The Easy Road to
Windows Registry Recovery
For those suffering from a slow performing computer and the
appearance of error messages it is necessary to take some form
of action.
It is actually a very easy road to travel from
a damaged computer to a computer that runs like brand new.
The First Part of the Road -
The first thing to do is to identify the issue,
you may think that it is a problem with the registry but it is
always best to make sure.
It is a good idea to make sure that your
computer is not infected with some form of virus or malware.
This can be done through the use of good anti-virus software or
spyware detection software.
If these software programs fail to find any
reason for errors then it is probably that the Windows registry
is the cause of your problems.
The Middle of the Journey -
Many good registry cleaner
programs, such as RegCure,
will come complete with a back-up feature that allows a Windows
registry to be backed up before any repair is undertaken.
This is vital, and so if you are not running
RegCure or similar registry
cleaner then a manual back-up must be completed.
The back-up means that in the event that any
problems occur during the repair process the registry can be
easily restored.
Different versions of the Windows operating
system will undertake manual back-ups in different ways, and so
we have undertaken step-by-step instructions for each
version.
Windows 95 - Windows 98/ME - Windows 2000, 2003
and XP - Windows Vista
Back-Up -
When restarting the computer, press F8
when the Starting Windows screen appears. Then choose
Safe Mode - Command Prompt Only and confirm by pressing
Enter.
A series of command then need to be
entered -
cd \windows ("Enter")
attrib -r -h -s system.dat ("Enter")
attrib -r -h -s user.dat ("Enter")
copy system.dat *.bak ("Enter")
copy user.dat *.bak ("Enter")
In the event that there are already files on
your hard drive called System.bak and User.bak then different
names must be used during the command input.
The computer then needs to be restarted. This
then completes the backing up of the Windows registry.
Restore -
When restarting the computer, press F8
when the Starting Windows screen appears. Then choose
Safe Mode - Command Prompt Only and confirm by pressing
Enter
A series of command then need to be
entered -
cd windows ("Enter")
attrib -r -h -s system.dat ("Enter")
attrib -r -h -s system.da0 ("Enter")
attrib -r -h -s user.dat ("Enter")
attrib -r -h -s user.da0 ("Enter")
ren system.dat system.daa ("Enter")
ren system.da0 system.da1 ("Enter")
ren user.dat user.daa ("Enter")
ren user.da0 user.da1 ("Enter")
copy system.bak system.dat ("Enter")
copy user.bak user.dat ("Enter")
The computer then needs to be restarted. This
then completes the restoration of the Windows registry,
although it is dependent on the use of the same filenames in
both parts of the process.
Back-up -
Click on Start and the Run, within the
text box enter scanregw and confirm.
This will cause the registry to be
firstly scanned for any issues and then will ask for
permission to create a back-up of the Windows
registry.
Agreement should be given and then once
the back-up is made the processed should be confirmed
with a click on OK.
Restore for Windows 98 -
Restart the computer and whilst it is
doing so hold down the Ctrl key.
The choice of Safe Mode - Command
Prompt Only should then be made. This will then open a
DOS command prompt interface.
Restore ME -
Restart the computer making use of the
Start-up Disk. During the start-up choose Start
Computer Without CD-ROM support. This will then open a
DOS command prompt interface.
Continuing to Restore -
When in the DOS command box type in
c:\windows\command\scanreg /restore ("Enter")
This will then allow ScanReg to provide
a list of all Windows registry back-ups available for
restoration.
It is then a case of using the arrow
keys to choose which registry date you would like
restored, which just then needs to be confirmed to
continue.
Once the restoration is completed the
Enter button should be pressed and the machine
restarted. (Remember to remove the Start-up disk if it
was previously used).
On these later versions of the Windows
operating system it may be necessary to be logged into the
machine as the administrator.
Back-up -
Click on Start, and then choose All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools and then Backup. It
may be that you find that the backup feature doesn’t
exist; this is easily fixed by installing it from the
original Windows CD.
When the Backup feature is launched,
make sure that you are in the Wizard element of the
program, and then click on Next.
A prompt box will then appear and the
choice should be made of Only Back Up the System State
Data. More prompts will then appear and should be
confirmed using the Next button.
This will eventually lead to the
complete backup of the Windows registry. Backup is
completed by clicking on Finish and then closing the
Backup feature.
Restore -
Click on Start, and then choose All
Programs, Accessories, System Tools and then
Backup.
Whilst in the Wizard aspect of the
program a list of the registry backups will appear. All
that is then required is the appropriate choice of
registry to be restored and confirm.
Restoration is completed by clicking on
Finish and then closing the program.
On this version of the Windows operating
system it will be necessary to be logged into the machine
as the administrator
Back-up -
There are two ways to create a back-up
in Vista, either by creating a System Restore Point or
by using the RegEdit to export the registry.
RegEdit is the slightly more dangerous
way of creating a back-up and can be completed by
clicking on Start. From this choose All Programs,
Accessories, Run, Reg Edit.
This will then allow the exportation of
the registry keys and values to another location on the
computer’s hard drive or external drive.
Importation of the registry is
undertaken by the same route.
The second safer method is to make use
of the Windows System restore function. Click on Start,
and then Control Panel, System and System Protection,
this will then allow a choice of the hard drive that
you wish to make a restore point for.
A new restore point can then be created
by clicking on Create. All that is required to complete
the process is to follow the on screen prompts.
Restore -
Restoration is undertaken by clicking,
on Start and then choosing All Programs, Accessories,
System Tools and System Restore.
This will supply a list of restore
points and then it is a case of choosing the
appropriate point to restore, this is confirmed by
clicking on Next.
All that is required to complete the
process is to follow the on screen prompts.
The End of the Road -
It is possible to fix or repair a Windows
registry manually. This though is not recommended and should be
left to experienced and trained IT professionals.
Remember that a simple mistake could lead to
the need for a complete reinstalling of the Windows operating
system. As such it is advisable to let a registry repair
program, like RegCure, to do the work for you.
Depending on what the Windows registry problem
it could be a simple repair or a complex repair involving the
reinstalling of the Windows operating system.
You may be fortune enough to have a restore
point that can be utilised for a time before registry errors
existed. If you are not this fortunate then there are other
solutions.
The first option is only advisable for someone
who has a lot of knowledge about the workings of the Windows
registry.
The second option could prove to be
expensive.
RegCure therefore is
the safest, cheapest and easiest option for repairing a
damaged Windows registry.
Try RegCure for free
with the download and scan tool.
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