Backing up and Restoring Windows NT/2000/XP/ Server 2003 Registries Manually

Backing up and Restoring Windows NT/2000/XP/ Server 2003 Registries Manually If the boot partition of Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003 is formatted using the FAT file system
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Backing up and Restoring Windows NT/2000/XP/ Server 2003 Registries ManuallyBacking up and Restoring Windows NT/2000/XP/ Server 2003 Registries ManuallyIf the boot partition of Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003 is formatted using the FATfile system, you can easily back up the system registry manually by booting the computerunder an alternative operating system (for example, MS DOS or Windows 9x/ME) oreven using the boot diskette. When this is done, you will be able to copy registry-hivefiles to the backup media using any method of copying (for example, you may use bothWindows Explorer and the command line).If the Windows NT/2000/XP or Windows Server 2003 boot partition uses NTFS, youmay have some difficulties using this method of backing up the registry (however,contrary to information provided in some sources, this isnt always the case). You maysometimes need to format the Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003 boot partition usingNTFS (this may be required by the security rules adopted by your company or by certainsoftware products, which need to be installed on NTFS partitions). However, you maywish to continue using a manual method of backing up the registry. The simplest methodof avoiding any possible problems is a parallel installation of the operating system.Microsoft officially recommends this method of improving system reliability. This tipcan be found in both the Resource Kit documentation and in Microsoft Knowledge Basearticles. If you follow this recommendation, though, youll need to consider thecompatibility aspects of NTFS 4 and NTFS 5. You can also use shareware or freewareNTFS drivers, which can be downloaded from the Internet).To back up Windows NT/2000/XP/Server 2003 registry manually, copy the filescontained in the %SystemRoot%System32Config folder to the backup media. Note thatyou need to use backup media of sufficient capacity, since the contents of this folderalmost certainly wont fit on a 1.44 MB diskette.Selection of removable storage media for transporting your files (for systemadministrators and technical-support personnel these, most probably, will includerecovery tools, drivers, system updates, diagnostic utilities and, certainly, backup files,such as registry backups) is very important. Till recently, ZIP disks and CD-Rs were usedfor this purpose. Over the past few years, however, newer and better media have becomemore and more popular. If you need a portable toolkit for emergency situations, suchthings as external USB card readers, Flash Memory cards, and, above all, USB Flashdrives, will be invaluable. Such devices can hold up to 1 GB of data, are very portable,extremely light weight, and compatible with any PC equipped with a USB port. Just stickthe flash drive into the USB port of your PC running Windows 2000/XP or WindowsServer 2003 and Windows Plug and Play will immediately see it as an additional drive(more information on this topic will be provided in Chapter 5). Then copy the files youneed to take with you, unplug the device from the PC, and youre ready to go. Flashdrives hold more data than a floppy disk, are more portable than ZIP drives and otherremote-storage devices, and are more convenient (and less fragile) than CD-RW disks. Inshort, USB Flash Drives may just be the perfect removable storage medium.Note Unfortunately, the small size and large storage capacity of such devices, apart from the advantages that they bring, can also make them dangerous. In order to install such a device in Windows 2000/XP or Windows Server 2003, it isnt necessary for the user to belong to the Administrators group. For example, during the installation of portable USB drives the user can bypass entirely administrative safeguards against worms and viruses, unauthorized software such as shareware programs, software pranks, MP3 files, video clips, spyware or keystroke loggers that can enable users to capture passwords or other sensitive information. Another threat created by such devices is that of theft or loss of software and confidential data. Unless you disable all of the USB ports in your environment, they are impossible to defend against. Protective measures that you can take to safeguard your corporate network against these threats will be considered in Chapter 9.The files that need to be copied from the %SystemRoot%System32Config folder arelisted below:Appevent.evt Secevent.evt Sysevent.evtDefault Security SystemDefault.log Security.log System.alt[*]Default.sav Software System.logSam Software.log System.savSam.log Software.sav Userdiff[*] This file was eliminated in Windows X ...