Windows 7: ERUNT GUI directions

seven2 · 29 Apr 2012

Hello
My first post and thank you for having me.
I have unsuccesfully installed ERUNT GUI and used Acronis to reverse the damage.
Please direct me if I am in error;
I download ver 1.5 to desktop
Then I have a choice to open or extract. I have used both and got lost with both
Once downloaded can't you just extract all and browse to a folder of your choice
Then click on setup so the program is installed.
Now you can see "options" and choose the number of days etc you wish.
I installed the program but was told I would need to manualy backup altho I chose 7 days and it also said there was no information to be restored.
As you can see I had some issues and Acronis brought me back to readiness.
If you could please suggest I would be grateful.
I have read all the videos and turtorials but they seem to suggest there are many ways to do thd so the options become fuzzy. pperhaps, within reason someone could give me a step by step to install this valuable program.
Thank you
Peter

marsmimar · 30 Apr 2012

Hello Peter and welcome to Seven Forums.

From the ERUNT FAQ section:

Q: Do ERUNT and NTREGOPT run on Windows 7?
A: ERUNT and NTREGOPT in their current versions 1.1j are still compatible with Windows 7, but as in Vista, they will only work correctly if you turn off User Account Control in Windows' Control Panel (move the slider to the lowest position). Also, a problem has been discovered which on many systems causes ERUNT and NTREGOPT to display a "RegSaveKey: 3" error when optimizing / restoring the BCD00000000 hive. The cause is that after a clean install of Windows 7, the BCD part of the registry which contains Windows' boot configuration data resides on a hidden system partition with no drive letter assigned in Explorer. You can simply ignore this error and continue, or as a workaround, open Disk Managemant in Control Panel and right-click on the partition displayed as "System Reserved" to assign a drive letter.

ERUNT and NTREGOPT FAQ

ERUNT is a registry backup and restore tool with potential problems in Windows 7. You can use the built in Windows 7 system restore to create a registry back up.

Registry - Backup and Restore

Also, since you're already doing system images with Acronis, I think I'd forget about using ERUNT unless there's some kind of overwhelmng reason why you have to use it. If something corrupted the registry and you feel the need to restore the registry, I think the chances are pretty good that other programs and/or files may also be corrupted.

seven2 · 30 Apr 2012

Hello
Your post was quite logical, especially for my level.
It was enticing when I watched the GUI videos as there seemed to be no conflicts with it.
Had it worked, it would have been a quick solution to a misstep.
I will take your advice and am thankful for the two mechanisms I have.
Thank you for taking the time.
Peter

fwcetus · 16 May 2012

ERUNT itself (not the GUI version add-on) seems to work OK (in Win 7 Pro x64 SP1 for me), as does RegBak (I'm trying them both out for comparison). I'm still monitoring the backups, though, just to see...

I did install (and uninstall) "ERUNT GUI", but it didn't seem to offer me more than ERUNT itself.

I should mention that I have never used either ERUNT or RegBak to ~restore~ a Win 7 system - I'm only making automated (and occasional manual) ~backups~ right now. I hope I never have to find out how well either can restore a bad system. (No, I'm not willing to try it just as an experiment - <g>).

I did name the unnamed-by-default SYSTEM_DRV as "S" (for "System" - <g>), to suppress any error message from a "RegSaveKey: 3" error for the BCD00000000 hive.

I'm also experimenting with a backup batch file (modified from the one in "Windows Annoyances", too.

seven2 · 17 May 2012

Hi
I am so glad you are interested. I found a site which I copied notes from and hope you will be able to view it. It seems to handle work arounds for Win 7 x 64 logicaly but I am not a tech so do not know about the functionality.
I would really like to have it in my recovery arsenal as the reviews up to and including XP were great for a speedy recovery of the entire registry.
Please let me know what you think of the tutorial/video.
I tried twice before seeing this to no avail and Acronis saved me. I am sorely tempted but am really holding off until i am certain what I do will both back up and recover.I do not find many videos regaring the recovery part which i find an issue to hold be back.

Automatically Backup Your Windows 7 or Vista Registry Daily Using ERUNT by Britec - YouTube

fwcetus · 17 May 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by seven2

Hi
I am so glad you are interested. I found a site which I copied notes from and hope you will be able to view it. It seems to handle work arounds for Win 7 x 64 logicaly but I am not a tech so do not know about the functionality.
I would really like to have it in my recovery arsenal as the reviews up to and including XP were great for a speedy recovery of the entire registry.
Please let me know what you think of the tutorial/video.
I tried twice before seeing this to no avail and Acronis saved me. I am sorely tempted but am really holding off until i am certain what I do will both back up and recover.I do not find many videos regaring the recovery part which i find an issue to hold be back.
Automatically Backup Your Windows 7 or Vista Registry Daily Using ERUNT by Britec - YouTube

Yes, I've seen that video before (and it's quite good, methinks), and it is similar to what I do with ERUNT and the Task Scheduler. I also do basically the same thing with RegBak and the Task Scheduler, too. (Remember, I'm trying to compare the two programs with each other - and it's amazing how much of what they do is the same or at least analogous.)

What the video lacks is how you are to restore the registry hives sometime in the future - it is ~not~ done through ERUNT (~or~ through RegBak). You have to go to the date-stamped ERDNT directory in Windows and run the copy of ERDNT.EXE there to copy the saved hive file back over the current (presumably bad) files (or got to the date-stamped RegBak directory in Windows and run the copy of REGRESS.EXE there to restore the hive files).

I also have experimented a bit with a batch file modified from the one in the book Windows 7 Annoyances - I'll put it in a separate post following this one...

fwcetus · 17 May 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by fwcetus

I also have experimented a bit with a batch file modified from the one in the book Windows 7 Annoyances - I'll put it in a separate post following this one...

Code:

@echo off
rem RegBackup.BAT backs up the Registry hives to %SystemRoot%\RegBackup
rem RegBackup.BAT must be run with elevated administrative privileges
rem the following command will usually (but not always) cause the following error -
rem REG SAVE HKLM\COMPONENTS %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\COMPONENTS
rem ERROR: The system was unable to find the specified registry key or value.
cls
echo.
if not exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup md %SystemRoot%\RegBackup
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\COMPONENTS.OLD del %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\COMPONENTS.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\HARDWARE.OLD del %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\HARDWARE.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SAM.OLD del %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SAM.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SECURITY.OLD del %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SECURITY.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SOFTWARE.OLD del %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SOFTWARE.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SYSTEM.OLD del %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SYSTEM.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\NTUSER.DAT.OLD del %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\NTUSER.DAT.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\COMPONENTS.BAK ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\COMPONENTS.BAK COMPONENTS.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\HARDWARE.BAK ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\HARDWARE.BAK HARDWARE.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SAM.BAK ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SAM.BAK SAM.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SECURITY.BAK ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SECURITY.BAK SECURITY.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SOFTWARE.BAK ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SOFTWARE.BAK SOFTWARE.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SYSTEM.BAK ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SYSTEM.BAK SYSTEM.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\NTUSER.DAT.BAK ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\NTUSER.DAT.BAK NTUSER.DAT.OLD
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\COMPONENTS ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\COMPONENTS COMPONENTS.BAK
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\HARDWARE ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\HARDWARE HARDWARE.BAK
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SAM ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SAM SAM.BAK
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SECURITY ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SECURITY SECURITY.BAK
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SOFTWARE ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SOFTWARE SOFTWARE.BAK
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SYSTEM ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SYSTEM SYSTEM.BAK
if exist %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\NTUSER.DAT ren %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\NTUSER.DAT NTUSER.DAT.BAK
echo Backing up the Registry hives . . .
echo.
echo Backing up COMPONENTS . . .
REG SAVE HKLM\COMPONENTS %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\COMPONENTS
echo.
echo Backing up HARDWARE . . .
REG SAVE HKLM\HARDWARE %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\HARDWARE
echo.
echo Backing up SAM . . .
REG SAVE HKLM\SAM %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SAM
echo.
echo Backing up SECURITY . . .
REG SAVE HKLM\SECURITY %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SECURITY
echo.
echo Backing up SOFTWARE . . .
REG SAVE HKLM\SOFTWARE %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SOFTWARE
echo.
echo Backing up SYSTEM . . .
REG SAVE HKLM\SYSTEM %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\SYSTEM
echo.
echo Backing up HKCU . . .
REG SAVE HKCU %SystemRoot%\RegBackup\NTUSER.DAT
echo.

DougCuk · 17 May 2012

ERUNT will work with Windows 7 32 or 64bit - but there are several setup issues.

1. The folder used to store the registry backups must be relocated - as the original location inside the Windows folder is now a UAC write-protected folder.
2. The automated backups must now be configured via the Task Scheduler - the original method via a shortcut in the Startup folder is now blocked for securty reasons.
3. All instances of ERUNT or AUTOBACK must be set to run with full Administrator rights.

I am a computer support engineer and install ERUNT on all the systems I configure - so have installed on most versions of Windows over the past 8 years.
My install notes for ERUNT are posted on-line at the following location http://www.stargateuk.info/upload/ERUNT_Tweaks_Win7.txt

fwcetus · 17 May 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by fwcetus

@echo off
rem RegBackup.BAT backs up the Registry hives to %SystemRoot%\RegBackup
rem RegBackup.BAT must be run with elevated administrative privileges

Of course, this batch file makes copies of the Registry hives (and up to two archived copies of them, too), but restoring bad hives is a separate process - NTUSER.DAT has be copied back to "C:\Users\[your_user_name]\" (overwriting the current copy of it there), and the other hives have to be copied back to "C:\Windows\System32\config\", overwriting the current copies there.

I am still not sure what to make of the Registry hive "COMPONENTS", which seems to be absent most of the time, but which does show up in "C:\Windows\System32\config\" on rare occasion (and when it does, both ERUNT and RegBak, as well as my batch file, will back it up).

fwcetus · 17 May 2012

Quote: Originally Posted by DougCuk

ERUNT will work with Windows 7 32 or 64bit - but there are several setup issues.
1. The folder used to store the registry backups must be relocated - as the original location inside the Windows folder is now a UAC write-protected folder.
2. The automated backups must now be configured via the Task Scheduler - the original method via a shortcut in the Startup folder is now blocked for securty reasons.
3. All instances of ERUNT or AUTOBACK must be set to run with full Administrator rights.
I am a computer support engineer and install ERUNT on all the systems I configure - so have installed on most versions of Windows over the past 8 years.
My install notes for ERUNT are posted on-line at the following location http://www.stargateuk.info/upload/ERUNT_Tweaks_Win7.txt

Thank you for chiming in with all that useful information, and with the link to your notes on "customizing" ERUNT's use for Win 7.

I am using it so far, doing some of what you are doing, but I am not sure that I have had to do all of what you said you had to do (I'm experimenting on a Windows 7 Pro x64 laptop).

And, since you've had a lot of experience with Registry hive backups with ERUNT, what do you know of the "COMPONENTS" hive, which occasionally appears and which, when it does, will be backed up by ERUNT?

Windows 7: ERUNT GUI directions

ERUNT GUI directions problems?