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How do I create a backup of the entire Windows registry (Windows 7 in my case), in a format so that it can be easily restored?

I want to install a fresh copy of Windows, and I want to back up the configurations of my installed software on other drives.

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    In general, this is a bad idea. The registry is constantly changing. Rolling back to a previous version of the registry is likely to break things. A better solution is to backup just the bits of the registry that you care about. Using restore points may or may not work too depending on what your end goal is.
    – EBGreen
    Nov 29, 2012 at 17:57
  • I've had good results with ERUNT.
    – martineau
    Nov 29, 2012 at 18:07

3 Answers 3

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Warning: Floating values exist and this could be a bad idea, but since you asked:

Start
type 'regedit'
Right click the branch you want, click "Export"

It works for Keys and Hkeys. The reverse is "Import". But do some research first to figure it out... i.e. The link I gave you. That was the first result when I google'd your Title.

Seven Forums

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I've used CCleaner from Piriform to backup the registry before cleaning it. Though I no longer clean my registry, CCleaner still gives the option to do so. If you were to initiate a registry cleaning it would pop up the option to back up. Do so, then cancel the cleaning. You can then restore from that backup at a later date.

See also CCleaner FAQ: How do I restore registry backups?

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    Doesn't that only backup the ones your are deleting during the "clean"?
    – nerdwaller
    Nov 29, 2012 at 20:31
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How do I create a backup of the entire Windows registry?

Press WinKey+r, type regedit, press Enter.

Then right-click Computer and choose Export.
Save the .reg file to a place that you remember if and when you need it.

Right-click 'Computer' and choose 'Export'.

Making a backup of the entire registry after a fresh installation is a great idea, but beware that it's going to be a BIG file. In my case, I backed up the entire registry on Windows 10, build version 22H2. The exported file is about 507 MB in size.

Never ever consider restoring this 507 MB file in its entirety!
The way to use this backup is to copy-paste small chunks from it, or to just look inside it for comparison with parts in your current installation of Windows.
This is particularly useful if you manipulated the registry, and are now worried that you broke it, or just wonder what the registry looked like before you started to make changes to it.

The 507 MB file is going to be awkward to handle.
Consider it to be a safety backup that you hopefully will never need.

Back up the part of the registry you intend to manipulate

In addition to backing up the entire registry, before you make any changes, also backup just the narrow part of the registry where you intend to make changes.

For example, I'm about to add some keys to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft.
Hence, I made a backup of exactly that registry key.
The resulting registry file is merely 4 kB. This is of course much easier to look inside and/or copy-paste from than a 507 MB registry file that covers the whole registry. 1


1 Exporting the entire registry from a computer with a non-fresh installation, with the intention to run this .reg file
(or parts of it) on a fresh installation of Windows, is the exact opposite of how you should use a backup of the registry.
This might explain the negative feedback (downvotes) your question has received.

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