Windows 2000 stores its configuration information in a database called the registry, which contains profiles for each computer user, as well as information about system hardware, installed programs, and property settings, which Windows 2000 continues to refer to during its run. The registry is stored in binary form on your hard disk, and incorrectly editing the registry can severely damage your system. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you back up the registry information before you change the registry. To prevent fatal errors when modifying the registry, it is important to understand the backup and recovery methods of the registry files. In addition, in order to study the structure of the registry, you can also save a primary key or subkey in the registry as a text file, or print out, this work also needs to understand the registry file import and Export methods.
A, full backup/restore Registry
If you want to fully back up the registry, you can save the registry file (*.reg) on your hard disk by clicking the Export Registry File command under the Registry menu in Registry Editor Regedit.exe and selecting Export range to all. To completely restore the registry, just click the Import Registry File command under the Registry menu, and then select the appropriate backup registry file on your hard disk. Incidentally, the main reason Regedit.exe (16-bit Registry Editor) is included in Windows 2000 is that its search function is strong, and users can also use Regedit.exe to change the registry, but not fully functional (such as the ability to set registry keys). You may not be able to view or edit individual data types correctly. Therefore, it is recommended that you use Regedit.exe only for full backups of the search and registry, and when you need to edit the registry using the System32 directory Regedt32.exe (It is a 32-bit Registry Editor, provides some advanced features, using a multiple-window format to display the predefined keys, look more convenient).
B, partial Backup registry
If you only need to save a root key or a primary key (subkey) and other general backup, in the Regedt32 can be more convenient to complete. First select the primary key or subkey you want to save, and then click Save Item on the Registry menu, and in the Save Items dialog box that pops up, enter the file name of the registry file you want to save, and the extension recommends "Reg" for future lookups.
When you save some primary keys or subkeys because they are using a different user, or if the primary key or subkey is being used by the system, a warning is blocked for access: "Insufficient permissions to save items." The system administrator can then use the "Permissions" command under the "Security" menu, give Full control to users of these primary keys or subkeys (see the "Windows 2000 registry through Train" in the 15th issue of the computer Software World), and then you can save the key.
Save registry primary key or subkey as "item" file, cannot be straight? The text editor opens the view, so if you want to study the structure of the registry, you can export the registry file as a text file by selecting the Save subtree as command under the Registry menu, naming it as a file with a txt extension, and then clicking the Save button. In the future, we can use Windows WordPad or Notepad to view this text file. You can also print using the print subtree command under the same menu, if you want.
C, partial recovery/import Registry
There are two ways to partially restore/import the registry, the first of which is to restore "item", that is, to overwrite an existing primary key with a previously backed up registry file or other registry file. First, in the Regedt32 Registry Editor, move the cursor over the primary key that you want to restore. Select the Restore command under the Registry menu and select the registry file that you want to restore in the Restore Entries window, and then click the Open button to confirm that the existing primary key is overwritten before it can be restored to the currently selected item. Note: The selected restored file must match the primary key content selected in Registry Editor, that is, the previously saved registry "entry" can only be restored to its original location.
Another approach is to load the hive. "Load Hive" and "Unload Configuration Unit". The two commands are valid only in the [HKEY_USERS] or [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE] two predefined key windows, and when the hive is loaded into the registry, the hive becomes a child of one of the items. This is done in the Regedt32 Registry Editor, use the mouse to select one of the two predefined keys, then select the Load Hive command under the Registry menu, then select the registry file to load in the Load Hive dialog box, and then click the Open button to appear. Load Hive dialog box, enter the name of the new primary key in the Item Name text box of the dialog box, such as. ChenNai, and then click OK, and you'll find a new primary key (.) that appears below the current primary key. ChenNai). If you want to uninstall the hive, it is also easy to select the primary key, choose Uninstall Hive under the Registry menu.
The difference between the two methods is that the primary key introduced by the load hive can be content that was not previously in the registry.
Finally, the location of the registry files in Windows 2000, like Windows 9X, the registry of Windows 2000 is divided into two parts, but includes multiple files, where user profiles are kept in the root directory "documents and Settings" The directory under the user name, including two hidden files: NTUSER.DAT, NTUSER. INI and Ntuser.dat.LOG log files. The system configuration file is located in "System32\Config" in the Windows 2000 system directory, including default, SOFTWARE, System, APPEVENT.EVT, SECEVENT.EVT, Sysevent.evt and other hidden files and their corresponding. log (log) files and. sav files. These registry files cannot be opened with other tools while Windows 2000 is running, unlike System.dat and User.dat under Windows 9X.