How to Backup or Restore Windows Registry.

It is always good practice to take a backup of the Windows Registry before making changes to it, and in this guide we will show you how to do this.

The Windows registry is a central database that stores important information about your computer’s configuration and settings. So, backing up the Windows registry is one of the best practices to ensure that you will be able to restore your system to a working state if you install a new program that may affect its operation or if you incorrectly modify the registry settings.

In this guide you will learn how you can create a full registry backup or how to backup a specific registry key on Windows 11/10/8 or 7 operating systems. At the end of this article, you will also learn how to restore the Windows Registry from the registry (.reg) backup file.

How to Backup Windows Registry.

To backup the Windows registry on your system, open the Registry Editor using these steps:

1. Press Windows + R keys to open the run command box.
2. Type regedit  and press Enter.

3. Now proceed to the corresponding set of instructions below, depending on whether you want to back up the entire registry or a specific registry key.

A. How to Backup the entire Windows Registry.

If want to take a backup of the entire Windows registry:

1. Select the Computer at the top left.

2. Now click the File menu and choose Export to save the Registry to a “.reg” file.

3. Select a location to save the backup registry file (e.g. your “Desktop”), then type a name for the file and click Save.

4. Save the .reg file in a safe place and use it any time you want to restore the registry settings on your system to their original values, using the instructions at the end of this article.

B. How to Backup a Specific Registry key.

If you want to backup a certain registry key:

1. Right-click on the registry key that you want to backup and click Export.

2. Select a location to save the backup file (e.g. your “Desktop”), then type a name for the file and click Save.

3. That’s it! To restore the registry if needed, follow the instructions below.

How to Restore Windows Registry from Backup.

In case you want to restore the entire registry or a registry key from a registry (.reg) backup file

1. Navigate to the location you exported/saved the registry backup file (.reg) file (eg on the ‘Desktop’ in this example).

2. Double-click at the .reg backup file and select Yes to import the information it contains into Registry.

3. Then, close the Registry Editor and restart the computer to apply the change.

That’s all folks! Did it work for you?
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