As you all know Windows Registry is one of the key component on Windows. Most of the Windows behavior is driven by the entries on Windows Registry. So wouldn’t it be a good idea to backup the important piece of Windows, the Registry, once in a while at least? Backing up Windows Registry would be handy when you manually try to change entries in Windows Registry.

Follow these steps to safely backup your registry so when needed you can restore your Windows Registry to a decent state,

Step-1:

Click the “Start” button and type-in “run” on the Search box and press the Enter key.

If you are using Windows XP then click on the “Start” button and then click on the “Run…” menu option.

Step-2:

On the “Run” dialog type-in “regedit” and press the Enter key.

Step-3:

Windows will open up the Registry Editor. Click on the “File” menu and then click on the “Export…” submenu.

Step-4:

Windows will display “Export Registry File” dialog. On that dialog make sure to choose the “All” option under “Export Range”. If you want to backup just selected branches then you can choose the “Selected branch” option and then specify the branch that you want to backup. Once you choose the range that you want to be backed up then give a name for the backup file and save it to a location that you prefer.

That’s it. You’ve just backed-up your Windows Registry. Make sure to backup your Windows Registry every time you make any changes that you are not much sure of. It is always better to be on the safer side than “sorry”.

So, now you’ve backed up your Windows Registry. It wouldn’t be much use if you don’t know how to restore Windows Registry from the backup that you’ve just made. Read this article to know how to restore Windows Registry from a backup file.