How To Backup Registry Files Windows 7

If you want to manually restore a specific section of the registry from a previous System Restore snapshot, or access some specific keys from an older version of the registry, you tin can do so by getting access to those files and and then exporting sections from them. Hither's how to do it in Windows vii or Vista.

Since Windows 7 and Vista utilize Shadow Re-create, otherwise known as Book Snapshot Service, to power the "Previous Versions" feature, there are snapshots of important files taken over fourth dimension, including registry hives, and then we can access the older versions of registry files this way without having to do a full Organization Restore.

This article was jointly written past myself and Ramesh from WinHelpOnline , who has also covered how to practice the aforementioned thing on Windows XP .

Admission Previous Registry Hives from Shadow Re-create

Important Annotation : before we become started, nosotros should really requite you a disclaimer: you should not use this technique unless you lot know what yous're doing and are willing to bargain with possible problems, or at to the lowest degree have some good backups of your files. Yet here? Read on.

The first matter yous're going to want to do is disable User Account Control, because you tin't actually access the folders otherwise. Once you've done that and rebooted, open up a new Windows Explorer window and head to the following folder:

C:\Windows\System32\Config

Right-click anywhere in the white space area of the folder, cull Properties from the menu, and then click the Previous Versions tab. Once you're there, double-click the appropriate folder (Hint: Await at the Date modified field to decide which version of the files you want to restore.)

Annotation: If you're using Windows Vista Home editions and you lot desire to do this, you're going to demand to use Shadow Explorer to become to these files.

Select the registry hive files you lot need, and copy them to a folder of your choice.

Click OK when yous see the Windows Security prompt.

And now you should have a binder containing the backup registry keys.

Now that you have the backup versions of the registry, you can apply them to access the older version.

Loading a Registry Hive and Accessing Specific Keys

At this point you can load the entire registry hive into the registry, which volition make information technology a sub-key of one of the main sections, and allow you to access settings from the older version. Open upwardly the Registry Editor using regedit.exe in the Start Menu search or run boxes, click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_USERS, and and then use File –> Load Hive.

You lot'll be prompted to give the new hive a name—for this example I just used test.

And just like that, yous can see the new central with the contents from last calendar week'due south backup copy. So, for instance, if ane of the settings or license keys for an awarding was lost, we can find it by browsing through the keys for that application. Yous'll have to manually make the changes if you're doing simply a few keys.

If you are trying to use this method to restore big chunks of the registry, you can export a key, modify the exported file to have the right key path instead of Test, and so import it again. It's a bit of a hurting, but might be helpful if you need to.

Once you're done, yous should make absolutely certain to delete this entire primal, or else it'south going to add together a lot of extra bloat to your registry that you really don't need.

Access the Previous Version's Registry Keys Through the Command Line

Instead of loading the registry key using the GUI and calculation all those keys to your current registry, you tin can use the RegFileExport tool from Nirsoft to access and extract the information from the backup files directly—you'll merely demand to know the exact key that you're looking for

And then, for case, if you wanted to access the list of currently installed programs from the Programs and Features dialog. You'd run a command like this confronting the saved backup copy of the SOFTWARE registry hive—assuming you accept the command-line application in the aforementioned directory as the backup file:

regfileexport SOFTWARE ExportedKey.reg "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall"

This will generate a regular .reg file that yous can either double-click to enter the contents into the registry, or yous tin open it up and detect specific keys that you might want to use.

This method can actually exist used to easily restore sections of the registry, should you demand to. Information technology'southward probably most useful for restoring the sections pertaining to a specific awarding.

Again, you should be very conscientious when editing the registry, but at to the lowest degree you know a lot more you did before.

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/31136/how-to-restore-previous-versions-of-the-registry-in-windows-7/

Posted by: perezthertat.blogspot.com

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