BACKING UP / RESTORING THE REGISTRY

 

Backing up Windows 95 Registry:

To backup Windows 95 Registry from the Windows desktop click Start / Shut Down / Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode.

At C:\WINDOWS> type the following:

attrib user.dat -r -a -s -h <press enter>
attrib system.dat -r -a -s -h <press enter>
md backup <press enter>
copy user.dat backup <press enter>
copy system.dat backup <press enter>

The above will copy the registry files into a backup directory in your Windows directory. Once the above has been done you can restart the computer and edit the registry as needed.

Restoring Windows 95 Registry:

If you by chance make a mistake while in the registry and have done the above, get to a DOS prompt. If you are unable to get into Windows. As the computer is booting up and you see Starting Windows 95 or you hear a beep press your F8 key on the keyboard this should get you into the Windows 95 Startup menu. Choose the option for Safe Mode command prompt only.

When at the DOS prompt type cd\windows (note you will not be able to get into this directory if you have not followed the above steps earlier in backing up your registry.

Note: There are two backups for the Windows 95 registry files. The first files are the System.dao and the User.dao, which are backups of the System.dat and User.dat files from the last successful startup. The second backup file is System.1st, which is a backup of the System.dat file created when Windows 95 was first installed. Restoring the System.dao and User.dao files is recommended as the first step because this restores the registry to the last successful startup.

Follow these steps to restore the System.dao and User.dao files:

  1. Turn on the computer. When the Starting Windows 95 message appears during startup, press the F8 key.
  2. From the startup menu, use the ARROW keys on the keyboard to select Command prompt only.
  3. At the C:\ prompt, type: CD\Windows. Press the ENTER key.
  4. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: ATTRIB System.dat -r -h -s. Press ENTER.
  5. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: ATTRIB System.da0 -r -h -s. Press ENTER.
  6. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: ATTRIB User.dat -r -h -s. Press ENTER.
  7. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: ATTRIB User.da0 -r -h -s. Press ENTER.
  8. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: REN System.dat System.123. Press ENTER.
  9. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: REN User.dat User.123. Press ENTER.
  10. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: COPY System.da0 System.dat. Press ENTER.
  11. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: COPY User.da0 User.dat. Press ENTER.
  12. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: ATTRIB System.dat +r +a +s +h. Press ENTER.
  13. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: ATTRIB User.dat +r +a +s +h. Press ENTER.

Note: The System.dao and User.dao files automatically re-attrib the hidden, read-only, and system attributes when the computer is restarted.

  1. Restart the computer. At the command prompt, turn off the computer, then turn it back on.

Follow these steps to restore the System.1st file:

Note: There is not a User.1st file to restore.

  1. Turn on the computer. When the Starting Windows 95 message appears during startup, press the F8 key.
  2. From the startup menu, use the ARROW keys on the keyboard to select Command prompt only.
  3. At the C:\ prompt, type: CD\Windows. Press ENTER.
  4. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: ATTRIB System.dat -r -h -s. Press ENTER.
  5. At the C:\Windows prompt, type: ATTRIB C:\System.1st -r -h -s. Press ENTER.

At the C:\Windows prompt, type: REN System.dat System.xxx (where xxx is any unused file extension, example: System.bad). Press ENTER.

At the C:\Windows prompt, type: COPY C:\System.1st C:\Windows\System.dat. Press ENTER.

At the C:\Windows prompt, type: ATTRIB System.dat +r +a +s +h. Press ENTER.

At the C:\Windows prompt, type: ATTRIB C:\System.1st +r +h +s. Press ENTER.

  1. Restart the computer. At the command prompt, turn off the computer, then turn it back on.

 

Backing Windows 98 Registry:

Windows 98 has a new feature referred to as scanreg that will automatically backup your registry each time you boot up your computer, however the steps listed above for backing up Windows 95 registry also work but are not necessarily need unless you wish to keep an originally un-touched copy of the registry.

Restoring Windows 98 Registry:

To restore Windows 98 registry get into a DOS prompt, if you are not able to get into Windows 98 to shutdown the computer to get into a DOS prompt as the computer boots up press and hold your left ctrl key on your keyboard which should get you into a Windows 98 startup menu, in this menu choose the option for command prompt only (safe mode command prompt only will not work).

Once at the prompt type cd\windows\command

Once in this directory type scanreg /restore this will restore a previously backed up copy of your registry. If you did not disable the scan registry from the start up group in windows. It will give you 5 dates back to choose from. You then should be able to reboot the computer and get back into Windows.

You can also try

scanreg /fix  this will compare the registry files that were first loaded and repair