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Regbak, Registry Backup And Restore Tool

The Windows Registry editor comes with options to export and import Registry keys. It can be used to backup the Registry partially or fully. To do that, users need to open the Registry editor and click on File > Export while Computer is selected. This backs up all five available Registry hives.

There are also other options to backup the Windows Registry, including the system tool rstrui.exe that ships with Windows.

Regbak is a third party software program to backup the Registry. It comes with a few extras that may make it more interesting for some users, but all the basics are covered as well.

To simply backup the local Registry, you start the portable software, select a directory to store the backup or use the directory the software was started from and click Next to start the backup. That’s it.

registry backup

Advanced users can select the Registry hives that should be included in the backup. By default the system and current user hives get backed up. There is another option to include other available hives if they exist.

Advanced options are available that detail how older backups are handled during backups. It is possible to delete older backups based on age or amount, or to overwrite existing backups automatically if they exist in the selected backup folder.

registry backup

Regbak offers options to restore a Registry backup. This is done by clicking on Backups in the interface, then Search to find the backups and restore after selecting a backup to restore it to the system.

restore registry

The Registry backup tool can be used from the command line in addition to the 32-bit and 64-bit graphical user interface versions.

regbak "\\

  • /reg:suo s=system hives u=user hives, o=all other hives
  • /silent silent operation
  • /overwrite overwrites previous backup files in the 'backup to' location
  • /limitdays:d d = number of days of backups to keep, older backups will be deleted
  • /limitcount:c keeps last 'c' number of backups
  • translates to the system date when creating backup

Assuming "c:\windows\backup" is the backup location, some valid usages are:
regbak "c:\windows\backup" /reg:suo /silent
regbak "c:\windows\backup\\

Regbak is available for download at the developer website. It is compatible with most 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.

Author: , Tuesday November 2, 2010 -
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Responses so far:

  1. Rag says:

    doesn’t the “erunt” program provide the same functions?

  2. OAlexander says:

    Free “erunt” comes with NTRegOpt included for free. Acelogix charges for its “Registry Defragmenter and Compactor”, which does the same as it does what it says, $ 15.00. For instance. On the other hand, Acelogix sells all these “Registry Tune-Up” etc. programmes, which forced them probably to provide some free Registry back-up software ;)

  3. Thomas says:

    Cool, use it since 6 month or so. But I was searching for the command lines. Had no time until now. But thanks to Martin ^^ I will try these.

  4. kalmly says:

    I’ve always depended on Erunt. Unfortunately It doesn’t work with my Win7 64-bit laptop (neither do many other of my favorite applications, mutter, mutter). So – your article is timely. Next time I drag out the laptop (next trip I take) I’ll download this.

  5. Sam says:

    I use RegistrySun to backup my registry and fix my registry issues~

  6. Thomas says:

    Just tried it. Now it works like I prefer it with this command line:

    regbak “C:\WINXP\repair\regback\” /reg:suo /silent /limitcount:10

    Keeps the last 10 backups in folders with the date, shows no gui and includes all hives.

    No more clicking anymore at logon.

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