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First You Back Up

In this section, you will use the Reg.exe program to back up the registry. Backing up is an important step, because you can make changes to the registry that would preclude Microsoft Windows Server 2003 from even loading. So before you ever make any change to the registry, you must have a backup.

Note

Don't be scared of working with the registry out of fear of "hosing" your machine. If you do not have a backup of the registry, and you suspect a registry change caused a problem, try booting your server and selecting "last known good" from the Startup menu. If this does not work, try booting into the recovery console off of the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 CD-ROM and using the command-line registry editor to undo the changes you previously made.


Numerous utilities can back up the registry; backing up using a script is convenient as well. By using the Reg.exe support tool via Microsoft Visual Basic, Scripting Edition (VBScript), you can perform the following operations:

  • Back up a registry key prior to making modifications

  • Back up a registry hive as part of maintenance

  • Import a registry key as part of maintenance

  • Import a registry key to restore a previous configuration

Just the Steps

To back up the registry using the Reg.exe command

1.
Create an instance of the WshShell class.

2.
Use the Exec method of WshShell to execute the Reg.exe command.

3.
Use the Reg.exe Save command.

4.
Specify the registry key to save and the file to save it into.



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