Registry - Backup and Restore

How to Backup and Restore the Registry in Windows 7 and Vista​

   Information

This will show you a few options on how to export the registry as a .reg file backup, and how to import the .reg file to restore to the registry in Windows 7 and Vista.

   Warning

Importing or merging a .reg file backup will only restore the keys and values that were included in the exported backup. If you have added new keys and values since the .reg file backup was created, then these items will not be affected or restored when you import or merge the older exported .reg file backup to the registry. If you wanted to replace the registry completely with a backup, then System Restore (see Method One in OPTION ONE & TWO below) will allow you to do this instead.

OPTION ONE

Backup Registry

METHOD ONE

Using System Restore

NOTE: This is the best method to use since it will replace the current registry with the contents of the registry as it was on the date the restore point was created. These restore points contain information about registry settings and other system information that Windows 7 uses. System Restore points do not include the personal user files.
1. Create a restore point.
NOTE: See information at that link for more details on this.

   Tip

Creating a restore point before making any changes to Windows 7 is the recommended method to use to have the registry backed up.

METHOD TWO

Export Only Part of the Registry as a Backup

NOTE: This will allow you to only export a HKEY or key branch in the registry to a .reg file as a backup.
1. Open the Start menu and type regedit in the search line, then press Enter. (See screenshot below)

2. If prompted by UAC, click on Yes to approve.

3. To Export a Registry HKEY Branch
NOTE: This will allow you to backup the entire selected HKEY branch with all of it's subkeys and key values to a .reg file as a backup.
A) Right click on a HKEY branch that you want to backup, and click on Export. (See screenshot below)

B) Select where you want to save the exported .reg file to, type in a name for the .reg file, and click on the Save button. (See screenshot below)

4. To Export a Registry KEY Branch
NOTE: This will allow you to backup the entire selected KEY branch under a HKEY with all of it's subkeys and key values to a .reg file as a backup.
A) Right click on a KEY branch under the HKEY that you want to backup, and click on Export. (See screenshot below)

B) Select where you want to save the exported .reg file to, type in a name for the .reg file, and click on the Save button. (See screenshot below step 3B)

OPTION TWO

Restore Registry

METHOD ONE

From a System Restore Point

NOTE: This will replace your current registry and system files in Windows by restoring the registry and system files in Windows back to how they were on the date the restore point (Option One, Method One) was created.
1. Do a System Restore using a restore point with the date you want to restore you Windows 7 registry and system files back to.
NOTE: See information at link for more details on this.

   Tip

Doing a system restore is the recommended method to use to undo any changes made to Windows with a restore point dated before you made the changes.

METHOD TWO

Restore a REG File to the Registry in Windows

NOTE: Any new keys and values added to the registry not included in the .reg file at the date it was created will not be affected.
1. Merge from the REG File
A) Right click on the backup .reg file and click on Merge. (See screenshot below)

B) Click on Yes and Yes to approve the merge.

C) Go to step 3.
OR

2. Import from Regedit
A) Open the Start menu and type regedit in the search line, then press Enter. (See screenshot below)

B) If prompted by UAC, click on Yes to approve.

C) Click on File on the menu bar, then click on Import. (See screenshot below)

D) Navigate to where you saved the backup .reg file and select it, then click on the Save button. (See screenshot below)

E) You will now see the import progress window. (See screenshot below)

3. Click on OK.

   Tip

If you get the error below, then you will need to do a system restore instead since the keys are in use.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Do a System Restore in Windows 7
• How to Create a System Restore Point in Windows 7
• How to Backup User and System Files in Windows 7
• How to Create a System Image Backup in Windows 7
• How to Do a System Image Recovery in Windows 7
• How to Extract Files from Windows 7 System Image using Virtual PC
• How to Enable or Disable Regedit in Vista and Windows 7
• How to Add "New Registry File" to the Context Menu in Windows

 

[Brink]

Hey John,

It's most certainly faster to just export the whole registry. You could still copy and paste what you want from the .reg file to create other .reg to import only what you want from it.

Of course, a system image is the best backup though.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Thanks Shawn was just curious and I do a weekly image or extras if feel something is going south

 

[MeMatt]

I backed-up the entire registry (In the navigation pane (the left pane) of Registry Editor, right-click Computer, and then click Export).
Can I merge that file to get back to where I started (before I started manually uninstalling MS Security Essentials)?
This thread seems to imply to use a file that has only part of the registry.

 

[Brink]

Hello Matt,

Sorry, but no. Most of it would not merge.

You could do a system restore using a restore point dated before to undo it though.

 

[MeMatt]

Thanks for the quick response!
There is only one restore point shown even though I checked "show more restore points" and I need to go back to earlier today.
I have seen other advice/instructions that recommend to import the the reg file that I saved before starting. What is your opinion on that?

 

[Brink]

You could give it a try, but it won't merge any part of the registry that's in use by the system. You'll need to restart the PC afterwards to fully apply.

 

[avada]

Isn't there a less convoluted way to do this? Just opening a backed up registry file (NTUSER.DAT, SOFTWARE, etc) I don't know everything that I'll need to restore beforehand.
Maybe a third party app?

I'm aware of the attach hive thing but that's horrible. You need too attach it somewhere, then export then search and replace the the path, then import...

 

[Supertechster]

All, I am a new member and got here by surfing for solution to an issue I got myself into but cannot figure out how to fix. My PC woldn't start and was looping. I found all kinds of answers from tons of web pages and literally tried them all 2-3 even 5times, over 2 weeks of intermittent access - rebooting after each attempt without any success at all. In the end, I just reinstalled Win7 x64 ULT on the same HDD and now, as many others have discovered, all of my Prgs and Apps are no longer listed or clickable. Like others I foound a Windows.Old with everything inside, but unlike others I also had made a backup of my registry before I started trying to fix this PC, thinking maybe I could try a 'trick' that an old crusty Win2003 Server builder and migration expert had showed me. Once. I just cannot recall the HOW The story is, we got a stack of brand new servers and a box of tapes and disks. We installed Win 2003 Server on the boxes, then installed the tape backup software to each one, plugged in an LTO-3 tape drive, popped in a tape marked 001 of 3, and restored all the apps for the next 2 days to that 1 server. This was repeated again and again for the next 1500 or so boxes until 3yrs later the job was complete.

At the end of any server build, we'd reboot, and grab the server name, MAC address, IP and THEN, while still on that server, call a number and the person on the other end would give us an IP address to go to (on their corporate server farm) and a client name where the ORIGINAL servers registry snapshots were. He'd facititate access, issue a temp PW and we'd remote over, locate the Reg Key file in their server farm with the same name as the server we just finished, login to IT using the temporary credentials, access its registry and export a copy to the root\temp dir of that share. Then back at our site, we'd launch the registry tool on our server, point to that directory of that same share and 'import' it across the web to OUR machines registry. (Yikes!) Dead simple right? Anyway, when we restarted the server, BANG! all apps and data were linked, desktop Icons were functional and it was basically a bigger, better, faster, exact duplicate of the original build they made our tapes from - inclusing all accounts, logins etc for their team back at source. Now THEY could go in remotely and tweak everything they needed for their purposes and future use. Does this 'Reg-trick' sound familiar to any of you, and if so can I use it to import the copy of my registry to do the same? I ask b/c IF this trick is specific to Win 2003 Servers - I'll probably totally hose my machine and never get it right again. It is booting 100% now, but I've lost use of over 100 installed apps and such that I'd dearly miss and would take me years to replace and reinstall. Thanks!