Editing the Windows registry is one of those tasks where you absolutely want a working safety net before you start. Whether you’re testing a new Intune-deployed remediation script, debugging a legacy app, or rolling back a vendor-installed mess, a clean registry backup and restore workflow turns “this might wreck the device” into “I have a 30-second undo button”. This post walks through the approach I use on every test device and ship as part of any Intune remediation that touches HKLM/HKCU — including a PowerShell-based snapshot that captures specific keys, ships the export to OneDrive, and verifies the restore worked.
When I try something out or develop something new I don’t always do this in a VM, I use directly my productive system (I wouldn’t recommend it but I do it anyway). But changes in the registry can bring the PC into such a state that you have to set it up again. To avoid this, in this blog I look at a way to create a backup of the registry that can be restored at a later date.
What is the Windows Registry
The Windows Registry (RegEdit) is a storage that stores settings for the Windows OS as well as for apps. The Registry is a hierarchical database. The registry holds configuration used by services, kernel, device drivers, and others.
Create a backup
- Open the Registry Editor via Start menu or Run and insert regedit
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- Click File -> Export
- Enter a file name and click Save to back up the registry in the selected location.
Restore from a backup
- Open the Registry Editor via Start menu or Run and insert regedit
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- Click File -> Import
- Select the Backup and click Open
- Wait until the Import is done
When you get this message, click OK, open RegEdit as Admin, and make sure that all applications are closed. Start a new import attempt.
- When the import was successful, restart the device.
Conclusion
Especially when you want to try something on a system, it is sometimes good to have a backup of the registry to jump back to the previous state. It is really easy and fast to create such a backup and restore it.
Stay healthy, Cheers
Jannik