ERUNT - The Emergency Recovery Utility NT ========================================= Registry Backup and Restore for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP v1.1j, 10/20/2005, Freeware Written by Lars Hederer e-mail: lars.hederer@t-online.de Look for the latest version here: http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt To find out what's new in this version, please see the "Version history" section later in this file. Introduction ------------ With the invention of Windows 95 Microsoft made the wise decision to organize all computer- and application-specific data which was spread over countless INI files before in a centralized Windows database, called the system "registry". The registry is one of the most important parts in every Windows system today, without which the OS would not even boot. And since the registry is quite sensitive to corruption, it is very advisable to backup its according files from time to time. In MS-DOS based Windows versions (95, 98, Me) the registry consists of the files SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT (and CLASSES.DAT in Windows Me). To backup these files, one can easily go to the Windows folder in Explorer and copy the files to a safe location, for example another folder on the hard disk. Microsoft even supplies a utility called ERU which can be used to backup these and a few other critical system files to a safe location. Also, Windows 9x/Me automatically create backups of the registry at startup, with Windows 95 always backing up the registry from the previous Windows session, and Windows 98/Me maintaining up to five registry copies from the last five days where Windows was running. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Windows versions based on the NT kernel. In Windows NT and 2000, the registry is never backed up automatically, and in XP it is backed up only as part of the bloated and resource hogging System Restore program which cannot even be used for a "restore" should a corrupted registry prevent Windows from booting. It has also become impossible to copy the necessary files, now called "hives" and usually named DEFAULT, SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM in the SYSTEM32\CONFIG folder, to another location because they are all in use by the OS. And though the registry in an NT-based Windows is less likely to become corrupted than in other versions, it can still happen, and for these cases NT is simply missing an option for easy registry backup and restore as there is in Windows 9x/Me, to get the system up and running again in no time. In 2001, as Windows XP began to come pre-installed on many new home user PCs and was likely to become the new Windows standard over the next years, I decided to write a program which offers the ease-of-use of Windows 9x/Me ERU by Microsoft (hence the name ERUNT) to backup the registry, as well as providing an auto-backup capability, for example at Windows startup. Or, before installing a new program for testing purposes one could save the registry with ERUNT, install and test the program, uninstall it and restore the registry to be 100% sure that no debris is left. Note: The "Export registry" function in Regedit is USELESS (!) for making a complete backup of the registry. Neither does it export the whole registry (for example, no information from the "SECURITY" hive is saved), nor can the exported file be used later to replace the current registry with the old one. Instead, if you re-import the file, it is merged with the current registry without deleting anything that has been added since the export, leaving you with an absolute mess of old and new entries. Features -------- - Backup the Windows NT/2000/2003/XP registry to a folder of your choice - System and current user registries selectable - Command line switches for automated registry backup and restoration - Restore the registry in Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/2003/XP and MS-DOS (all-in-one restore program) or the Windows Recovery Console - Included in this package: NTREGOPT program for optimizing the registry - All programs in this package are completely localizable (translate them into your language), German version included Supported operating systems --------------------------- - Windows NT 3.51 - Windows NT 4.0 - Windows 2000 - Windows 2003 - Windows XP - most likely, all future Windows versions based on the NT kernel Additionally supported by the ERDNT restore program: - MS-DOS - Windows 95 - Windows 98 - Windows Me Installation ------------ Use the Setup program to install ERUNT on your computer. Or, if you downloaded the zipped version: Unzip all files into a folder of your choice, and if you want, create shortcuts on your desktop to the ERUNT.EXE and NTREGOPT.EXE files. Uninstallation -------------- Use "Add/Remove Programs" in Windows' control panel to remove ERUNT from your computer. Or, if you downloaded the zipped version: Delete the ERUNT folder, delete the appropriate desktop icons. (You may also want to delete all restore folders you have previously created with the program.) Backing up the registry with ERUNT ---------------------------------- Note: To ensure proper operation of ERUNT, you should be logged in as a system administrator. Start ERUNT, confirm the Welcome message. Type in the name of a restore folder where the backed up registry files should be saved, or click "..." to browse your computer's drives and select a folder. You can also simply leave the default, which is a folder named ERDNT inside your Windows folder, the advantage being that you have access to this folder from the Windows Recovery Console in case Windows does not boot anymore. Note that in the folder edit field, ERUNT by default appends a folder named the current date to the restore folder, which allows you to keep as many registry backups as you wish in the same restore folder, separated into the different creation dates. This feature, as well as the appearance of the date string, can be configured via the ERUNT.INI file, described later in this document. If you want the registry backup to be created directly in the folder you select, you can also simply remove the date from the folder edit field before clicking "OK". Next, select the backup options: - System registry: The current system registry, usually consisting of the files DEFAULT, SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE, and SYSTEM. - Current user registy: The registry files for the currently logged-on user, usually NTUSER.DAT and USRCLASS.DAT. - Other open user registries: Sometimes Windows has a few other user registries in memory. Examples for this are "generic" registries, e.g. for user "EVERYONE", or registries of other users if you use Fast Task Switching in Windows XP. Check this option to backup all these additional user registries (if found) as well. Click "OK" and wait until the backup process is complete. (Note that depending on your system configuration this may take some time, and that the first bar is NOT a progress bar, just an indicator that the program is still running.) The ERDNT program for later restoration of the registry is automatically copied to the restore folder. (Technical information: ERUNT saves only registry files which are in use by the system. It obtains information about these files from registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\ hivelist. Registry hives not listed there, for example those of other users of the computer, cannot be saved by ERUNT.) ERUNT command line switches --------------------------- ERUNT supports command line switches with which you can perform an automated registry backup, without user interaction. The syntax for the ERUNT command line is as follows: ERUNT DestinationFolder [sysreg] [curuser] [otherusers] [/noconfirmdelete] [/noprogresswindow] DestinationFolder is required for command line operation of ERUNT, all other switches are optional. If you specify a destination folder on the command line, ERUNT automatically runs in "silent" mode and with default backup options (system and current user registry). No user interaction is required, EXCEPT the confirmation of the restore folder deletion if it exists, or any error messages. The confirmation question can be suppressed by using /noconfirmdelete (see below). Description of the command line switches: DestinationFolder The name of the folder where the registry backup should be saved. Example: C:\WINDOWS\ERDNT You can use the strings #Date# and #Time# anywhere in the folder name to have ERUNT insert the current date/time at that position. Example: C:\WINDOWS\ERDNT\#Date# Windows' %SystemRoot% environment variable can be used on the command line as a substitute for the name of the Windows folder. Example: %SystemRoot%\ERDNT\#Date# sysreg Backup the system registry curuser Backup the current user registry otherusers Backup other open user registries (Note: If none of the three above options is given on the command line, ERUNT automatically uses the default backup options, system and current user registry.) /noconfirmdelete Automatically deletes the contents of the destination folder if it exists, without asking the user. BE CAREFUL and only use this option if you are sure that the contents of that folder may really be deleted! /noprogresswindow Hides the progress window during backup. So, to backup the system registry to folder C:\ERDNT each day of the week using subfolders with the name of the current day you could use the integrated scheduler in Windows to schedule seven different ERUNT calls for each day: For Monday you would use the ...
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