Before you edit the registry, export the keys in the registry that you plan to edit, or back up the whole registry. If a problem occurs, you can then follow the steps in the Restore the registry section of this article to restore the registry to its previous state.

Export registry subkeys or the whole registry

You can follow these steps to export a registry subkey or the whole registry before you edit it.

Click Start, and then click Run.

In the Open box, type regedit and then click OK.

Locate and then click the subkey that contains the value that you want to edit.

On the File menu, click Export.

In the Save in box, select a location where you want to save the Registration Entries (.reg) file, type a file name in the File name box, and then click Save.

Restore the registry keys

To restore registry subkeys that you exported, double-click the Registration Entries (.reg) file that you saved in the Export registry subkeys section.

Restore the whole registry

To restore the whole registry, that you exported, double-click the Registration Entries (.reg) file that you saved in the Export registry subkeys section.