This is just to make sure that the registry won’t be broken

Sep 19, 2018 11:41 GMT  ·  By

If you’ve been following our news section lately, you probably noticed that we publish a lot of tutorials every once in a while, and many of them include changes that need to be made in the Registry Editor.

The Windows registry is an essential part of the operating system, and it gives access to settings and features that aren’t otherwise possible from the user interface.

But while it’s clearly the place to go for advanced users who expect more from Windows, it’s also a feature to avoid for most rookies. Mostly because changing registry settings or deleting keys without knowing exactly what they do could lead to major system stability issues.

Just like in the previous releases, Windows 10 version 1809 (October 2018 Update) lets you create backups of either a specific key or the entire Windows registry, so that you can be sure that nothing goes wrong when making changes like the ones we highlight in our tutorials.

Several of our readers asked me about the easiest way to back up the registry, especially given that more advanced customization of the operating system involves tweaks here. And while it all seems to be such a complex process, it’s actually one that requires just a few clicks.

Backing up registry keys in Windows 10

How to back up registry keys

Just like you do when changing registry settings, the backup and restore things can be done using the Windows Registry Editor.

You can launch it by typing regedit either in the Start menu or in the dialog that shows up when pressing the Windows key + R.

The Registry Editor may be a new thing if you’re a beginner, but on the other hand, the concept is pretty similar to the one that powers File Explorer. There are keys that store other subkeys, in which various values are located for certain purposes.

You can create backups of either a single key, several, or even of the entire registry, though you should know that the time required to do this increases as more keys are being added. On a standard system or laptop, however, it should take more than a minute to create a full registry backup.

During my test on a Windows 10 October 2018 Update computer running the latest preview build, a full backup of the Windows Registry reached 347 MB in size.

Backing up registry keys in Windows 10

To create a backup of just a single key, select it in the Registry Editor and head over to File > Export. You need to provide a name for the backed-up data, as well as choose the export range and select between selected branch or all. The latter option allows you to create a full registry backup.

The backed-up registry keys are saved in the provided location with .reg extension, and you can also choose some other formats, like .txt.

If you want to create a full registry backup, you can either select the All option in the export registry file dialog, or simply choose the root registry location and then go to File > Export.

On the other hand, importing either a full backup or just a single key that you previously backed up is easy, All you need to do is go to File > Import and point the Registry Editor to the location where your backup is stored. Again, the importing task may take a while depending on how much data was backed up, and a reboot would be required in order to restore all settings to the one included in the backup.

The same method can be used on pretty much any Windows 10 version, and it is recommended before you make registry changes that could affect system stability.

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Windows Registry Editor in Windows 10
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