RegFileExport Helps you Export Data from Offline Registry Hives

RegFileExport is a useful console application from NirSoft, which helps you extract data from offline Registry hives that are not currently in use by the Operating System. RegFileExport reads the registry hive and then exports the specified branch or the entire branch to a .reg file.

Regedit.exe can do this too. What’s different?

We know that the Registry Editor in Windows lets you load a registry hive via the File menu – “Load Hive…” command, and extract data offline from the registry hive.

The advantage of RegFileExport over Regedit.exe is that RegFileExport can export data quickly using a single command-line, without needing to load the hive, export the branch, update the paths in the REG file using a text editor, and unload the hive manually… which you would otherwise do if you use Regedit.exe or Reg.exe.

Another advantage as mentioned in the documentation is that the RegFileExport tool may also be able to extract keys and values from the Registry file even if the Registry file is corrupted and cannot be loaded by Windows.

RegFileExport Command-line Syntax

RegFileExport [Registry File] [Destination .Reg File] {Registry Key}

{Registry Key} is optional, if the key is specified, only this key and all its subkeys will be exported into the .reg file. Otherwise, the entire file will be exported. if Destination .Reg File is an empty string (“”) the Registry data will be sent to the standard output.

Let’s say if you have a corrupted user profile from which you want to extract certain registry keys (e.g., a registry branch that stores the list of IE Extensions) so that you can apply the setting to your current profile. You use this command:

regfileexport "C:\Users\Jim\ntuser.dat" ieext.reg "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions"

And you now have the IE Extensions branch in a REG file.

Download RegFileExport. This utility runs in Windows 2000 and higher.