IT Masala

You need to backup registry when you are playing around hacking the registry or editing the values in it. Sometimes it so happens that you don't backup the registry , you do lot of hacks and editions to registry and suddenly make out that your OS or some of programs aren't working properly. To avoid this problem you need to backup registry whenever you are working with your Windows Registry.

1. Steps to backup the entire registry

You can use the built-in Microsoft Backup utility

(Click Start –> All Programs –> Accesories  –> System Tools) to back up the system state. The system state includes the registry, the COM+ Class Registration Database, and your boot files. To know more about using this Backup utility , see the Microsoft Knowledge Base article.

2. Steps to export registry subkeys

Use the following procedure to export a registry subkey before you edit it

a. Click Start, and then click Run.
b. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
c. Locate and then click the subkey that contains the value that you want to edit.
d. On the File menu, click Export.
e. In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg) file, type a file name in the File name box (i normally use the format subkey_name_date_hour), and then click Save. This is create a *.reg file containing your subkey backup.
f. In case you want to undo the changes you made to the registry after the backup, locate your *.reg file and double click it.

via [  Microsoft Support ]