How To Backup the Registry in Windows 7

If you're planning on making several changes to the registry in Windows 7, backing up each individual registry key probably isn't the best idea.

1. Execute regedit to start Registry Editor.
2. See How To Open Registry Editor if you need help doing that.
3. Navigate to the very top of the registry key branches until you reach Computer.
4. Highlight Computer by clicking on it once.
5. From the Registry Editor menu, choose File and then Export....
6. In the Export Registry File window that appears, choose a location to save the registry backup file to.
   Note: I usually recommend choosing the Desktop or the Documents folder. Both are easy to access if you run into problems later and need to use the file to restore registry data.
7. Locate the File name: text field and enter a name for the backup file.
   Note: This name is for you to remember what the exported registry file is for. Since you're backing up the entire Windows 7 Registry, I would recommend calling this file Complete Registry Backup or something like that. Adding a date at the end isn't a bad idea either.
8. Click the Save button.
   A Registration File with an REG file extension will be created in the location you selected in Step 5 and with the file name you chose in Step 6. Continuing the example from the last step, the file would be named Complete Registry Backup.reg.
9. You can now make the changes you need to make to the Windows Registry.
10. If after making the registry changes, you realize that they did not give you the results you were looking for, you can simply restore the Windows 7 registry back to the point at which you backed it up.