To export all or part of the registry to a text file

1. Open Registry Editor
2. On the File menu, click Export.
3. In File name, enter a name for the registry file.
4. Under Export range, do one of the following:
• To back up (export) the entire registry, click All.
• To back up (export) only a particular branch of the registry tree, click Selected branch and enter the name of the branch you want to export.
5. Click Save. The file extension for the saved file will be '.reg'

Caution
• Working with the registry is not dangerous as long as you don't edit (modify) the keys
• Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer.
• To open Registry Editor, click Start, click Run, type , and then click OK.
• You can use a text editor like Notepad to work with the registry files you create by exporting.
• You can save registry files in the Windows format, in the format used in Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0, as binary hive files, or as text files. Registry files are saved with .reg extensions, and text files are saved with .txt extensions.
• In Windows Explorer, double-clicking a file with the .reg extension imports the file into the computer's registry.