Back up, Edit, and Restore the Registry in Windows XP

“SUMMARY

Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

NoteThe registry in 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 is divided into 32-bit and 64-bit subkeys. Many of the 32-bit subkeys have the same names as their 64-bit counterparts, and vice versa. The default 64-bit version of Registry Editor that is included with 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 displays the 32-bit subkeys in the following registry subkey, or "hive":

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node

For additional information about how to view the registry on 64-bit versions of Windows, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

305097 How to view the system registry by using 64-bit versions of Windows

REFERENCES

314837 How to manage remote access to the registry

310595 Description of HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry subkeys

310593 Description of the RunOnceEx registry key

307545 How to recover from a corrupted registry that prevents Windows XP from starting

286422 How to back up and restore a Windows Server 2003 cluster

104169 Files that are automatically skipped by the backup program (NTBackup.exe) during the backup and restore processes

310426 How to use the Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Registry Editor features ”

For a Microsoft Windows 2000 version of this article, see 322755.
For a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 version of this article, see 323170.

For a Microsoft Windows 95, 98, and Millennium Edition version of this article, see 322754.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756