Main steps to a Windows Registry Recovery

So your computer does not run a well as it did when it was new? Is it slow starting up, runs sluggishly, continually displaying "error notifications"? You know there’s a problem but you do not know how to deal with it?

Where can you get help?

The problem may not be as insurmountable as you may think. Sounds like you need a Windows registry recovery plan. There is a way to get your computer back into shape like it used to be when you first purchased it.

1. Isolate the Problem to Know if it’s a Faulty Registry

The problem needs to be found so a fault finding mission needs to be carried out. One cause could be from a third party program so the first thing to do is run an Anti-virus scan (that’s provided your anti-virus is up to date). Follow this up with a scan for spyware on your computer.

With this out of the road and no problems found with your virus protection system them the chances are that your Windows registry is the problem. This means you need to do a Windows registry recovery.

Windows registries are not to be tampered with lightly so the first thing you must do is make a registry backup just in case you make a mistake. While doing changes manually by yourself mistakes can easily happen so a backup is imperative. If you think tampering with your registry is within your computer capabilities then give it a try but be warned any mistakes can turn nasty.

Depending on which windows operating system you have will depend on how you back it up. They all do it differently. Windows 95 | Windows 98 & ME | Windows 2000, 2003 & XP | Windows Vista

Windows 95 registry backup tutorial.

“NOTE”: It is assumed your hard disk contains no files named "system.bak" or "user.bak" before conducting your registry backup. Be sure to rename the extension in the below instructions as necessary if it does.

1- Turn on or press restart on your computer. Press F8 when the “Starting Windows" appears. Choose "Safe Mode - Command Prompt Only" to continue press the Enter key.
2- The following commands should then be entered:-

• cd \windows (press "Enter")
• attrib -r -h -s system.dat (press "Enter")
• attrib -r -h -s user.dat (press "Enter")
• copy system.dat *.bak (press "Enter")
• copy user.dat *.bak (press "Enter")

3- Restart your computer

That’s it your Windows 95 registry is now backed up.

Windows 95 Registry Restore Tutorial

1- Again turn on or press restart on your computer. And the same as before Press F8 when the “Starting Windows" appears. Choose "Safe Mode - Command Prompt Only" to continue press the Enter key.

2- The following commands should then be entered:-

• cd windows (press "Enter")
• attrib -r -h -s system.dat (press "Enter")
• attrib -r -h -s system.da0 (press "Enter")
• attrib -r -h -s user.dat (press "Enter")
• attrib -r -h -s user.da0 (press "Enter")
• ren system.dat system.daa (press "Enter")
• ren system.da0 system.da1 (press "Enter")
• ren user.dat user.daa (press "Enter")
• ren user.da0 user.da1 (press "Enter")
• copy system.bak system.dat (press "Enter")
• copy user.bak user.dat (press "Enter")

3- Restart your computer

That’s it finished- the registry should now been restored successfully, assuming that you've used the same filenames and extensions for both the backup and the restoration of the registry.

Windows 98/ME registry backup tutorial.

It is easier to backup your registry in Windows 98/ME

1- Go to "Start", and then "Run". In the text field, type in scanregw and press "OK"
2- The program will now scan the Windows registry for errors. Once it has completed the scan it will ask if you'd like to make a backup of your current Windows Registry. Click "Yes” and the backup will start. After completion of the backup, press "OK".

That’s it your Windows 98/ME registry is now backed up.

Windows 98 & ME Registry Restore Tutorial

If you use Windows 98

1-Turn on or restart your computer, hold the "CTRL"(control) key. Choose "Safe Mode - Command Prompt Only" after the option appears. It will change to a command-prompt DOS interface.

If you use Windows ME

1-Turn on or restart your computer using the start-up disc then choose the option that says "Start Computer without CD-ROM Support". It will change to a command-prompt DOS interface.

The Commands are now the same for both Windows 98 & ME,

2- In the command prompt interface, type c:\windows\command\scanreg /restore. Press "Enter" when finished.
3- A list of list of all previous Windows Registry backups will appear on ScanReg. Navigate with the arrow keys to select the backup you'd like to restore, and then press "Enter".
4- When the Windows registry recovery process is complete, press "Enter" when prompted to restart the computer. If you have Windows ME, remove the boot (Start-Up) disk before restarting.

That’s it finished- the registry should now been restored successfully

Windows 2000/2003/XP registry backup tutorial

NOTE: You may need to be logged in as the administrator to do this job.

1- At the bottom of your screen on the toolbar click the Start button. >Click All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup. You may not have the Backup
Utility installed, if this is the case insert your Windows CD and update the system to install it.

2- The backup grogram should then launch, make sure you are in the Wizard section of the application. Click "Next" to proceed.

3- Click "Only back up the System State Data" when prompted. There will be a set of prompts for you to follow, just click next until the backup is done. Click "Finish" to initiate the Registry Backup. Close the program when the backup is complete.

That’s it your Windows registry is now backed up.

Win2000, Win2003 & WinXP Registry Restore Tutorial

1- At the bottom of your screen on the toolbar click the Start button. >Click All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup
2- Same as before, ensure that you're in "Backup Wizard" mode. A list of all previous registry backups will be presented to you. Simply select the System-State backup you'd like to restore and press "Next", and then "Finish". The restoration will be complete and you can close the program.

That’s it finished- the registry should now been restored successfully

Windows Vista registry backup tutorial.

NOTE: You may need to be logged in as the administrator to do this job.

You have two options in Windows Vista to backup your registry. Either create a "System Restore Point", or export the registry in its present state to a folder on an external drive or to the hard drive using Reg Edit.

Do this by the following, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > Run > "Reg Edit". Here you can export the desired registry keys or folders to a location on an external drive or to the hard drive. At a later date import the data back into the registry in the same way.

 The best and safest way is to use the System Restore to backup your registry. To do this follow the steps below.

1- Go to Start > Control Panel > System > System Protection.

2- Select the hard drives you'd like to create a restore-point for and then click on the "Create" button to create a new restore point.

Follow the prompts in order to complete the backup process

Windows Vista Registry Restore Tutorial

1- Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore.

2 Click "Next” when prompted, select the restore point for which you'd like to reset your PC, and then click "Next" again.

3-The restoration will be completed by following the prompts.

You may find that the Windows registry recovery can be achieved this way if the problem was straight forward. However if not you may have to reinstall Windows. This is not only a headache but a time consuming job. Any information and files and programs will have to be backed up and stored somewhere. Just to warn you this has happened to me and I lost six months of work.

If you can do a simple system restore then all well and good. It will restore your system to a point prior to the initial error. However if the registry problem is more deep seated and there are some options you can take if you do not want to re-format the hard drive and re-install Windows:

Theses are your options:-

1- Manually go into the systems Registry Editor find the problem (a big job) and do the edits if you know what you are doing.
2- Get a computer expert to fix your registry errors for you. (Can be costly).
3- Get some professional software like Registry Fix that will correct your registry problems in seconds either automatically or through your own customized control.

Options one or two could be the way to go if you are a professional computer expert. If you are not the chances of you doing something wrong and losing all the data and like me months of work are quite high. The last thing you want to do is reformat your hard drive and doing a Windows install to fix your problems. It really does make sense to use registry repair software to remove the problem both now and in the future.

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