Registry files?

  • Thread starter Thread starter az-willie
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az-willie said:
What files make up the Registry in Windows XP Home?
Click to expand...

Open Regedit (Start > Run > regedit > OK) and navigate to this key to
find out:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\hivelist

People will love to give you a pat answer, but the actual identity of
the registry proper varies by system.
 
djs said:
x-no-archive: yes





Open Regedit (Start > Run > regedit > OK) and navigate to this key to
find out:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\hivelist

People will love to give you a pat answer, but the actual identity of
the registry proper varies by system.
Click to expand...
======
Wow! Looks like 6 files plus some directories.

I was expecting a couple of files like 98 with user.dat and system.dat
but hadn't found those files in a search but I did see ntuser.dat.

How in the world are you supposed to back up the registry? Why didn't
they put a backup utility in regedit?
 
az-willie said:
======
Wow! Looks like 6 files plus some directories.

I was expecting a couple of files like 98 with user.dat and system.dat
but hadn't found those files in a search but I did see ntuser.dat.

How in the world are you supposed to back up the registry? Why didn't
they put a backup utility in regedit?
Click to expand...

Uuuhhhhh........ they did put a backup feature in regedit. It's called
export. Go into regedit, goto: file export, for export range choose all, put
in name you want, hit save.
 
x-no-archive: yes

az-willie said:
Wow! Looks like 6 files plus some directories.

I was expecting a couple of files like 98 with user.dat and system.dat
but hadn't found those files in a search but I did see ntuser.dat.

How in the world are you supposed to back up the registry? Why didn't
they put a backup utility in regedit?
Click to expand...

You backup using either System Restore, a third-party utility like
ERUNT, or both. Using Regedit to export is not to be recommended.

http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/index.htm
 
from the wonderful said:
Uuuhhhhh........ they did put a backup feature in regedit. It's called
export. Go into regedit, goto: file export, for export range choose all, put
in name you want, hit save.
Click to expand...

That's dandy, until you want to restore it, at which point you may have
a problem.

Most folks recommend ERUNT. Or NTBackup. Or Ghost. 8>.
 
az-willie said:
==========
Thanks for the tip. I had done that before but apparently missed the ALL
buttton. It made a small file so I didn't understand what had happened.

That worked and wow! it made a 64 meg file.

No wonder it takes it so long to boot.
Click to expand...
Ya, mine is 62 meg. But like GSV said you may run into probs trying to
restoring the whole thing. An image of the hard drive may be a safer way to
go.
 
purplehaz said:
Ya, mine is 62 meg. But like GSV said you may run into probs trying to
restoring the whole thing. An image of the hard drive may be a safer way to
go.
Click to expand...
========
I do have backups made with DriveImage but would hate to have to restore
the whole drive. I can restore individual files / folders but without
knowing which ones ...
The registry backup program recommended seems to do a good job. Used the
registry cleaner that comes with it after making the first backup and it
made the registry 8% smaller ( or so it says ). That program is better
for fixing small screwups from editing the registry trying to get
something working etc.

Major malfunctions call for using DriveImage to restore the whole drive
or known folders when I know what is screwed up.
 
az-willie said:
What files make up the Registry in Windows XP Home?
Click to expand...

Files in Windows\system32\config

Specifically
SYSTEM
SOFTWARE
SAM
SECURITY
DEFAULT

and .tmp .bak and .log versions of these relating to changes; .sav for
versions made at the setup of the system (compare Win98's system.1st)

Also the users' personal settings which are in files ntuser.dat in their
Documents and settings<user>\ folders
 
purplehaz said:
Uuuhhhhh........ they did put a backup feature in regedit. It's called
export. Go into regedit, goto: file export, for export range choose all,put
in name you want, hit save.
Click to expand...

It is not suitable for backup, because it can only be restored by
merging - which will not delete entries added since the export was made.
Also it is inflated in size by being in Unicode Text.

ERUNT is probably the best independent backup. But note that the
registry is one of the things (in fact the major thing) backed up in
every restore point made by system restore. Restoration using that
will, if it can be used, put registry and system files back in a
consistent state
 
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