back up, edit, and restore the registry in Windows XP - Windows XP

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5/29/2007 5:40 PM

	Parul
356 posts
Advanced Member

back up, edit, and restore the registry in Windows XP

Manual steps to back up the registry

Before you edit the registry, export the keys in the registry that you plan to edit, or back up the whole registry. If a problem occurs, you can then follow the steps in the Restore the registry section of this article to restore the registry to its previous state.

Manual steps to export registry subkeys

You can follow these steps to export a registry subkey before you edit it.

Note Do not follow these steps to export a whole registry subtree. (HKEY_CURRENT_USER is an example of such a subtree.) If you must back up whole registry subtrees, back up the whole registry instead.

1.	Click Start, and then click Run.
2.	In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3.	Locate and then click the subkey that contains the value that you want to edit.
4.	On the File menu, click Export.
5.	In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg) file, type a file name in the File name box, and then click Save.

Manual steps to back up the whole registry

To back up the whole registry, use the Backup utility to back up the system state. The system state includes the registry, the COM+ Class Registration Database, and your boot files. For more information about using the Backup utility to back up the system state, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

308422 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308422/) How to use Backup to back up files and folders on your computer in Windows XP

320820 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320820/) How to use the Backup utility to back up files and folders in Windows XP Home Edition

326216 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326216/) How to use the Backup feature to back up and restore data in Windows Server 2003

Manual steps to edit the registry

Use the Windows user interface

We recommend that you use the Windows user interface to change your system settings instead of manually editing the registry. However, editing the registry may sometimes be the best method to resolve a product issue. If the issue is documented in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, an article with step-by-step instructions to edit the registry for that issue will be available. We recommend that you follow these instructions very exactly.

Manual steps to use Registry Editor

Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems that result from incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Editing the registry involves the following six types of procedures:

•	Locating a subtree, key, subkey, or value
•	Adding a subkey
•	Adding a value
•	Changing a value
•	Deleting a subkey or a value
•	Renaming a subkey or a value

5/29/2007 5:41 PM

	Parul
356 posts
Advanced Member

Re: back up, edit, and restore the registry in Windows XP

Adding a key

To add a new subkey named TestSubkey to the Microsoft subkey, follow these steps:

1.	Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2.	Expand SOFTWARE.
3.	Click the Microsoft subkey.
4.	On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key.
5.	Type TestSubkey, and then press ENTER.

Adding a value

To add a new DWORD Value named TestDWORD and to set its value data to 1 in the TestSubkey key, follow these steps:

1.	Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2.	Expand SOFTWARE.
3.	Expand Microsoft.
4.	Click the TestSubkey subkey.
5.	On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
6.	Type TestDWORD and then press ENTER..
7.	Right-click the TestDWORD DWORD Value, and then click Modify.
8.	Type 1, and then click OK.

Changing a value

To change the value data for the TestDWORD DWORD Value to 0 in the TestSubkey key, follow these steps:

1.	Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2.	Expand SOFTWARE.
3.	Expand Microsoft.
4.	Click the TestSubkey subkey.
5.	Right-click the TestDWORD DWORD Value, and then click Modify.
6.	Type 0, and then click OK.

Manual steps to rename a key or value

To rename the TestSubkeysubkey to Test, follow these steps:

1.	Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2.	Expand SOFTWARE.
3.	Expand Microsoft.
4.	Right-click the TestSubkey key, and then click Rename.
5.	Type Test, and then press ENTER.

Deleting a key or value

To delete the TestDWORD DWORD Value in the TestSubkey subkey, follow these steps:

1.	Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2.	Expand SOFTWARE.
3.	Expand Microsoft.
4.	Click the TestSubkey subkey.
5.	Right-click the TestDWORD DWORD Value, and then click Delete.
6.	Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the value.

For more information about editing the registry, follow these steps in Registry Editor:

1.	On the Help menu, click Help Topics.
2.	On the Contents tab, double-click Registry Editor.
3.	Double-click How To.
4.	Double-click Change Keys and Values, and then click the topic that you want.

source- support.microsoft.com

5/29/2007 5:42 PM

	Parul
356 posts
Advanced Member

Re: back up, edit, and restore the registry in Windows XP

Restore the registry

To restore the registry, use the appropriate method.

Restore the registry keys

To restore registry subkeys that you exported, double-click the Registration Entries (.reg) file that you saved in the Export registry subkeys section. Alternatively, you can restore the whole registry from a backup. For additional information about how to restore the whole registry, see the Restore the whole registry section.

Restore the whole registry

To restore the whole registry, restore the system state from a backup. For more information about how to restore the system state from a backup, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

309340 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309340/) How to use Backup to restore files and folders on your computer in Windows XP

Note Backing up the system state also creates updated copies of the registry files in the %SystemRoot%\Repair folder. If you cannot start Windows XP after you edit the registry, you can replace the registry files manually by using the steps in the "Part One" section of the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

307545 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545/) How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting