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Easiest Way To
Manually Backup and Restore the Windows 95\98\98se
Registry
Here's my simple bat file that will automatically
backup your Win 9x Registry simply by clicking a desktop icon. This means you
can keep your registry backup as current as you want. Anytime you click the
icon, your registry backup will be updated. Restoring the registry becomes just
as easy - in Windows, you would just click an icon and in Dos you would
just need to type RR at the prompt and your corrupt Registry is quickly restored
using the backed up files you made.
Here's how and I'll try to make it as
easy as I can for beginners to understand.
1. Right click your desktop and choose New>Text
Document.
2. Type or copy and paste the following commands into
it:
@echo off
xcopy c:\windows\system.dat c:\windows\reg\ /h
/r
xcopy c:\windows\user.dat c:\windows\reg\ /h /r
(note that
there's a space between ...reg\ and /h /r)
Save and exit.
3.
Rename your new document "regbak.bat" (without the quotes)
(a warning
will come up asking you if you're sure you want to change the
extension -
click YES)
That's it - you now have a desktop file that whenever
clicked will instantly
backup your registry to c:\windows\reg.
Test it out
- after clicking you should get a confirmation that 2 files were
copied -
system.dat and user.dat
Go into Windows and see for yourself. There
should be a folder there, named Reg,containing system.dat and
user.dat
Make it a habit to click RegBack often - especially
before installing any
new programs on your system. Once you know for
sure the program works without problems, click again to update your
registry.
This will always keep your registry backup current - and it will
always be
under your control. Also make a point to click it before
making any registry changes.
Now if you ever need to RESTORE
your registry:
Create another bat file but this time in your Windows
folder and with the
following commands instead:
attrib -h -s -r
c:\windows\system.dat
attrib -h -s -r c:\windows\user.dat
attrib -h -s -r
c:\windows\reg\*.dat
ren c:\windows\system.dat system.old
ren
c:\windows\user.dat user.old
copy c:\windows\reg\system.dat
c:\windows\system.dat /y
copy c:\windows\reg\user.dat c:\windows\user.dat
/y
Save and exit and rename it RR.BAT.
Now right drag rr.bat to
your desktop to create a shortcut to it.
Rename the shortcut to whatever you
want - ei RegRestore.
Then right click the shortcut, go to Properties and
choose Run Minimized and Close on Exit.Also change the icon to something
more friendly if you want.
And that's it.You now have two easy ways to
restore yout registry - in Windows by clicking the desktop shortcut you just
made or in DOS by simply typing "RR" (without the quotes) at the prompt.
You might want to copy rr.bat to your boot disk as well.
Also
notice that I made RR so that it doesn't delete your original registry
files
- they're just renamed system.old and user.old, in your Windows directory. This is just as a safety
measure should you ever need to go back. However, once you know the restore is
successful, you can and should delete them.
Note:
If you configured your
computer for multiple users, you'll have to edit the bat
files a bit because
with multiple users the user.dat is placed in a different folder called
Profiles. You would have to change the path for USER.DAT. Example: c:\windows\profiles\John\user.dat(instead of c:\windows\user.dat)
The system.dat path
remains the same.
I also premade the backup and
restore files which can be downloaded from the Files section of WinTips&
Tricks.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WinTips-Tricks
Registry For
Newbies
If you are a novice and would like
learn more about the Registry, "Registry For Newbies" is the book I recommend. Very thorough and
written in plain everyday english. Takes you from the very basics of explaining what the Registry is, to giving you a tutorial to use to make changes. All safe. All tested. And all very interesting.
It's $29.95 but worth every penny.Find out more here: