How to backup your registry
There are several ways to have your registry get corrupt. If installing WIN95 all over again each time this happens, does not sound like your idea of a fun time, then having a backup of your (MOST CURRENT) registry, can save you a lot of grief. Each time you install new software (Windows programs), it adds information about itself in your registry. If this information gets corrupt, you may not be able to run your program, or if the information in the registry is about WIN95 itself, you may not even be able to start WIN95. If, each time you install a new program, you make a backup copy of your registry, you will never again have to worry about a corrupt registry problem. Below, I will show you how to make a backup copy (Export), and most importantly, what to do to restore (Import) the backup when you need it.
There are several ways to do this. One easy way is to go to your START bar, click on RUN, and a window pops up. In the text area, type regedit and click on OK. This should start your registry editor. If this method does not work for you, then go to your START bar and click on RUN, then click on BROWSE. Go to your windows directory and find regedit. double click on it, then click OK, and your on your way.
This is not very hard at all. You will see your registry and all its keys. All you need do is, click on registry, then click on Export registry file... A new window will pop up that will allow you to name the exported registry file anything you want, and you can tell it where you want to put the file. Having done that, all you need do now is close regedit by clicking on the X in the upper right corner of the regedit window.
This is a question of, where do you put ALL of your important files. For the most part, I keep all this kind of information right in the root directory of my main drive ( C: ). Because most program default to this directory when you open them, I can see what I am looking for right away. You can put your backup anywhere you want, just make sure, you remember where you put it.
This too is an easy answer. Because we are using WIN95, we can name it anything we want, and have it make some sense. It used to be that we were limited to 8 characters. Now we can add spaces and capitalize if we wish to. Look at the graphic above (in Where do I put it?). You will see that I have selected a name for my file of ( my most recent registry backup.reg.). While what I put before the .reg is not important, the .reg is. You may not see the .reg after you have saved it, but it is there none the less. This tells WIN95 what kind of file it is, and in WIN95 the .reg tells WIN95 that this is a registry file. This will become important later.
OK, we now have a problem (or at least think we do) with our registry and now we need to restore it (Import). All we need do is, start your regedit and click on Registry, the click on Import registry file... and a new window will pop up, that is asking where is the file you want to import (restore from). In my example, I would click on my most recent registry backup.reg and it will put that file name in the text window for you. You then click on Open and it will import that registry for you. One important thing to remember is, YOU MUST RESTART WINDOWS to make your new registry work.
Import is the option we use to bring a registry setting(s) into our current registry. You must be careful with this, as it will over-ride any duplicate settings. This is to say that, when we import a registry, we want all the new settings to be made, no matter what the current settings are. This is why it is so important to make sure you have a current backup. And ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS (for those hard of hearing, ALWAYS) backup your current registry before you import ANY registry.
Export is the command we use to take a portion, or all, of our registry settings and copy it elsewhere. This is a safe command, as it does not in anyway change our registry.
We have a worse case example now. Don't think it cant happen to you, because this can happen to anyone. Its the nature of the beast with WIN95. The good news is, those that have a backup copy of their registry will not have to panic like a person who does not have such a copy.
(((I do wish to put a qualifier here however. If you are having this kind of problem on anything like a regular basis, you really do need to have a qualified person take a look at your system. This may be expensive, but its money well spent to prevent a total loss of all data. )))
Regedit is a file that can be called from DOS. (DOS is when you boot your PC to "Command Prompt Only" after pressing F8 when it says "Starting Windows"). You will see a bunch of stuff go thru your screen, then you will end up with a black screen and a C:\> with a blinking cursor after it.
We will need to type exactly as I show you, I will put what you need to type in brackets [ ], please do not use the brackets when you type it. First we need to type [ CD\windows ]. then you should have a screen that looks like this below.
Then you will need to type [ regedit c:\mymost~1.reg ] and hit your return key. One important note. This command line will only work if your registry is intact, just corrupt. If you have lost your registry, you will need to create a new one. You will know this is the case if you get an error message that it cannot find the registry. In this case, you will need to type [ regedit /C c:\mymost~1.reg ] this will create a new on from your backup.
Some may have noticed that I didn't spell (my most current registry backup) instead I used (mymost~1). This is because DOS does not recognize long file names. If you need to find out how yours was named in DOS, all you need do is, go to the directory you save it in (in my case C:\), and type [ dir. *.reg ]. This will list all registry files and give you the DOS names.
If you want to know more about all the DOS command line parameters for regedit, all you need do is, start your PC in DOS (F8), and go to the Windows directory (CD\WINDOWS) and type [ regedit /? ]. This will display for you, all the command line options that are available for regedit.
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