registry backup

[hisoka]

In this website , it is mentioned that registry backup is a bad idea :

https://superuser.com/questions/608066/is-it-possible-to-import-a-windows-registry-file-without-destroying-a-system

 

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However, if I wanted to make a proper backup of the registry, I would copy the registry files from C:\Windows\System32\Config. Those could simply be replaced later to fully replace the state of the registry.

1) to what location should they be copied ?

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Those could simply be replaced later to fully replace the state of the registry

could you please explain to me , technically ,  how this will happen ? who will replace them ? and how ? how is  replacement  exactly done ?

Edited July 15, 2018 by hisoka

[niche]

I agree that it's a bad idea.

EDIT:

I would opt for a fresh install.

Edited July 15, 2018 by niche

[hisoka]

hello , what do you mean by

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I would opt for a fresh install. 

?

[niche]

Experience tells me that If i'm thinking about restoring the registry, I'm probably going to get unexpected consequences.  So, I'll probably just reinstall the system and get a good night's sleep.

Having the backup is one thing.  Using it is another.

 

Edited July 15, 2018 by niche

[justsomeguy]

to what location should they be copied ?

Why would that matter?  The same place you save your other backups, like on a different machine.  

could you please explain to me , technically ,  how this will happen ?

If you don't know where to save your backups, and you don't know who would restore backups (hint: it's you), I don't think a technical explanation of the registry would go very far.

 

As usual, I have no idea what the context of your question is or what you've been researching or why, but if you want to protect from failure then registry backup and restore is not the way to do it.  Again, as with most of your questions, there is a lot of information missing (why are you even researching this?), but you would not simply backup and restore the registry only.  It would make a lot more sense to backup an entire system image, or just set up an incremental backup to go to an external storage device.  If you're saving backups on the same computer that you are backing up, then you're not protecting anything.  If that computer fails you've still lost all of your data and also all of your backups.

[hisoka]

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As usual, I have no idea what the context of your question is or what you've been researching or why

I , indirectly, answered this question in another topic . I said that I never got the opportunity to learn computer science at university or at the hands of any computer expert for reasons I cannot mention here in this forum . Therefore what I am searching for , through my questions ,  is LEARNING and PROGRESSING . The only method to achieve this is to ask and ask and ask and ask and ask and ask . Reading tutorials , books and articles  will provide me with information but will never make me progress . What makes me progress and become the best is asking . My questions seem weird , strange , stupid call them whatever you want but I do not see them like that . I do not even believe that there is a stupid question . It is all in the eyes of the beholder . It is like ugly and beautiful . It is all subjective . It is thanks to the questions that I asked in this forum , that you see as nonsense ,  that I learned and progressed . If I compare myself now with the time in which I first registered in this forum . You will bet I am far far better .  I read things I cannot understand and to which I find either NO answer in the internet or a stupid answer of an amateur who knows nothing or a very complicated answer of an expert . So , I ask in the forum . This forum is , honestly , the best ever . Now about the context of my question . I thought you know it . However if you do not know I will tell you : I have an EXE file . when I try to run it , it says windows could not find the exe file make sure you typed the name correctly and try again . I read in some articles , some of them I mentioned the link here in this forum , that by changing something in the registry , I can avoid the above error . So as changing things in registry is dangerous and backup of registry is bad idea , I wanted to know  a better and secure  method to backup the registry without jeopardizing my system. This is the context of the above question . Unfortunately , the second half answer of the guy  :

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 Those could simply be replaced later to fully replace the state of the registry.

is from my  point of view vague so I asked for a technical explanation  .

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(hint: it's you),

yes of course , you are right it is me : I am a newbie , inexperienced , unskillful . This is why I am here . You as an expert . You see my requests and questions  from the top of the mountain differently than me from the bottom of the mountain .

Edited July 16, 2018 by hisoka

[justsomeguy]

I read in some articles , some of them I mentioned the link here in this forum , that by changing something in the registry , I can avoid the above error . So as changing things in registry is dangerous and backup of registry is bad idea , I wanted to know  a better and secure  method to backup the registry without jeopardizing my system.

If you are changing specific parts of the registry, then back up those parts before you change them.  If you need to revert, instead of reverting the entire registry just do the parts you need to change back.  When you edit the registry you edit specific portions of it, it's not like you're changing the entire thing.  If you decide that you want to change the registry in order to run an executable, then just back up the keys and values that you're changing.

[hisoka]

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Experience tells me that If i'm thinking about restoring the registry, I'm probably going to get unexpected consequences.  So, I'll probably just reinstall the system and get a good night's sleep.

What if you want to change things in the registry many time in a different time ? you cannot reinstall your complete system every time . It makes no sense . So I do not think it is a good solution .

[hisoka]

I

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f you are changing specific parts of the registry, then back up those parts before you change them.  If you need to revert, instead of reverting the entire registry just do the parts you need to change back.  When you edit the registry you edit specific portions of it, it's not like you're changing the entire thing.  If you decide that you want to change the registry in order to run an executable, then just back up the keys and values that you're changing.

yes of course , only some keys should be changed and not the entire registry . However is not backing up one key then trying to restore it  dangerous as well ?

[justsomeguy]

What if you want to change things in the registry many time in a different time ?

If you need to change the registry frequently, and you're not developing some application where you're testing various registry changes, then you're probably not doing something right.  There are very few cases when the correct answer is manually editing the registry.

However is not backing up one key then trying to restore it  dangerous as well ?

Why would it be dangerous?  The registry is just a giant repository of various options.  Restoring a specific part of the registry is exactly the same as going in and manually making changes to the registry.  One of them is no more dangerous than the other, and it sounds like you're ready to make registry changes.  So why would restoring whatever you changed to its previous state be any more dangerous than changing it yourself to begin with?

[hisoka]

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Why would it be dangerous? 

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So why would restoring whatever you changed to its previous state be any more dangerous than changing it yourself to begin with?

Did not we agree that backing the registry up is a bad idea ? So I asked , in my previous post ,  if backing up one key of the registry is as  bad as backing up the whole registry . because , logically , if backing up the whole is a bad idea then backing up a part from that whole is bad idea too . Isn't it ?

and by backing up , I mean using the export option in the registry menu . and by restoring , I mean using the import option in the registry menu

[justsomeguy]

Did not we agree that backing the registry up is a bad idea ?

I don't think backing anything up is a bad idea.  I think that restoring the entire registry, considering all of the settings it contains, may cause a conflict if you've made other changes to software or hardware since backing it up, since you're overwriting whatever changes you made.  Maybe Windows updated, for example, and now all of a sudden the registry has been reverted to a state before the update.  But, no, backing any data up is not a bad idea.  You just have to be smart about restoring the registry and understand what you're doing.  

because , logically , if backing up the whole is a bad idea then backing up a part from that whole is bad idea too . Isn't it ?

In my previous example, if Windows updated itself since you backed up the registry, then if you restore part of the registry which that update did not change, is that really going to cause a problem?  This isn't a black or white issue, you need to understand what you're doing and why.  If you're talking about the entire registry being restored at once, that can cause all kinds of problems that we probably aren't thinking about.  If you're restoring only the part that controls the default action for when you run an executable file, and that is the only information you're replacing, then is that really going to cause a major problem?  It's not like restoring any one registry key - which, again, is no different than you manually changing those keys, which you're willing to do - is going to have the same impact as restoring the entire registry.  Don't act like they're the same thing.  It's the difference between restoring an entire database, for example, and changing one value in the database.  It's not the same impact.

You just need to understand what you're doing.  It's not as simple as some rule that says "restoring any part of the registry is always bad."  Or else, why would there even be an option to do that?

[hisoka]

Thank you very much

[hisoka]

On 7/16/2018 at 11:48 PM, hisoka said:

Thank you very much

So after writing to me that backing up one key , if I know what I am doing , is safe , I visited this website again :

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/db35e055-fb5a-43a0-b478-a238a69b438a/quot1quot-mean-virus?forum=w7itprogeneral

and then tried to change the KEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open  key after backing it up . As I thought that , may be , it can be the solution to the error exe cannot be found make sure you typed the name correctly and try again . I restarted my computer then tried to run the exe again as administrator but I still got the same error . anyway . Thus , I tried to import the exported key and to my surprise I got this error : not all data was successfully written to the registry . Some keys are open by the system or other process .

it is the same error I got when I backed up the whole  registry .

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because , logically , if backing up the whole is a bad idea then backing up a part from that whole is bad idea too . Isn't it ?

yes it is . You see the result yourself in the above error . backing up a key can be as bad as backing up the whole registry even if you know what to do . This is not an absolute rule but some keys , when they are backed up and restored can engender the above error . Therefore , as a conclusion , I consider that , generally , backing up a part or the whole registry is a bad idea . As result , I will consider that my question is not answered . So I am not convinced by your last answer justsomeguy .

[justsomeguy]

Did you edit that registry key?  You can open the backup file in a text editor to see the value and just edit the registry back to the original value, you don't need to import a single value.

backing up a key can be as bad as backing up the whole registry even if you know what to do .

You're suggesting that the act of backing up, that is making a copy of data, is somehow destructive?  Hitting Ctrl-C, which is all backing up is, is somehow a bad thing?  Well, I disagree.  When you back up data you do not make any changes at all, to anything.  Because that is not what backing up data is.  Backing up data is making a copy of existing data.  If you want to argue that making a copy of data is somehow bad or destructive, then go ahead.

Therefore , as a conclusion , I consider that , generally , backing up a part or the whole registry is a bad idea .

OK.  Well, I disagree.

So I am not convinced by your last answer justsomeguy .

OK.  I have nothing more to say on the subject.  Good luck.

[hisoka]

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Did you edit that registry key?

First I exported the key , only the key , then edited the key . As I saw that editing that key did not help me solve my problem  , I tried to import it but I  got the above error .

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You're suggesting that the act of backing up, that is making a copy of data, is somehow destructive?  Hitting Ctrl-C, which is all backing up is, is somehow a bad thing?

I am not talking about any data or data in general and I do not want to argue . I said backing up SOME REGISTRY KEYS can engender a problem : you saw the above error by yourself . Is not the error above a proof that what i said is true ? The error above not all data was successfully written to the registry . Some keys are open by the system or other process is the result  of backing up a registry key . By backing up I mean (export , import) . 

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If you want to argue that making a copy of data is somehow bad or destructive, then go ahead.

no , making a copy of data is not destructive . Nevertheless , an error , that you cannot deny , is triggered because of backing up a key from the registry .

[justsomeguy]

Is not the error above a proof that what i said is true ?

Nope.  That's an error from importing, not backing up.  Backing up is exporting.  Did you get an error when you exported?  Did anything break when you exported?  No, I don't think it did.  That's what backing up is.  You're talking about restoring, not backing up.  If we aren't using the same terminology then that's going to cause confusion.  Backing up data (and it does not matter if that data is a text file or a database or registry data) is only making a copy.  Restoring a backup is going the other direction.  So, no, backing up data will cause zero problems other than maybe filling up hard drive space.

By backing up I mean (export , import) .

That's the problem, no one else uses the term backup when they're talking about importing or restoring data.  On every server I manage, when I'm configuring backups, or when I'm doing that at home, I'm configuring the part that makes a copy of data.  That's what the term backup means.  It does not mean also restoring the backup.

So, again, I stand by saying that there are zero problems with backing up any data, whether that is data from the registry or anything else.

It's very important to use the same terminology.  That is probably one reason why I can't help you, because we're talking about two different things using the same terminology.

[hisoka]

Thanks , you are right . I made a big mistake of terminology . I will try to be more clear the next time and work on my terminologies . I hope I will not make the same error again . So the above error came when I tried to RESTORE a registry key . What is the efficient way to avoid registry key restoring errors ?

[justsomeguy]

I don't know, I'm not an expert with the registry.  I would suggest restoring the settings manually by editing the keys again instead of importing.  If you want to know what the previous values were, open the registry file in a text editor.

[hisoka]

thank you that is a brilliant idea . I will try it