Six Ways To Backup Windows Registry

Sometime back, Abdullah wrote about how to backup your registry. I was also in the process of writing the same article but Abdullah was faster than me :-). So I abandoned my article. But today I was searching in my drafts and I found out the article again. Actually there are several methods to backup Windows registry. Some of them, I’m discussing in this article which is a combination of my previous article plus some additional useful ways to backup your registry.

Method 1: Using System Restore

When we create a system restore point in Windows XP, it backs up the following items:

• Registry
• DllCache
• Local User Profile
• COM+ and WMI databases
• IIS Metabase

So if you want to backup the registry, creating a restore point is the safest way to do so. To create a restore point go to Start –> All Programs –> Accessories –> System Tools –> System Restore. Create a system restore point from there.

Medhod 2: Backing up Individual registry keys

If you want to backup individual registry keys, go to Start –> Run –> regedit

This will open the registry editor. Go to the registry you want to backup, right click it and select Export.

Method 3: Backing up the whole registry

To backup the whole registry, go to Start –> Run –> regedit

This will open the registry editor. Go to File –> Export. This will open the save registry dialog. After the name, select “All” from Export Range and save the registry.

Method 4: Using NTBackup utility

Using the Windows backup utility, we can save the system state including the registry and all the files and folders we wish to backup. To use the Windows backup utility, go to Start –> Run –> ntbackup.

This will open the backup utility. Start the backup Wizard and select “Only select system state data”

If you want to backup the whole system, the select “Backup everything on this computer”

Method 5: Using command line

To backup the registry from the command line, use the following commands:

REG EXPORT KeyName FileName

Keyname ROOTKEY\SubKey (local machine only)
ROOTKEY [ HKLM | HKCU | HKCR | HKU | HKCC ]
SubKey The full name of a registry key under the selected ROOTKEY
FileName The name of the disk file to export

Examples:

REG EXPORT HKLM\Software\MyCo\MyApp AppBkUp.reg
Exports all subkeys and values of the key MyApp to the file AppBkUp.reg

Method 6: Using ERUNT automatic backup