Windows 9x Registry Backups
There are a few different ways to back up the registry in 9x. One way starts with booting into DOS. You might recall that you can do this in 95/98 by selecting to reboot into DOS in the shutdown menu. You can also use a boot floppy (this is the only way to do this in Me). The same procedure can also be done by booting into Safe Mode, Command Prompt Only, which you do by pressing F8 at the beginning of booting and making the appropriate selection. Once you get a command prompt, navigate to the Windows folder if you’re not already there. (If you get a C:> prompt, type “CD Windows” and then press . If you get an A:> prompt, type C:, press , and then type “CD Windows” and then press again.) Once you have reached the C:>WINDOWS prompt, type the following, pressing after each line:
attrib -r -h -s system.dat
attrib -r -h -s user.dat
copy system.dat *bu
copy user.dat *.bu
Then, restart the computer. See Appendix C, “Command-Line Tutorial,” for a tutorial on using commands in MS-DOS. The attrib command changes the attributes of the file. The minus sign turns off each attribute; r represents the read only attribute; h, the hidden; and s means system. This is necessary in order to do anything with these files. The copy command is self-explanatorythese commands are making copies of the two files and naming them System.bu and User.bu.
Windows names the automatically backed up registry files System.da0 and User.da0. These final characters are zeros.
To restore these backups, get to the C:>WINDOWS prompt as described in the backup instructions and type the following, again pressing at the end of each line:
attrib -r -h -s system.dat
attrib -r -h -s system.da0
attrib -r -s -h user.dat
attrib -r -s -h user.da0
ren system.dat system.daa
ren system.da0 system.da1
ren user.dat user.daa
ren user.da0 user.da1
copy system.bu system.dat
copy user.bu user.dat
Then, restart the computer (ren is the rename command). If you need to restore the automatic backup in 95 (it should be handled automatically by 98 and Me), type the following, pressing after each line:
attrib -h -r -s system.dat
attrib -h -r -s system.da0
attrib -h -r -s user.dat
attrib -h -r -s user.da0
copy system.da0 system.dat
copy user.da0 user.dat
Then, restart the computer.
There are utilities you can use to back up the registry. On the Windows 95 installation disc is a utility called ERU in the OtherMiscERU folder. Run the program from the CD-ROM and follow the prompts. For more information, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for Article 139437 entitled Windows 95 Emergency Recovery Utility.
Windows 98 and Me have a utility called the Registry Checker. This is actually a combination of two program files. Scanreg.exe runs only in DOS, while Scanregw.exe runs in both DOS and Windows. Registry Checker runs automatically and, if it discovers no registry problems, makes a new backup of the registry every day in which the computer is successfully booted. If it finds problems, it will attempt to restore the backup automatically, and if that proves unsuccessful, Registry Checker will attempt to repair the registry. You can run scanregw in either the Run dialog or from a command prompt. For more information on Registry Checker and other information about the 9x registry, search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for “Chapter 31 – Windows 98 Registry.”
Instructions on backing up and restoring the entire registry in 2000 and XP appear later in this chapter. Because backing up portions of the registry is done with the registry editor, we’ll discuss partial backups with the editor next.
By : Book-PC Repair and Maintenance: A Practical Guide
