Windows 7: Is there such a tool to reset regisrty files?

ohsocute69 · 09 Jul 2012

Is there a tool to reset to factory settings??..

alphanumeric · 09 Jul 2012

No, not that I know of. System Restore maybe, but that only goes back so far. Even if there was such a utility it would likely break a lot of programs and more than likely cripple Windows to a point where you would have to reinstall anyway. Your Windows install will be unique to your PC. About the closest I've seen to what you want is Windows 8's refresh option. IMHO most if not all of those so called Registry cleaners and such do more harm than good and should be avoided.

solarmystic · 09 Jul 2012

Like alpha mentioned, no not really.

But there is a rather comprehensive way to backup and restore your registry entries manually yourself using the following procedures.

Backing up your registry hives

Make a batch file containing the following commands:-

Code:

if exist C:\Backups\COMPONENTS.OLD del C:\Backups\COMPONENTS.OLD
if exist C:\Backups\SAM.OLD del C:\Backups\SAM.OLD
if exist C:\Backups\SECURITY.OLD del C:\Backups\SECURITY.OLD
if exist C:\Backups\SOFTWARE.OLD del C:\Backups\SOFTWARE.OLD
if exist C:\Backups\SYSTEM.OLD del C:\Backups\SYSTEM.OLD
if exist C:\Backups\NTUSER.OLD del C:\Backups\NTUSER.OLD

ren C:\Backups\COMPONENTS COMPONENTS.OLD
ren C:\Backups\SAM SAM.OLD
ren C:\Backups\SECURITY SECURITY.OLD
ren C:\Backups\SOFTWARE SOFTWARE.OLD
ren C:\Backups\SYSTEM SYSTEM.OLD
ren C:\Backups\NTUSER.DAT NTUSER.OLD

REG SAVE HKLM\COMPONENTS C:\Backups\COMPONENTS
REG SAVE HKLM\SAM C:\Backups\SAM
REG SAVE HKLM\SECURITY C:\Backups\SECURITY
REG SAVE HKLM\SOFTWARE C:\Backups\SOFTWARE
REG SAVE HKLM\SYSTEM C:\Backups\SYSTEM
REG SAVE HKCU C:\Backups\NTUSER.DAT

What this does, is create a backup of your registry hives, in a folder called C:\Backups for later use.

Every time you click on the batch file, older entries will be deleted and a newer copy of your hives will be created.

You can of course modify the location to any other valid location for restoration in case of trouble.

Restoring your registry hives

Here’s how to restore your Registry from the six hive backups:

1. Insert your Windows Installation Disc or System Repair Disc you can create from the following tutorial:-

System Repair Disc - Create

2. Click Next on the first Install Windows screen, and then click Repair
your computer on the second page.

3. On the System Recovery Options window, select Windows 7 in the list and then click Next.

4. Click Command Prompt.

5. In the Command Prompt window that appears, type the following commands to rebuild your Registry from your hive files:

Code:

REG RESTORE HKLM\COMPONENTS C:\Backups\COMPONENTS
REG RESTORE HKLM\SAM C:\Backups\SAM
REG RESTORE HKLM\SECURITY C:\Backups\SECURITY
REG RESTORE HKLM\SOFTWARE C:\Backups\SOFTWARE
REG RESTORE HKLM\SYSTEM C:\Backups\SYSTEM
REG RESTORE HKCU C:\Backups\NTUSER.DAT

You can omit one or more of these lines if you only want to
restore part of the Registry.

6. When you’re done, pop out your System Repair/Installation disc and restart your PC.

Hopefully this should be sufficient to restore functionality.

If it doesn't, the Registry may be sufficiently corrupted and an alternative solution is as follows:-

1. Open the Command Prompt as instructed in steps 1–4 above.

2. Type these commands to copy the files:

Code:

copy C:\Backups\COMPONENTS C:\Windows\System32\Config
copy C:\Backups\SAM C:\Windows\System32\Config
copy C:\Backups\SECURITY C:\Windows\System32\Config
copy C:\Backups\SOFTWARE C:\Windows\System32\Config
copy C:\Backups\SYSTEM C:\Windows\System32\Config
copy C:\Backups\NTUSER.DAT C:\Users\your_user_folder

Where your_user_folder (on the last line) is the name of your user
folder, which may or may not be the same as your user name.

If you don’t know the folder name, type dir C:\users to list all the user folders
on your PC.

If your user folder name has spaces in it, add quotation marks, like this:

Code:

copy C:\Backups\NTUSER.DAT "C:\Users\Binks .A. Bonks"

3. When you’re done, pop out your setup/repair disc and restart your PC.

That's all there is to it!

Windows 7: Is there such a tool to reset regisrty files?

Is there such a tool to reset regisrty files? problems?