DOCUMENT:Q132332  29-MAY-2002  [win95x]
TITLE   :How to Back Up the Registry in Microsoft Windows 95
PRODUCT :Microsoft Windows 95.x Retail Product
PROD/VER::
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:kbtool win95

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Windows 95 
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SUMMARY
=======

This article describes how to back up and restore the Windows 95 registry files.

MORE INFORMATION
================

To back up and restore the Windows 95 registry files, use one of the following
methods:

Method 1
--------

To back up your registry files, follow these steps:

1. Restart your computer. Press the F8 key when you see the "Starting Windows
   95" message, and then choose Safe Mode Command Prompt Only from the Startup
   menu.

2. At the command prompt type the following lines, pressing ENTER after each
   line:

   " cd windows
   attrib -r -h -s system.dat
   attrib -r -h -s user.dat
   copy system.dat *.bu
   copy user.dat *.bu " (without the quotation marks)

   NOTE: This procedure assumes you do not have any files named System.bu or
   User.bu. If you do have files by this name, such as a backup of the
   System.ini file, select a file name extension that is not currently in use.

3. Restart your computer.

To restore your registry files, follow these steps:

1. Restart your computer. Press the F8 key when you see the "Starting Windows
   95" message, and then choose Safe Mode Command Prompt Only from the Startup
   menu.

2. Type the following lines at the command prompt, pressing ENTER after each
   line:

   " cd windows
   attrib -r -h -s system.dat
   attrib -r -h -s system.da0
   attrib -r -h -s user.dat
   attrib -r -h -s user.da0
   ren system.dat system.daa
   ren system.da0 system.da1
   ren user.dat user.daa
   ren user.da0 user.da1
   copy system.bu system.dat
   copy user.bu user.dat " (without the quotation marks)

   NOTE: This procedure assumes you do not have any files named System.daa,
   System.da1, User.daa, or User.da1. If you do have files by this name, select
   a file name extension that is not currently in use.

3. Restart your computer.

Notes:

 - You may want to back up more than one version of the registry in case the
   registry becomes damaged but the damage is not detected until later. If you
   want to do this, when you are following the steps above, replace the .bu
   extension with .bu1, .bu2, and so on.

 - If you have more than one hard disk or a network drive is available, you may
   want to copy the backup files to the other drive so the backup files do not
   reside in the same location as the original registry files.


Method 2
--------

You can use the Windows 95 Emergency Recovery Utility to create a backup of your
system configuration and registry files and restore these files in case a
problem should occur.

For information about using the Windows 95 Emergency Recovery Utility, see the
following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Q139437 Windows 95 Emergency Recovery Utility

Additional Information
----------------------

Windows 95 stores information about the hardware and software in your computer in
the System.dat and User.dat files. The System.dat and User.dat files should be
treated as a pair. You should back them up together as a pair and restore them
together as a pair. These files are hidden, read- only files.

Note that if you are using user profiles, you should also backup the User.dat
files located in the following folders

   C:\Windows\Profiles\<username>

where <username> is the name of each person that logs on to Windows 95.

If the registry is damaged, various errors may occur, or your computer may not
start properly. For information about troubleshooting registry problems, see the
following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Q131431 How to Troubleshoot Registry Errors in Windows 95

Additional query words:

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Keywords          : kbtool win95 
Technology        : kbWin95search kbZNotKeyword3
Version           : :
Issue type        : kbhowto

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