The Ultimate Guide to Backing Up and Restoring the Windows Registry

Windows stores just about everything that makes it work in a hierarchal file-based database called the Windows Registry. The registry contains all the configuration settings for the operating system, programs, services, components and pretty much everything else. Everything from the size of the icons to the color of the taskbar is stored there.

The registry is made up of millions of keys and values. You can think of keys as folders and values as the data stored inside the folders. In the registry editor, keys actually look like folders and values are what hold the actual settings. Each key in the registry can have more than one value, kind of like a folder can have more than one file stored inside.

Also, values can store data of different types including String, Binary, DWORD, QWORD, and more. You don’t really need to understand that level of detail, but hopefully you understand the structure of the registry.

In terms of backing up the registry, you really have two options: backup parts of the registry manually via export or backup the entire registry using System Restore. When you make a change to the registry, it’s always a good idea to create a restore point and then backup the edited section of the registry also.

There is a way to export the entire registry, but that’s not a good option for several reasons. Firstly, you’re going to get a large file that you have to store somewhere. Secondly, if you’re only changing one setting, trying to import back the entire registry later on may overwrite many other newer values that were written to other parts of the registry after the export. This can actually lead more problems and possible corruption. Lastly, you may not even be able to import back the entire registry because a lot of keys will be in use by Windows and therefore simply won’t be written.

The best option to backup and restore the entire registry is to use System Restore. So when making a change, create a restore point first and then backup the only edited section manually. If there is a problem, you can always reload the exported section by simply double-clicking on the .reg file in Windows.

If you can’t get into Windows anymore because the registry change messed something up more severely, then you can simply start up the Advanced Recovery Options and choose the previous restore point you had created. I’ll explain both methods in detail below.

Opening Registry Editor

First, let’s talk about opening the registry editor. In just about every recent version of Windows, you can open the registry editor by clicking on the Start button and typing inregedit.

You probably already know how to do this considering you found this article while trying to learn how to backup the registry. Obviously, before you make any changes to the registry, you should always back it up. Now let’s get to the main point of this article on the different ways you can backup the Windows registry.

Backup Parts/Sections of the Registry

In many of my posts, I’ve mentioned tweaks or tips that require editing a key or value in the registry. If you’re going to be making a single change here and there, you don’t really need to backup the entire registry necessarily.

Let’s say you are editing a value stored at the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – SOFTWARE – Microsoft – Windows – CurrentVersion – Explorer

You can right-click onExplorerand chooseExportto make a backup of the entire key along with all sub-keys and any of their values.

You’ll notice that there are quite a few other sub-keys under the main Explorer key. By default, only the selected branch along with sub-keys and values will get exported. If you want to export the entire registry, you have to chooseAllunderExport Rangewhen saving the .reg file.

Again, I don’t recommend backing up the entire registry in this manner as you’ll end up getting aCannot importerror when trying to import the file back.

So stick with exporting only selected branches and you’ll have a better chance of being able to re-import the registry file later on. Now let’s talk about using System Restore to perform a full backup of the registry.

Backup Entire Registry via System Restore

Using System Restore, you won’t run into issues restoring to a previous state because Windows handles all the locked and in-use issues for you. You will always create a restore point while using Windows and it’s very simple to do.

Click onStartand type inCreate restore pointand click on the first result. You’ll be bought straight to theSystem Protectiontab in theSystem Propertiesdialog.

Click on theCreatebutton at the bottom and another dialog will pop up asking for a description. Click theCreatebutton and the restore point will be created.

It should only take a few minutes to create the restore point. Once completed, you can restore a previously created restore point in two ways: via the sameSystem Restoredialog in Windows or via theAdvanced Recovery Optionsscreen. I’ll show you both methods below.

Restore Registry via Windows

If you are still able to start Windows and log into the system, then you can try to restore the registry by opening System Restore. Click on Start and type in system restore and click on the first result.

When the System Restore dialog pops up, go ahead and click Next. On the following screen, you will see a list of all the different restore points currently on the system.

You will see the manually created restore points along with the automatically created ones too. You can check theShow more restore pointsbox to see all the restore points stored on the system. If you click on theScan for affected programsbutton, it will give you a list of any programs that were installed after the restore point was created since those will be removed. It will also tell you which programs were removed after the restore point was created that will be restored.

ClickNextandFinishand that’s about it. The system will be reverted back to the previous restore point and you should be good to go. Note that System Restore does not alter any of your personal data when changing the state of the system. It only looks at the registry, programs and system files.

Restore Registry via Recovery Options

If you are not able to log into Windows, then you can still use system restore, but only viaAdvanced Boot Optionsin Windows 7 andAdvanced Recovery Optionsin Windows 8 and Windows 10. The method is slightly different for all three operating systems, so I will explain them all below.

Windows 7 Recovery

For Windows 7, you have to restart your computer and then press the F8 key during the initial boot up. This will bring up theAdvanced Boot Optionsscreen and the first option there will beRepair Your Computer.

Select it and press Enter. This will load the System Recovery Optionsdialog and here you will need to chooseSystem Restore.

Again, you just choose the restore you want to revert back to and that’s it. Normally, if you are having problems loading Windows, the Advanced Boot Options screen will appear automatically.

Note that if you are unable to load the boot options using F8, you may have to use aSystem Repair Disc. You can create a repair disc on any Windows 7 PC by clicking on Start and typing insystem repair disc.

Pop in a CD or DVD and click theCreate discbutton. Once you have this disc, you can boot directly from it to get the system recovery options shown above. The only thing you need to ensure is that the boot order has the CD/DVD ROM drive listed first.

Windows 8 Recovery

In Windows 8, the entire recovery procedure and GUI is completely different. Instead of the boring DOS interface of before, you now have a fancy looking modern GUI, which makes things a lot easier.

F8 no longer works when trying to get to this new interface. Luckily, I’ve already written a post about the different methods you can use to get to theadvanced boot options screen in Windows 8. Once you have gotten to the main screen, click onTroubleshoot.

Under theTroubleshootsection, go ahead and click onAdvanced optionsat the bottom.

Finally, click onSystem Restoreon the last screen and you’ll get the familiar system restore dialog to pick the restore point you want to revert back to.

In Windows 8, you can create a system repair disc like in Windows 7 or you can create a USB recovery drive. To create a repair disc, click on Start and type inrecdisc.exeand to create the recovery drive type inrecovery drive.

Again, you only need to create these using a different computer if you are not able to load the recovery options on your current PC.

Windows 10 Recovery

The procedure in Windows 10 is exactly the same once you get to the advanced boot options screen, but slightly different while in Windows. Since the Start Menu is back in full form in Windows 10, you can click on that and then click onSettings.

Next, click onUpdate and recoveryin theSettingsdialog. As you can see, the Settings dialog in Windows 10 is completely different than the one in Windows 8.

Finally, you’ll be able to click on theRestart nowbutton underAdvanced startup. This will get you to the sameChoose an optionscreen where you will clickTroubleshoot.

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications.Read Aseem’s Full Bio

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