ARCHIVED: In Windows 95, 98, or Me, how do I restore a registry?

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Note: UITS recommends that you use a current version of Windows on computers connected to the Indiana University network; see Recommended Windows operating systems at IU.

Warning:
This contains instructions for editing the registry. If you make any error while editing the registry, you can potentially cause Windows to fail or be unable to boot, requiring you to reinstall Windows. Edit the registry at your own risk. Always back up the registry before making any changes. If you do not feel comfortable editing the registry, do not attempt these instructions. Instead, seek the help of a computing support provider.

Windows Me

Use the Windows Registry Checker program (Scanreg.exe) to restore a copy of your previous registry in Windows Me. After you restore the registry, you may need to reinstall some programs. To restore the registry, follow the steps below:

  1. Boot your computer from a Windows Me startup disk. For more information, see the Knowledge Base document ARCHIVED: In Windows 95, 98, or Me, how do I make a startup (system recovery) disk?
  2. At the startup menu, press Shift-F5 for a command prompt.
  3. At the A:\ prompt, enter C:.
  4. At the C:\ prompt, enter cd windows\command.
  5. At the C:\windows\command prompt, enter scanreg /restore.
  6. Click a registry entry that has the word "Started" next to the date, then press Enter.
  7. Press Enter again to restart your computer.

For additional information about the Windows Registry Checker program (Scanreg.exe), see article 183887 in Microsoft's knowledge base.

Windows 98

Use the Windows Registry Checker program (Scanreg.exe) to restore a copy of your previous registry in Windows 98. (After you restore the registry, you may need to reinstall some programs.) To restore the registry, follow the steps below:

  1. While pressing and holding Ctrl, restart your computer. Once the Windows 98 Startup screen appears, choose Safe Mode Command Prompt Only.
  2. At the command prompt, enter scanreg /restore.
  3. Click a registry entry that has the word "Started" next to the date, and then press Enter.
  4. Press Enter again to restart your computer.

For additional information about the Windows Registry Checker program (Scanreg.exe), see article 183887 in Microsoft's knowledge base.

Windows 95

Use either of the methods described below to restore the registry in Windows 95:

Using Regedit.exe to export and import the registry

Use the Registry Editor program (Regedit.exe) in the real-mode MS-DOS environment to export and import the registry files. For information about how to do this, see article 131352 in the Microsoft knowledge base. For information about backing up the registry, see article 132332 in the Microsoft knowledge base.

Renaming the registry files and reinstalling Windows

  1. Restart your computer. When you see the "Starting Windows 95" message, press F8. Then, from the Startup screen, choose Safe Mode Command Prompt Only.
  2. At the command prompt, type the following lines, pressing Enter after each line: 
      attrib -r -s -h system.1st
  ren system.1st system.ba0
  cd windows
  attrib -r -s -h system.dat
  attrib -r -s -h system.dao
  attrib -r -s -h user.dat
  attrib -r -s -h user.dao
  rename system.dat system.ba0
  rename system.dao system.ba1
  rename user.dat user.ba0
  rename user.dao user.ba1
  3. Restart the computer. You may need to run the Windows setup program again.

An easy way to back up the registry before you do any editing is to copy the user.dat and system.dat files mentioned above. If the computer doesn't boot normally, boot with a bootable floppy, switch to the C:\Windows directory, and rename system.ba0 and user.ba0 to system.dat and user.dat, respectively.

This is document aifl in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 12:42:25.