back up total registry with regedit

How do you back up the entire registry, not just the key or part of it you are working on, with regedit?
I recieved a link but it was only about backing up a part of the registry and would like to back up the entire registry.
Once I understand that, I would feel safer about using Ccleaner, for example.
I could then inquire about erunt to see which I am more comfortable with.
I have Win 7 x 64

 

This isn't correct. Ccleaner backs up only the items it is cleaning out, not the entire registry.

I'm going to say this again peter - restoring the registry in isolation from the other files that system restore also restores definitely risks destabilising a system. You have found that MS do not offer a way of doing this, why do you think that is?

 

Hi Peter!! I have XP3. Yesterday I lost my sound. I knew my sound was just fine the day before, so I decided to do a system restore to the day I was sure I had sound. My PC would not restore to any of the 7 system restore points. Saying could not restore to that date, no changes were made. Windows system restore to a earlier time sucks. Use the registry cleaner in CCleaner and let it back up the changes it makes. Make sure you have a back up image of your OS with Macrium or Arconis and you don't need to worry. Every forum I have ever been on recommends ERUNT for backing up their registry. I have never restored my registry with ERUNT, so I can't guarantee it will work. I have restored my OS with Macrium several times and I can guarantee it works. Using the export feature in regedit is not reliable either as far as I'm concerned. If you want to go in regedit and delete or change one entry, then export that entry so you can put it back if you have problems. It is my understanding that CCleaner is doing that when it cleans your registry, and you can resore those entries that CCleaner removed. I would not export the entire registry with regedit and then try to restore the whole registry. That's asking for major problems as far as I'm concerned. Best to leave the registry and regedit alone unless you understand exactly how to use it . Hope this helps my friend!!

Hi Friend!! You might find this link interesting.
http://technologizer.com/2009/05/26/why-i-dumped-windows-system-restore-for-erunt/
My ERUNT back ups are in C:Windows/ ERunt That's the default location ERUNT chooses.Looks like I need to make a back up:-D Been lazy. I'll make one after I make this post

I would not turn off system restore. Use both ERUNT and Windows system restore. It never hurts to have several programs available to get that old puter back up and running like you want.:-D:-D

 

I have used 360Amigo free. It has one feature to make a snapshot for your whole Registry and allow you to restore the whole registry from the old snapshot.

 

Get ERUNTgui to back up the entire registry. http://majorgeeks.com/ERUNTgui_d6624.html It'll do it in a click and is safe. Never needed a restore yet but am fully confident that if needed the restore will go flawless. The reviews all over the net are excellent.

Don't mess with the registry manually, you may end up with an inoperable machine.

 

Time elapsed for adding a link and quote to previous post: http://www.sevenforums.com/system-security/101925-erunt.html

 

I did a ERUNT restore on a XP computer. Never had a problem with it and when you install you have the option of it creating a backup everyday at startup. For WIN7 64 bit you may have to turn off UAC. Edit: from oma's link it seems that you do not have to turn off UAC in WIN 7.

The big advantage of ERUNT is that you can restore the system registry even if it is so corrupted the computer will not boot.

 

Well... peterr then will have to find out if the UAC will need to be turned off on his computer. As to performing a backup and restore of the registry with ERUNT; what would be easier than a click with this gui?

 

I've read most of this thread, but admittedly not every word, but....
why do you need any 3rd Party Program to do what is already built into windows?
Whether we're talking windows XP, Vista or 7, System Restore is set to run by default, making a backup of the entire registry every time you install or UN-Install any program.
It can even be set to make a backup every so many hours.

I personally download and test a LOT of software, some of it not so good. When a software test goes bad, I can always rely on a backup of my registry to get me back in good shape again in just minutes.

I absolutely rely on System Restore so much that I force a new restore point on every boot with a little script in my Startup Folder. Here's that script:

Set SRP=GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\default:Systemrestore")
CSRP=SRP.CreateRestorePoint("Hacked the registry", 0, 100)

Copy and paste the red lines above into a new Notepad document (NOT Wordpad) and save the file as "SetRestorePoint.vbs"
The restore points created with this script, will have the name "Hacked the registry". If that name bugs you, then change it to whatever you like. That's what the original author called it and out of respect to him, I just left it that way. lol

I also keep a shortcut to "System Restore" on my desktop, for ease of access.
MS gave us this feature as our first line of defense against anything mucking up our PC, so why not use it? Eh?
I use my own System Restore at least once every week.

Good Luck and Happy Computing!

 

I rely primarily on ERUNT (Windows XP sp3) and it has been exceptionally helpful.
I also have System Restore enabled with about 3GB of space reserved.

ERUNT has been more reliable, it's quicker and uses less disk space per backup,
as it backs up ONLY the registry.

It is also more convenient since each backup is in a separate folder.
By default, the backup folders are named using the Date and Time of the backup and that name can be APPENDED to add specific information.
The backup folders can be deleted individually at will to regain disk space.

ERUNT can also do Automatic Backups, either Daily at first boot or at every boot.
You can also specify the Maximum Number of Backups to be kept, and ERUNT will automatically Delete
the oldest backup when creating a new backup.

This applies ONLY to Automatic backups.
For Manual backups, there are no restrictions on the number or frequency of backups.

MANAGING ERUNT AUTOMATIC BACKUPS

If you add a couple of command line parameters to the shortcut in the Startup folder,
the AUTOBACK.EXE tool will delete the oldest backup each day, retaining only the number
of backups that you specify.

Here is an example:
"C:\Program Files\ERUNT\AUTOBACK.EXE" %SystemRoot%\ERDNT\AutoBackup\#date#__#time# /noconfirmdelete /days:21

The key entries here are:
/noconfirmdelete

and

/days:##

where ## is the number of (backup) days that you want to keep.

To Create a backup at Every Boot, add the /alwayscreate switch, after /noconfirmdelete.

Me Too.

 

Hi!! I'm the dumb guy here. Can I schedule Erunt to back up with Windows scheduler???

 

In case of a failure to boot would one have to copy ERUNT backups to an external HD? My Acronis free v8 just takes images not individual files. Would therefore copying a backup of ERUNT to a CD/RW also work in case the computer will not boot?

I do have a free Macrium on my PC but it's not installed. Don't know for sure if one can use 2 different image/file backups like Acronis and Macrium to one external HD only. Also am not sure if these 2 can co-exist peacefully side by side? TIA

PS: trying not to hijack this thread.

 

Hi!! If you can not boot in normal or safe mode, you need a way to boot your PC. I have several ways I can boot my PC. IMHO if your going to boot with a rescue CD, you might as well restore your whole OS because there is a major problem if your PC won't boot. You can't boot from CD/RW with just ERUNT on it. The external HD doesn't care what program you use to create a back up image, so You could use both or either. I would choose just one and learn how to use it. I'm not familiar with Acronis. I used it a long time ago but I forgot how it works. I use ERUNT for restoring my screw ups while my drive is active and working.
Do you not have a rescue disk that you can boot with, and restore your OS?? Linux, Bart PE, Windows PE??????? Have you ever restored a image of your OS??

 

I do have Reinstallation disks from Dell (SP 1a), Avira Rescue Disk (linux-based application) Bitdefender Rescue disk, XP Recovery Console and supposedly Acronis bootable disk but not sure if any one of those are really bootable. I just clicked on that menu from Acronis to create one and that was it. Am not trying them out either as I have just this one machine that's so far working fine.

Read over the instructions (Bart PE) on how to create a bootable disk but don't understand one iota about it. Don't even know if it would work with a pre-installed Windows XP on a Dell.

 

@oma Hi, there really isn't much point having bootable rescue disks such as Acronis if you haven't previously rehearsed what you would do if you had a serious problem. For Acronis (and nearly all other imaging programs) you can safely test-boot your system from the CD. You will be presented with simple menu from which you select to restore/recover drives/partitions, not files. You will be asked which image/backup you want to restore and offered a list of drives on which it could be located so select the drive containing your backups and navigate to the backup file you would restore. You are then asked to select the drive/partition to which you would want the backup restored, the default being the same place it came from.

If all that goes well you can simply exit the program without actually committing anything, reboot your OS and this will pose no threat at all to your system. If it doesn't go well you can always come back here for further advice but you can rest assured none of this will change anything on your hard drive.

 

No, you do not have to move the files to an external hard drive. You can use a BartPE disk to restore the registry. You can also do it with the recovery console. It explains how in the documentation under Emergency Scenario II. Just a note. Erunt does not take the place of a good backup procedure using an imaging program.

 

Hi oma!! You have been given some excellent advice. All those boot CD's you mentioned are great, but the only ones you have listed that will boot you into a recovery mode from a disaster is your Acronis rescue CD, and your Windows reinitialization disk.
Earthling is right on about testing your Arconis rescue CD. If your not sure you can get to your Arconis back up, there isn't much use of wasting your time making back up images of your OS. You can get right up to the time of restoring the image and cancel. That way you know you can boot from your rescue CD. It doesn't hurt to have a couple Linux rescue CD's from Acronis
If you have the recovery console feature or a Bart PE ; you can restore your registry from there. There are alot of you tube tutorials that will explain these things. Take some time and watch some of them! Some day you will be glad you took the time.

 

So I downloaded a newer version Macrium Reflect and created a bootable Linux disk from there. Tried to create also a BartPE but that didn't work. It couldn't find the path so I let it search and it came up with nothing. So I deleted the BartPE program and said the heck with it. Could have been that a) it is a Dell made machine and 2) a new HD was put in by an IT tech some years back, or the i86 is not existing anymore.

Anyway I will make an image using Macrium this week but WON'T try to see if these rescue disks work. I'm just way too chicken and old. So there!! If necessary at any point I'll call an IT tech.

Thank you everyone for the excellent advice. Now please let's return to peterr's registry inquiries.

 

In TimW's immortal words, yclahtwbycmhd rolleyes

 

I'm 73 years old and I'm not to chicken to try new things.Earthling and I both assured you that you could go right up to the place where you tell it to finish and cancel. Your PC will reboot and nothing has happened or changed. I do that every time I make any kind of rescue disk. I want to know if the disk is going to work. Some times you get a bad copy when you burn a disk.

I'm sure you know what this means. If not Earthling can explain it!! It's about a horse.:-D

@oma! FYI. Your Avira rescue disk and your Bitfinder rescue disk are Linux based. You could use these to boot in to Linux and they would scan and quarantine Viruses. Possibly get you to a point where you could get back control of your PC if a virus was not allowing you on the internet ect. Both are good programs, but if you don't know what they do or trust them, you might as well put them in a drawer and forget where you put them.:-D. You would only need to run these disks if you weren't able to run your security programs normally.
That's my 2 cents worth!! :major