Default - HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT
* Userdiff

The following file is stored in each user's profile folder:

* NTUSER.DAT

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

The registry hives are in use when logged on, and cannot be copied. You can
backup the hives by booting into WinPE/BartPE or a parallel Windows
installation (if available).

If you want to instantly backup the hives when logged on, the best option is
to use ERUNT.

ERUNT and NTREGOPT:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

ERUNT - ReadMe
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt

<excerpt>

Start ERUNT, confirm the Welcome message.

Type in the name of a restore folder where the backed up registry files
should be saved, or click "..." to browse your computer's drives and select
a folder. You can also simply leave the default, which is a folder named
ERDNT inside your Windows folder, the advantage being that you have access
to this folder from the Windows Recovery Console in case Windows does not
boot anymore.

</excerpt>

You can then move the hives to CD.


--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


I'm wondering if I can just manually make copies of the registry files, save
them to a CD, and then if needed, manually delete the corrupted files and
just copy the archived ones from CD back to the OS folders?

I know there are all sorts of automated backup solutions -- I just like to
keep things simple and hands-on.

These are the files I would copy -- from Wikipedia:

The following Registry files are stored in %SystemRoot%\System32\Config\:

* Sam - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM
* Security - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY
* Software - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
* System - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM
* Default - HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT
* Userdiff

The following file is stored in each user's profile folder:

* NTUSER.DAT

 

[Guest]

Thanks for explaining that to me.

Just for my curiousity, would I be able to copy the registry files when
booted up with the Recovery Console? (Not that that's a very convenient way
to do it.)

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

would I be able to copy the registry files when booted up with the
Yes, but not directly to a CD though. You can copy the hives to another
folder.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


Thanks for explaining that to me.

Just for my curiousity, would I be able to copy the registry files when
booted up with the Recovery Console? (Not that that's a very convenient way
to do it.)

 

[frodo]

one of the best ways to backup/restore reg hives is w/ ERUNT.

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

runs from inside windows, not rec-console, so your current hives must be
sound enough to boot and then perfrom the "restore". of course you can
copy over the erunt backups by hand using rec-console, _IF_ you've relaxed
its file-access restrictions in the reg:

http://www.jsifaq.com/SF/Tips/Tip.aspx?id=7974

=========

FWIW,

in \windows\repair are the system's archived hive files, the classic
restore-from location. but these are placed there by windows setup, and
on many systems are as old as the setup itself (ie, pretty worthless).
however, doing a ntbackup "system state" type backup will update these
copies w/ the latest. [W2k used to have a quickie app that did this, but
it's gone in xp]. You might want to consider running ntbackup
occasionally because of this...

 

[Guest]

Thanks everyone...