{"id":9898,"date":"2019-06-22T06:31:02","date_gmt":"2019-06-22T01:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=9898"},"modified":"2022-12-09T17:15:11","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T11:45:11","slug":"automatically-backup-registry-hives-windows-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/automatically-backup-registry-hives-windows-10\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Automatically Backup the Entire Registry in Windows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/create-restore-protection-point-rollback-windows\/\">System Restore point<\/a> or shadow copy maintains a complete backup of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/restore-previous-versions-registry-system-restore-snapshots-windows-7-vista\/\">registry hives<\/a>. However, Windows 10\/11 doesn&#8217;t automatically create System Restore points every day. Restore Points are created only when installing important updates or drivers.<\/p>\n<p>Notwithstanding the System Restore&#8217;s excellent capabilities, relying upon System Restore as a file or registry backup method is not sensible. It&#8217;s because System Restore points are cleared on a FIFO basis once the space threshold is reached.<\/p>\n<p>The registry files (hives) are located in the <code>Windows\\System32\\Config<\/code> folder. The hives are always in use when Windows is running. So, you&#8217;ll need a specialized program that uses Windows API or volume shadow to backup the hives.<\/p>\n<p>This article discusses <strong>six<\/strong> different methods to completely backup your Windows registry hives.<!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"toc\">\n<h4>Backup the Windows Registry<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"#regback_EnablePeriodicBackup\">Enable Windows Periodic Registry Hive Backups (&#8220;RegIdleBackup&#8221; task)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#tweaking\">Using\u00a0Tweaking.com &#8220;Registry Backup&#8221;<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#tweaking_auto\">Automatically backup using Scheduler<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#erunt\">Using ERUNT<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#erunt_auto\">Automatically backup using Scheduler<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#regbak_utility\">Using &#8220;Registry Backup and Restore&#8221; Utility<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#regbak_auto\">Automatically backup using Scheduler<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#regedit_export_hives\">Exporting the complete registry (hive format) using the Registry Editor<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#reg_export_hives\">Exporting the complete registry (hive format) using the REG.exe Tool<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4>Backup a selected registry key<\/h4>\n<ol start=\"7\">\n<li><a href=\"#export_reg_file\">Backup or Export a selected registry branch<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<p>To backup the entire registry in Windows, follow one of these methods:<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"regback_EnablePeriodicBackup\"><\/a>Option 1: Enable Windows Periodic Registry Hive Backup<\/h2>\n<p>In earlier versions of Windows, the registry hives were backed up regularly by the built-in <strong>RegIdleBackup<\/strong> scheduled task. But, from Windows 10 v1803 onwards, the <strong>RegIdleBackup<\/strong> or the Registry Idle Backup Task no longer backs up the registry hives to the RegBack folder by default. In Windows 10 v1803 and higher, the <code>Windows\\System32\\Config\\RegBack<\/code> folder may be empty, or it contains <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/find-and-delete-zero-byte-files-recursively-windows\/\">0-byte<\/a> hive files.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9917\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regidlebackup-task.png\" alt=\"RegIdleBackup - Registry Idle Backup Task - Scheduler Registry Backup\" width=\"759\" height=\"211\" \/><\/p>\n<p>However, you can enable the registry hive periodic backup (to the <code>Regback<\/code> folder) feature back by configuring the following registry entry:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Start the Registry Editor (<code>regedit.exe<\/code>) and go to the following key:\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\Session Manager\\Configuration Manager<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10128\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/enableperiodicbackup-registry-windows.png\" alt=\"enableperiodicbackup regback - completely backup registry\" width=\"699\" height=\"385\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Create a DWORD (32-bit) value named <code>EnablePeriodicBackup<\/code><\/li>\n<li>Double-click <strong>EnablePeriodicBackup<\/strong> and set its data to <code>1<\/code><\/li>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>See the article <a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-in\/help\/4509719\/the-system-registry-is-no-longer-backed-up-to-the-regback-folder-start\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">The system registry is no longer backed up to the RegBack folder starting in Windows 10 v1803<\/a> for more information.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>After you enable the above registry setting, restart Windows. Windows will backup the registry to the <code>C:\\Windows\\System32\\Config\\RegBack<\/code> folder once in <strong>10<\/strong> days, when the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/automatic-maintenance-disable-schedule-windows-8-10\/\">Automatic Maintenance<\/a> kicks in &#8212; i.e., if the user leaves the system idle for a considerable time.<\/p>\n<p>When Automatic Maintenance starts, it invokes the <code>RegIdleBackup<\/code> task, which will update the RegBack folder.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10129\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regback-folder-regidlebackup.png\" alt=\"enableperiodicbackup regback - completely backup registry\" width=\"639\" height=\"242\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You may also launch Task Scheduler, right-click on the Registry Idle task and click Run to backup registry hives on demand. The RegIdleBackup task is located in the Scheduled Task Library, under the <code>Microsoft\\Windows\\Registry<\/code> folder.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10061\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regidlebackup-scheduler.png\" alt=\"regidlebackup task scheduler regback\" width=\"632\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Important:<\/strong> The RegIdleBackup task backs up only the system hives, namely: <code>DEFAULT<\/code>, <code>SAM<\/code>, <code>SECURITY<\/code>, <code>SOFTWARE<\/code>, <code>SYSTEM<\/code>. It <strong>does not backup<\/strong> the user registry hives, namely <code>NTUSER.DAT<\/code> and <code>USRCLASS.DAT<\/code> (located in each user profile.)<\/p>\n<h3><a id=\"regback_schtasks\"><\/a>Run RegIdleBackup task Daily or Weekly<\/h3>\n<p>One important thing to note is that the <strong>RegIdleBackup<\/strong> task automatically runs only once in 10 days. Additional triggers you set for the task are ignored.<\/p>\n<p>If you need to backup the registry daily or whenever needed, you can open Task Scheduler to run the task manually, on-demand, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/launching-a-scheduled-task-manually-using-schtasksexe\/\">using schtasks.exe<\/a>. Alternately, run the following command-line elevated.<\/p>\n<pre>schtasks \/run \/i \/tn \"\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Registry\\RegIdleBackup\"<\/pre>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10458\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/registry-backup-task-regidlebackup-schtasks.png\" alt=\"backup registry daily or weekly - regidlebackup task\" width=\"699\" height=\"105\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This starts the RegIdleBackup task, which starts backing up the registry regardless of the task&#8217;s last run time.<\/p>\n<p>You can also create a new scheduled task that runs the above schtasks.exe command-line and configure it to run weekly or daily basis.<\/p>\n<p>Download the XML file <strong>Registry Backup Task.xml<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Registry-Backup-Task.zip\">Registry Backup Task<\/a>) and import it into Task Scheduler. The task is configured to run backups every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1:00 PM. After you import the task in Task Scheduler, you can modify the Task settings as you require.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10456\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/registry-backup-task-regidlebackup.png\" alt=\"backup registry daily or weekly - regidlebackup task\" width=\"632\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"tweaking\"><\/a>Option 2: Use Tweaking.com &#8220;Registry Backup&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-9926\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/TweakingRegistryBackup.png\" alt=\"tweaking.com registry backup logo\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" \/>Tweaking.com has a good registry backup utility that helps you easily back up the computer and user registry hives. It can also run as a scheduled task so that you can automatically backup daily, weekly, or at specified intervals. This tool runs on Windows 10 and 11.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Download Tweaking.com&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tweaking.com\/content\/page\/registry_backup.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">Registry Backup<\/a> tool and run it.<\/li>\n<li>Click on the Settings tab and set the backup location accordingly.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9903\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-hive-backup-0.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - tweaking.com registry hives regback folder\" width=\"756\" height=\"588\" \/><br \/>\nThe Windows registry hives are located at <code>C:\\Windows\\System32\\Config<\/code>. You may set the backup location to <code>C:\\Windows\\System32\\Config\\RegBack<\/code> if you want.<\/li>\n<li>Click on the <strong>Backup Registry<\/strong> tab.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9904\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-hive-backup-1.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - registry hives regback folder\" width=\"756\" height=\"588\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Under the <strong>Computer:<\/strong> section, select all the hives listed there, namely:\n<ul>\n<li>COMPONENTS<\/li>\n<li>DRIVERS<\/li>\n<li>DEFAULT<\/li>\n<li>SAM<\/li>\n<li>SECURITY<\/li>\n<li>SOFTWARE<\/li>\n<li>SYSTEM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Under the <strong>User Registry Files:<\/strong> section, select the registry hives (<code>ntuser.dat<\/code> &amp; <code>usrclass.dat<\/code>) for the required user accounts.<\/li>\n<li>Once selected, click <strong>Backup Now<\/strong>. Tweaking.com&#8217;s registry backup tool backups up the selected registry hives to the specified folder (e.g., <strong>Regback<\/strong> folder). Each backup set is stored in a separate folder with the date and timestamp as the folder name.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9902\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-hive-backup-2.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - tweaking.com registry hives regback folder\" width=\"699\" height=\"219\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><a id=\"tweaking_auto\"><\/a>Registry Backup as Scheduled Task<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Switch to the Settings tab of the Registry Backup utility.<\/li>\n<li>Under <strong>Scheduling Options<\/strong>, select <strong>Run under System account<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Click on the <strong>Create Schedule<\/strong> button<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9905\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-hive-backup-6.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - registry hives regback folder schedule\" width=\"756\" height=\"134\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<p><strong>Important:<\/strong> If you want to backup the user registry hives <code>ntuser.dat<\/code> and <code>UsrClass.dat<\/code> <strong>in addition<\/strong> to the system registry hives, you <strong>must<\/strong> configure the task to run as the current user by selecting <strong>Run under Current User account<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9927\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-backup-schedule-user.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - registry hives regback folder schedule - current user\" width=\"699\" height=\"136\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>This creates a scheduled task that runs the command <code>TweakingRegistryBackup.exe \/supersilent<\/code> if Hidden mode is selected.\u00a0The scheduled task is configured to run at every startup if using the <strong>System<\/strong> account. If you&#8217;ve chosen <strong>Run under Current User account<\/strong>, then the task runs at every login.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>To change the schedule to weekly, click on the <strong>Edit Schedule<\/strong> button, which opens the Task Scheduler window.<\/li>\n<li>Double-click on the <strong>Tweaking.com &#8211; Registry Backup<\/strong> task in Task Scheduler.<\/li>\n<li>In the Triggers tab, click the <strong>Edit<\/strong> button.<\/li>\n<li>In the Begin the task: drop-down options, select <strong>On a Schedule<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Select <strong>Weekly<\/strong>, and select a day from the list of options provided.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9901\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-hive-backup-3.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - tweaking.com registry hives regback folder\" width=\"685\" height=\"324\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Click OK<\/li>\n<li>Click on the Settings tab and enable <strong>Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed<\/strong>.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-hive-backup-4.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - tweaking.com registry hives regback folder\" width=\"632\" height=\"203\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9899\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-hive-backup-5.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - tweaking.com registry hives regback folder\" width=\"747\" height=\"356\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That&#8217;s it! The registry backup scheduled task will now run Weekly.<\/p>\n<h3>Purge older registry backups automatically<\/h3>\n<p>The Registry Backup tool can automatically delete backups older than a certain number of days (FIFO). You can configure it via the Settings tab.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9906\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-hive-backup-7.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - registry hives regback folder schedule\" width=\"464\" height=\"113\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Each registry backup set may be around 150- 200 MB. So, it is better if you eliminate older backups if you no longer need them. You may choose to keep at least <code>2<\/code> backups.<\/p>\n<h3>Restore the Registry hives from backup<\/h3>\n<p>To restore the registry hives from a previous backup, click on the Restore Registry tab and select the backup from the dropdown list box. Select the registry hives you want to restore, and click <strong>Restore Now<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9907\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-hive-backup-8.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - registry hives regback folder - restore registry\" width=\"756\" height=\"498\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Although Tweaking.com&#8217;s Registry Backup tool doesn&#8217;t have a modern look, it gets the job done. The scheduled backup or command-line support and the restore feature offered by this tool are handy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/recover-registry-keys-restore-point-shadow-copy-windows\/\">How to Extract Registry Keys from a System Restore Point or Shadow Copy in Windows<\/a><\/div>\n<h2><a id=\"erunt\"><\/a>Option 3: Using ERUNT to Backup the Registry<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-9924\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/erunt-logo.png\" alt=\"erunt logo\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" \/><strong>ERUNT<\/strong>, or The Emergency Recovery Utility NT, is a utility that can be used to backup and restore the Windows Registry. This tool has the ability to do a complete backup and restore of the Windows Registry, including the security hive so that permissions are properly backed up and restored.<\/p>\n<p>To backup the complete set of registry hives in earlier versions of Windows, you may have used the ERUNT utility. As ERUNT is no longer updated, many users are worried about its compatibility with Windows 10. Moreover, ERUNT doesn&#8217;t support backing up using Volume Shadow Copy.<\/p>\n<p><em>Despite those odds, ERUNT runs perfectly fine on Windows 10. It think it should work fine on Windows 11 also.<\/em><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bleepingcomputer.com\/download\/erunt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">ERUNT<\/a> from BleepingComputer.com, and run it (<code>erunt.exe<\/code>) as administrator.<\/li>\n<li>Select the backup destination and click OK.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9918\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/erunt-1.png\" alt=\"erunt backup registry hives windows 10\" width=\"467\" height=\"300\" \/><\/li>\n<li>By default, the System and current user registry hives are backed up. To backup other users&#8217; registries, enable the <strong>Other open user registries<\/strong> option.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3><a id=\"erunt_auto\"><\/a>Run Registry Backup as Scheduled Task<\/h3>\n<p>Using Task Scheduler, you can configure ERUNT to backup the registry Weekly or daily (at Startup). By default, ERUNT does not create a new backup if one already exists for the current day.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Launch Task Scheduler.<\/li>\n<li>In the Actions pane on the right, click <strong>Create Task\u2026<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Type a name for the task that you want to create (for example, ERUNT), and optionally assign a descriptive text.<\/li>\n<li>Enable the option <strong>Run with highest privileges<\/strong>. This is an important step.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9920\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/erunt-scheduler-1.png\" alt=\"erunt backup registry hives windows 10 - task scheduler\" width=\"632\" height=\"480\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Select the Triggers tab, and click <strong>New<br \/>\n<\/strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9919\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/erunt-scheduler-2.png\" alt=\"erunt backup registry hives windows 10 - task scheduler\" width=\"701\" height=\"297\" \/><\/li>\n<li>In the Begin the task drop-down box, select <strong>On a schedule<\/strong>, and click OK. If you want to backup the registry at Startup, select <strong>At startup<\/strong> from the drop-down list box.<\/li>\n<li>Select <strong>Weekly<\/strong> or <strong>Daily<\/strong>. Configure the options accordingly, and click OK.<\/li>\n<li>Select the Actions tab, and click <strong>New<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In the Program\/script: text box, type the following (including the quotes):\n<pre>\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\ERUNT\\AUTOBACK.EXE\"<\/pre>\n<p><em><strong>Note:<\/strong> If you&#8217;re using ERUNT from a different folder, then mention the correct path for <code>autoback.exe<\/code>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9922\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/erunt-scheduler-3.png\" alt=\"erunt backup registry hives windows 10 - task scheduler\" width=\"454\" height=\"260\" \/><\/li>\n<li>In the Add arguments (optional) text box, type the following and click OK:\n<pre>D:\\RegBack\\#Date# \/noconfirmdelete \/noprogresswindow \/days:10<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Click on the Settings tab and enable <strong>Run task as soon as possible after a scheduled start is missed<\/strong>.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/tweaking-registry-hive-backup-4.png\" alt=\"registry backup windows 10 - tweaking.com registry hives regback folder\" width=\"632\" height=\"203\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Click OK, and click OK.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>You&#8217;ve now created a new task to backup the registry at Weekly (or Daily or at Startup). The backups will be stored in the <code>D:\\RegBack<\/code> folder. Each backup set will have its own subfolder with the current date as the subfolder name.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9921\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/erunt-scheduler-4.png\" alt=\"erunt backup registry hives windows 10 - task scheduler\" width=\"700\" height=\"426\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The following system registry hives are backed up:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>BCD<\/li>\n<li>DEFAULT<\/li>\n<li>COMPONENTS<\/li>\n<li>DRIVERS<\/li>\n<li>DEFAULT<\/li>\n<li>SAM<\/li>\n<li>SECURITY<\/li>\n<li>SOFTWARE<\/li>\n<li>SYSTEM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And the following current user registry hives:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>NTUSER.DAT<\/li>\n<li>USRCLASS.DAT<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Purge older registry backups automatically<\/h3>\n<p>The above command-line also deletes registry backups that are older than 10 days (<code>\/days:10<\/code> parameter used above.) The number of restore folders to keep can be changed using the <code>\/days:n<\/code> command line switch, e.g. <code>\/days:7<\/code> would only keep the folders from the last 7 backup days.<\/p>\n<p>By default, <code>Autoback.exe<\/code> does not create a new backup if one already exists for the current day. Use the <code>\/alwayscreate<\/code> switch to change this behavior and have the program always create a new backup.<\/p>\n<p><em>For additional command-line parameters, see ERUNT&#8217;s <code>readme.txt<\/code> file.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Restore the Registry hives from backup<\/h3>\n<p>When ERUNT backs up the registry hives to a folder, it also stores the file <code>ERDNT.EXE<\/code> along with the configuration and batch files <code>ERDNT.INF<\/code> and <code>ERDNT.CON<\/code>, respectively, for restoration purposes. To restore the registry from a backup folder, all you need to do is run the file <code>ERDNT.EXE<\/code> as administrator.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9923\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/erdnt-restore-registry-hives.png\" alt=\"erunt erdnt restore backup registry hives windows 10\" width=\"467\" height=\"388\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Select which registry components to restore, then click &#8220;OK&#8221; to start the restoration. When the process is complete, click OK to restart the computer and activate the restored registry.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"regbak_utility\"><\/a>Option 4: Use &#8220;Registry Backup and Restore&#8221; Utility<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10065 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak_utility-logo.png\" alt=\"registry backup and restore utility - icon\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.acelogix.com\/freeware.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">Registry Backup and Restore<\/a> (&#8220;RegBak&#8221; utility) is a lightweight utility that helps you backup the registry hives to a location of your choice. It also has command-line support as well as the registry restore feature.<\/p>\n<p>The interface is simple and clean. On the main screen, click New Backup&#8230; button.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10068\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-2.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility\" width=\"637\" height=\"471\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Select the backup folder and type a description.<\/p>\n<p>By default, the tool backs up the system hive and current user hives. To backup all other hives, click on the link that says <strong>Click here to view details.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10071\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-4.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility\" width=\"541\" height=\"355\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Select the hives you want to backup. If <strong>System<\/strong> and <strong>Current User<\/strong> options are selected, it backs up <code>SAM<\/code>, <code>SECURITY<\/code>, <code>DEFAULT<\/code>, <code>SOFTWARE<\/code>, AND <code>SYSTEM<\/code> registry hives along with the current user hives <code>NTUSER.DAT<\/code> and <code>USRCLASS.DAT<\/code>. You may include the <code>COMPONENTS<\/code> and <code>DRIVERS<\/code> registry hives in the backup.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10069\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-0.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility\" width=\"511\" height=\"485\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Click OK, and click Start.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10070\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-1.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility\" width=\"541\" height=\"355\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The backup is now complete.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10067\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-3.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility\" width=\"601\" height=\"175\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s take a look at the list of options this tool provides:<\/p>\n<p>In the Options dialog, you can select the Default Backup Folder template. You can use different formats of date and time variables as well as environment variables like <code>%SystemRoot%<\/code>,\u00a0 <code>%SystemDrive%<\/code>, <code>%CurrentDirectory%<\/code>, etc. Press <kbd>F1<\/kbd> to open the help file, which has all the info you need.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10066\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-options.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility\" width=\"427\" height=\"432\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can choose whether or not to use VSS to copy the hives. By default, the VSS option is enabled. And to compress the hives in .cab file format, use the <strong>Compress files after backup<\/strong> option. Compressing the hives into .cab archives can save disk space as well as organize your backups better.<\/p>\n<h4>Purge old backups<\/h4>\n<p>The older hive backups can be cleared (FIFO) automatically by setting the appropriate values for <strong>Delete backups that are older than<\/strong> or <strong>Delete all backups except the last<\/strong> n backups.<\/p>\n<h3><a id=\"regbak_auto\"><\/a>Run Registry Backup as Scheduled Task<\/h3>\n<p>Like the other tools, the Registry Backup and Restore Utility supports automation. You can use the following command-line syntax to backup the registry hives:<\/p>\n<pre>regbak \/dir:\"backup path\" \/reg:[suo] \/silent \/overwrite:[y|n] \/compress:[y|n] \/vss:[y|n] \/limitdays:d \/limitcount:c \/desc:&lt;description for backup&gt;<\/pre>\n<p>Here is the list of command-line options supported: (<em>Src: the help file<\/em>)<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>regbak<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0regbak executable<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\/dir:&#8221;backup path&#8221;<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0The path to the folder where the registry backup is to be made.<br \/>\nRegBak allows certain parameters to be included while building a backup path.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\/reg:[suo]<\/td>\n<td><i>\u00a0<\/i>s = system hives, u = user hives, o = all other hives<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\/silent<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0[Optional] Silent operation; will not show any notifications<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\/overwrite:[y|n]<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0[Optional] Overwrites previous backup files in the backup folder<br \/>\ny = Yes, n = NO<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\/compress:[y|n]<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0[Optional] Compresses the backup files after they are copied to the backup folder<br \/>\ny = Yes, n = NO<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\/vss:[y|n]<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0[Optional] Use Volume Shadow Copy Service to take backup<br \/>\ny = Yes, n = NO<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\/limitdays:d<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0[Optional]\u00a0All backups older than &#8216;d&#8217; days will be deleted<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\/limitcount:c<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0[Optional] Only keeps the latest &#8216;c&#8217; number of backups<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\/desc:&lt;description&gt;<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0[Optional] You can provide a brief description of the nature of the backup<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><em><strong>Note:<\/strong> The command-line does nothing if the utility (GUI) is currently open; it supports single-instance only.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>To backup the <strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">s<\/span>ystem<\/strong> &amp; <strong>current <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">u<\/span>ser<\/strong> hives to a folder named RegBack (and keep only the last 7 backups), run the following command:<\/p>\n<pre>regbak.exe \/dir:\"D:\\RegBack\\&lt;date&gt; &lt;time&gt;\" \/reg:su \/limitcount:7 \/overwrite:y<\/pre>\n<p>The subfolder under the RegBack folder will have the date and timestamp in the name.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10072\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-5.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility\" width=\"595\" height=\"167\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You may also create a scheduled task for the above command-line, and make it run with <strong>Highest privileges<\/strong> under <strong>your user account<\/strong>. You may configure the registry backup task to run on a Daily or Weekly basis as required.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10076\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-restore-4.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility - task scheduler\" width=\"632\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Restore the Registry hives from backup<\/h3>\n<p>To restore the registry hives from a previous backup, there are two options. Launch the utility, select a backup that you want to restore, and click <strong>Restore<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10075\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-restore-1.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility\" width=\"637\" height=\"471\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To restore selective hives, click on the <strong>options<\/strong> link.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10074\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-restore-2.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility\" width=\"541\" height=\"357\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Select the list of hives you want to restore, and click <strong>OK<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10073\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regbak-restore-3.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry - registry backup and restore utility\" width=\"428\" height=\"484\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This restores the registry hives from the previous backup.<\/p>\n<p><em>Alternately, the <code>REGRES.CMD<\/code> file present in each hive backup folder helps you restore the registry hives. This file may work only when it&#8217;s run from Windows Recovery Console or Windows Recovery Environment, though.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"regedit_export_hives\"><\/a>Option 5: Manually export the hives using RegEdit.exe<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6347\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/regedit-icon-small.png\" alt=\"regedit icon\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" \/>You can use the Registry Editor in Windows can backup or export the entire registry hives. The key point here is to export the branch as hives (hive file format) instead of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/how-to-use-reg-files-registration-entries-windows\/\">Registration Entries (.reg)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>Exporting a large part of the registry to a <strong>.reg<\/strong> file is not recommended, as you&#8217;ll have problems and errors when restoring it. Complete registry backups need to be made using the <strong>hive<\/strong> file format instead.<\/h4>\n<p>To backup or export the registry to <strong>hive file format<\/strong> using the Registry Editor, follow these steps:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Launch the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and go to:\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>From the File menu, click Export&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>In the Save as type: dropdown, click <strong>Registry Hive Files (*.*)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10077\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regedit-export-hives-1.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry hives - regedit export\" width=\"557\" height=\"516\" \/><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Save the file as <strong>SOFTWARE<\/strong> in your <code>D:\\RegBack<\/code> folder or any preferred location.<\/li>\n<li>Likewise, export the necessary branches to hives as per the details below:\n<pre>Hive file name: <strong>SECURITY<\/strong>\r\nRegistry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SECURITY\r\n\r\nHive file name: <strong>SAM<\/strong>\r\nRegistry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SAM\r\n\r\nHive file name: <strong>SYSTEM<\/strong>\r\nRegistry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\r\n\r\nHive file name: <strong>SOFTWARE<\/strong>\r\nRegistry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\r\n\r\nHive file name: <strong>DEFAULT<\/strong>\r\nRegistry key: HKEY_USERS\\.DEFAULT\r\n\r\nHive file name: <strong>COMPONENTS<\/strong>\r\nRegistry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\COMPONENTS\r\n(if the COMPONENTS key is listed)\r\n\r\nHive file name: <strong>DRIVERS<\/strong>\r\nRegistry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\DRIVERS<\/pre>\n<p><strong>Current user registry hives:<\/strong><\/p>\n<pre>Hive file name: <strong>NTUSER.DAT<\/strong>\r\nRegistry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER (or) HKEY_USERS\\&lt;SID&gt;\r\n\r\nHive file name: <strong>USRCLASS.DAT<\/strong>\r\nRegistry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Classes (or) HKEY_USERS\\&lt;SID&gt;\\Software\\Classes<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>That&#8217;s it! You&#8217;ve now backed up the system and the current user registry hives manually.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10078\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/regedit-export-hives-2.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry hives - regedit export\" width=\"700\" height=\"234\" \/><\/p>\n<h3>Restoring Registry Hives from Backup<\/h3>\n<p>Using the manual method, the registry hives can be restored only via the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/edit-registry-offline-windows-re\/\">Windows Recovery Environment<\/a> Command Prompt. These are the locations where you&#8217;ll need to restore the hives from backup, using Windows Recovery Environment:<\/p>\n<pre>Folder: \\Windows\\System32\\config\\\r\nHives : SYSTEM\r\n        SOFTWARE\r\n        DEFAULT\r\n        SECURITY\r\n        SAM\r\n        DRIVERS\r\n        COMPONENTS\r\n\r\nFolder: \\Users\\%username%\\\r\nHive  : NTUSER.DAT\r\n\r\nFolder: \\Users\\%username\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows\\\r\nHive  : usrClass.dat\r\n<\/pre>\n<p>Before overwriting files in the <code>Windows\\System32\\Config<\/code> folder, make sure you make a backup copy of the same. Or rename the existing set of hives by suffixing <code>.OLD<\/code> to the file name.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"reg_export_hives\"><\/a>Option 6: Manually exporting the hives using the REG.exe Tool<\/h2>\n<p>You can backup the registry hives using the built-in REG.exe console tool in Windows.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Create a folder named <code>RegBack<\/code> on the <code>D:\\<\/code> drive or your preferred location.<\/li>\n<li>From an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/open-elevated-command-prompt-windows\/\">admin Command Prompt<\/a> window, run these commands:\n<pre>REG SAVE HKLM\\Software D:\\REGBACK\\SOFTWARE \/y\r\nREG SAVE HKLM\\Security D:\\REGBACK\\SECURITY \/y\r\nREG SAVE HKLM\\System D:\\REGBACK\\SYSTEM \/y\r\nREG SAVE HKU\\.Default D:\\REGBACK\\DEFAULT \/y\r\nREG SAVE HKLM\\SAM D:\\REGBACK\\SAM \/y\r\nREG SAVE HKCU D:\\REGBACK\\NTUSER.DAT \/y\r\nREG SAVE HKCU\\Software\\Classes D:\\REGBACK\\USRCLASS.DAT \/y\r\nREG SAVE HKLM\\BCD00000000 D:\\REGBACK\\BCD \/y\r\nREG SAVE HKLM\\COMPONENTS D:\\REGBACK\\COMPONENTS \/y\r\n<\/pre>\n<p>The above commands backup each registry hive to separate files to the <code>D:\\REGBACK<\/code> folder. The <code>\/y<\/code> command-line argument ensures that the existing backups (if any) are overwritten automatically in that folder.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10097\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/registry-hives-backup-reg-command-line.png\" alt=\"completely backup windows 10 registry hives - reg.exe save command-line\" width=\"639\" height=\"291\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>You can even use the above commands in a Windows Batch file (.bat) and optionally, run it using Task Scheduler.<\/p>\n<h3>Restoring registry hives from Backup<\/h3>\n<p>To restore the hives from backup, it&#8217;s highly advisable to restore them offline via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/edit-registry-offline-windows-re\/\">Windows Recovery Environment<\/a> Command Prompt.<\/p>\n<p>Attempting to restore the above critical registry hives using the <code>REG.EXE RESTORE<\/code> command-line would stall the system. You&#8217;ll encounter errors such as <strong><em>Error 800703fa: Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion<\/em><\/strong> or similar. You won&#8217;t be able to run any program or even shut down the computer.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"export_reg_file\"><\/a>Backup or Export a selected registry branch<\/h2>\n<p>Sometimes, you may only want to export a particular branch instead of backing up the entire registry. To exporting a selected branch, it&#8217;s always preferred to save the branch in .reg (Registration Entries) file format.<\/p>\n<p><em>The <code>.reg<\/code> files are plain-text files whose contents can be viewed by opening the file using Notepad or any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/replace-notepad-text-editor-notepad-plus-association\/\">other text editor<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>To backup a selected branch\/key in the registry, use these steps:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Launch the Registry Editor (<code>regedit.exe<\/code>)<\/li>\n<li>Go to the key that you want to export.<\/li>\n<li>Right-click on the key and choose Export.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10130\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/registry-export-key-reg-file.png\" alt=\"backup or export selected registry key\" width=\"700\" height=\"352\" \/><\/li>\n<li>In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg) file<\/li>\n<li>In the File name box, type a file name, and then click Save.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Alternately, you can use the <code>REG.exe<\/code> command-line to export a selected registry key.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n<pre>REG EXPORT HKCR\\ChromeHTML D:\\ChromeHTML.REG\r\nREG EXPORT HKCU\\Software\\Avast D:\\Avast.REG\r\nREG EXPORT HKLM\\Software\\Classes D:\\Classes.REG\r\n<\/pre>\n<p>where&#8230;<\/p>\n<pre>HKCR is short for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\r\nHKCU is short for HKEY_CURRENT_USER\r\nHKLM is short for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\r\nHKU  is short for HKEY_USERS\r\n<\/pre>\n<h3>Restoring the registry settings from a .reg file<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6347\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/regedit-icon-small.png\" alt=\"regedit icon\" width=\"48\" height=\"48\" \/>To restore the registry from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/how-to-use-reg-files-registration-entries-windows\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">.reg file<\/a>, simply double-click the .reg file, and click Yes when asked for confirmation to apply the settings to the registry. Or, right-click on the .reg file and click <strong>Merge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10131\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/registry-import-key-reg-file.png\" alt=\"backup or export or import selected registry key\" width=\"637\" height=\"237\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong> that restoring the registry from a .reg file doesn&#8217;t delete the existing contents from the corresponding registry branch. For instance, if the registry branch has additional subkeys and values that are not found in the .reg file, the additional keys and values are not removed.<\/p>\n<p>If you need to delete the existing values and subkeys in that location, you may use the Registry Editor.<\/p>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<p>Alternately, edit the .reg file and use the following syntax to delete a registry key:<\/p>\n<pre>Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00\r\n\r\n[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Classes\\doc_auto_file]\r\n<\/pre>\n<p>This removes the <code>doc_auto_file<\/code> key in the above branch (since there is a minus symbol at the beginning of the key.)<\/p>\n<p><em>(For detailed information, see Microsoft the article <a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-in\/help\/310516\/how-to-add-modify-or-delete-registry-subkeys-and-values-by-using-a-reg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">How to add, modify, or delete registry subkeys and values by using a .reg file<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/how-to-use-reg-files-registration-entries-windows\/\">How to use .REG files (Registration Entries) in Windows?<\/a><\/div>\n<h2>Closing Words<\/h2>\n<p>Tweaking.com&#8217;s Registry Backup tool is preferable of the three utilities above as the author maintains it and the program is digitally signed. It can use volume shadow copy to backup if the regular method (using API) fails.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Registry Backup and Restore<\/strong> tool has a simple and clean interface. The program is digitally signed. The program&#8217;s documentation doesn&#8217;t say anything about Windows 10\/11, although it works perfectly fine on Windows 10 and 11. This tool supports backing up the registry hives using volume shadow copy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ERUNT<\/strong> is equally good, except that it sports an outdated user interface and doesn&#8217;t provide the choice of selecting specific registry hives. ERUNT was developed by Lars Hederer, a trusted source. ERUNT was the favorite registry backup tool for most users and technicians during the Windows XP\/Vista\/7 era. And the tool manages to run perfectly well on Windows 10.<\/p>\n<p>These tools are designed for registry backup purposes, and each does the job excellently. Another advantage of the above tools is that they offer command-line support and the <strong>Restore Registry<\/strong> option to quickly roll back the registry to a previous configuration.<\/p>\n<p><em>Do you know you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/restore-previous-versions-registry-system-restore-snapshots-windows-7-vista\/\">restore registry hives<\/a> from the Previous Versions tab (shadow copy\/System Restore\/File History snapshot) in any version of Windows?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every System Restore point or shadow copy maintains a complete backup of the registry hives. However, Windows 10\/11 doesn&#8217;t automatically create System Restore points every day. Restore Points are created only when installing important updates or drivers. Notwithstanding the System Restore&#8217;s excellent capabilities, relying upon System Restore as a file or registry backup method is &#8230; <a title=\"How to Automatically Backup the Entire Registry in Windows\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/automatically-backup-registry-hives-windows-10\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Automatically Backup the Entire Registry in Windows\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[106,441],"class_list":["post-9898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-utilities","category-windows","tag-command-prompt","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":80597,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/recover-registry-files-shadow-copy\/","url_meta":{"origin":9898,"position":0},"title":"Recover Registry Hives from a System Restore Point or Shadow Copy","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 30, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This article explains how to restore registry hives or files from shadow copies. This can be helpful if the current registry hives are damaged and cannot be loaded. Shadow copy, or Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), is a Windows feature that creates snapshots or backup copies of files and volumes,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Utilities&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Utilities","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/utilities\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"list system restore points","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/list-system-restore-points.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/list-system-restore-points.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/list-system-restore-points.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5506,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/recover-registry-keys-restore-point-shadow-copy-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":9898,"position":1},"title":"Recover Registry Keys from a System Restore Point in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"October 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"System Restore snapshots or volume shadow copies contain registry hives as well as critical system files. Sometimes you may need to extract individual registry keys from an earlier restore point but don't want to do a complete System Restore rollback. 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If the registry hives become corrupted, the following errors are displayed when starting up. Windows XP could not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows XP&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows XP","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-xp\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived\/xp-icon.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26688,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/restore-path-environment-variable-deleted\/","url_meta":{"origin":9898,"position":3},"title":"How to Recover PATH Variable After Deleting it Accidentally","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The PATH is a variable that Windows uses to locate needed executables, especially from the command line. Unfortunately, there are situations where users accidentally delete the PATH variable. This can happen when users inadvertently overwrite the PATH data rather than appending them. There are also cases where some buggy applications\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"recover path environment variable - shadow copy hive","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/recover-path-variable-shadowcopy.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/recover-path-variable-shadowcopy.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/recover-path-variable-shadowcopy.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3097,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/edit-registry-offline-windows-re\/","url_meta":{"origin":9898,"position":4},"title":"How to Edit the Registry Offline Using Windows Recovery Environment","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes, you may need to edit the Windows registry offline to rectify a situation where Windows doesn't boot after modifying some settings recently. Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is a handy platform that provides various system recovery options to diagnose and repair an unbootable Windows installation. This post explains how to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"windows re bcdedit osdevice","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-bitlocker-prompt.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-bitlocker-prompt.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-bitlocker-prompt.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/winre-bitlocker-prompt.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1825,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/error-rename-move-folder-not-exist\/","url_meta":{"origin":9898,"position":5},"title":"Fix: Cannot Rename or Move Folders &#8211; The File or folder does not exist","author":"Ramesh","date":"March 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When you try to move or rename a folder in Windows 10 or 11, the errors Can't find the specified file, and The file or folder does not exist occur. Also, duplicate icons with no text appear for special folders, namely Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, and Videos, under This PC\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"cannot rename folders - windows 11 - folderdescriptions","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/cant-rename-folder-windows-11.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/cant-rename-folder-windows-11.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/cant-rename-folder-windows-11.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/cant-rename-folder-windows-11.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9898\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}