Windows registry is a complex database that enables software and hardware to store settings and preferences. We should take the backup of the registry before making any changes in the registry values. Registry backup avoids the improper function of certain programs. Registry backup can be done by the following two ways :–

Method 1 :–

1. Click on “Run” tab

2. Type “regedit” in the “Run” box and press “Enter” key.

3. There you will find all the registry entries and then click on “File” tab.

4. Click on the “Export” option and the save registry to desired location

Method 2 :–

1. Click on “Start” and then click on “Run”, type %SystemRoot%System32RestoreRstrui.exe, and then click “OK” tab.

2. Now, you will find “System Restore” page, click on “Restore my computer to an earlier time” (if it is not already selected), and then click on “Next” tab.

3. On the “Select a Restore Point” page, click the system checkpoint.

4. On the Confirm Restore Point Selection page and click on “Next” tab. System Restore restores the

previous Windows XP configuration and then restarts the computer.

5. Log on to the computer. When the System Restore confirmation page appears, click on “OK” tab.

Now, we will discuss about the methods to repair the Windows registry and error messages that generally appear during corrupted registry values. When we try to restart the Windows XP based computer then we may receive one of the following error messages :–

1. Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: WINDOWSSYSTEM32CONFIGSYSTEM

2. Windows XP could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: WINDOWSSYSTEM32CONFIGSOFTWARE

3. Stop: c0000218 {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): SystemRootSystem32ConfigSOFTWARE or its log or alternate

4. System error: Lsass.exe

When trying to update a password the return status indicates that the value provided as the current password is not correct.

Windows registry repair  generally includes three methods and the one of them is the following :–

We need to insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive and then restart the computer.
Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.

1. When the “Welcome to Setup” screen appears, press “R” key to start the Recovery Console.

2. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.

3. When you are prompted to do so then type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press “ENTER” key.

4. At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines, pressing ENTER after you type each line:

md tmp
copy c:windowssystem32configsystem c:windowstmpsystem.bak
copy c:windowssystem32configsoftware c:windowstmpsoftware.bak
copy c:windowssystem32configsam c:windowstmpsam.bak
copy c:windowssystem32configsecurity c:windowstmpsecurity.bak
copy c:windowssystem32configdefault c:windowstmpdefault.bak
delete c:windowssystem32configsystem
delete c:windowssystem32configsoftware
delete c:windowssystem32configsam
delete c:windowssystem32configsecurity
delete c:windowssystem32configdefault
copy c:windowsrepairsystem c:windowssystem32configsystem
copy c:windowsrepairsoftware c:windowssystem32configsoftware
copy c:windowsrepairsam c:windowssystem32configsam
copy c:windowsrepairsecurity c:windowssystem32configsecurity
copy c:windowsrepairdefault c:windowssystem32configdefault

5. Type exit to quit Recovery Console. Your computer will restart.

This procedure assumes that Windows XP is installed to the C:Windows folder. Make sure to change C:Windows to the appropriate windows_folder if it is a different location. For the further Windows registry repair methods, we should go through the Microsoft KB article on “http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545″. This KB article will explain the remaining methods in brief.

By all the above discussion, We can conclude that Microsoft provides good KB articles to repair the Windows registry repair and very helpful to get important information on registry. Windows registry repair can help you to resolve many problems and errors that are caused by corrupted registry or registry with invalid entries.