Restoring Registry Backups

Restoring the Registry

Last month we talked about the different ways to back up the Registry in Windows 95 and 98. It's important to understand and perform the backups suggested before attempting any of the Restore procedures mentioned in this month's newsletter. If you missed last month's newsletter, it can be found here!

If you've added programs or software, or made any changes that may have affected the Registry since the backups you made last month, make new backups. Making new backups is an ongoing process. When the Registry becomes corrupted, its nice to restore it from current backups as opposed to backups that might have been made months, or even years previously.

Check It Out!

First off, we want to make sure that the backups are there. I know you checked last month, but lets do it again! Make sure you can view hidden files. Click START/PROGRAMS/WINDOWS EXPLORER. On the menu bar at the top of the window, click 'View' and choose 'Folder Options'. You'll see 3 tabs at the top, choose 'View'. Make sure the radio button that says 'Show All Files' is selected. Click OK.

NOTE: Anytime I include the directory or folder 'WINDOWS', I'm referring to the folder that contains the Windows files. On a different computer it may be 'WIN95', or 'WIN98', etc... and you need to replace 'WINDOWS' with the name of the folder on your computer that contains the Windows files.

For example, if your Windows files are located in the folder 'WIN98', and I say to type: ATTRIB -S -H -R C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DA0 then you would type: ATTRIB -S -H -R C:\WIN98\SYSTEM.DAO

The same goes for any other file that you may have named differently.

Using Windows Explorer, check in the Windows folder (or in some cases Win95 or Win98 folder, whichever yours is named) for the files SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT. As you know, these are the two files that make up the Registry. Also, remember that if Windows is set up to use different profiles, each profile will have it's own USER.DAT stored under C:\WINDOWS\PROFILES\USERNAME. These should all be backed up.

If you are using Windows 95, make sure the automatic backup files are in the Windows directory. Look for SYSTEM.DA0 and USER.DA0.

If you are using Windows 98, the automatic backup files saved by ScanReg will usually be saved in C:\WINDOWS\SYSBCKUP. They will be stored as '.CAB' files (usually rb001.cab, rb002.cab, etc...). Again, the folder names may be slightly different on some machines.

While you've got Windows Explorer open, check the dates on the .CAB files. If you can't see the dates in the right pane, then click 'VIEW' on the menu bar and choose 'details'. Remember the name of the most recent backup. Mine is RB001.CAB.

The Registry backup you made by exporting from RegEdit will be in the folder you designated at the time. It will have a '.REG' extension.

If you followed my suggestion and created a 'SAFEREG' folder to store copies of USER.DAT and SYSTEM.DAT, then you should see them in C:\WINDOWS\SAFEREG, and their hidden, system and read-only attributes should not be set. I tend to trust this one the most!

If you used a third party program for backing up the registry, then you should also check to make sure that was successful. Follow the instructions in the manual or the README.TXT file as to where the files are stored and the proper restoration procedure.

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