Registry porting to new installation

[PwrUzrWithBnfts]

I have already made a posting here and I don't think I was being simple enough about it. Basically I want to completely transfer the "Last known good configuration" registry settings to a completely fresh installation that contains nothing more than the original Windows files and the original drivers files in their installed locations.

If anybody has any comments what-so-ever would be greatly appreciated. Any comments from people who think this would work well, along with anything that *may* cause problems. Thank you in advance.

 

[severedsolo]

Hi PwrUzrWithBnfts. What an interesting project... that would never have occurred to me.

Ok firstly, Im fairly sure it can be done pretty simply. From your post it looks like you already know how to do so but want some feedback first? Am I reading that right?

One major thing I can think of that might cause a balls up
Installed Program Files on the machine you create the registry backup on, will then have their registry entries transferred to the new machine, if it doesn't have the program installed then it might cause issues. Likewise with drivers etc. that are on the old machine but not on the new one.

Can I just ask.... why do you want to do this?

 

[Bill2]

Well, just export the entire registry to a .reg file, then merge the .reg in the new install, or am I missing something? Assuming its the same hardware.

 

[PwrUzrWithBnfts]

The purpose is to basically do an automatic backup and restore of not only drivers, but also the product key, and activation files behind the scenes from a boot disc, that then performs an unattended Windows installation. This boot disc is intended for an end-user to be able to fix their computer if it crashes, assuming all they have is their original Windows installation DVD.

@ severedsolo
As far as I know, the only things that get stored in the control sets are hardware/driver related (or virtual hardware with software drivers). I need to know if there is anything that I need to know (like for example if something randomized in the "system" hive has to match a value in another hive for example "software"). I am doing this because I there is immediate profit involved, plus future profit.

@ Bill2
I am keeping it in its' hive format because it is quicker and there is no need to switch it to the .reg format.


Thank you both for your quick responses, they are very much appreciated.

 

[PwrUzrWithBnfts]

Basically in Windows PE the "last known good" control set main registry tree (ControlSet002) will be saved, and put inside the registry as what Windows will use as it's control set before it even installs Windows.

 

[PwrUzrWithBnfts]

Actually I think I may have just thought of one problem... Any services that were installed that are not part of Windows would not be present in the new installation. Some of those services are driver-specific, so I would have to sift through them for invalid entries before I included them in the new Windows installation. I would have to be careful, though because deleting one too many or leaving one behind could lead to instability problems in the O/S.... This would have to be done automatically, so I will have to do some more research on how Windows stores services information in the registry.