Both R2 and Steve Y were extremely helpful in getting my registry settings back. Now i wish to make a backup ASAP. I've done ERDs (W2K) but never just a reg. backup. In the Tools provided by MS, there is a backup wizard. Of the 3 options listed in the screenshot, which one do I need?

I remember doing reg. backup in Win98 one time and I typed "scanregw". Does W2K have a similar command or does it work the same. I guess I could use the wizard but i'm not exactly sure it's what I need to do. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

There is no such command in Windows 2000/XP, the ERD has a copy of the registry, if you make a backup of the System State a copy of the Registry the COM+ database and the boot files are backed up also (it will take a lot more space but if you have where to back it up. it is a good idea to have a copy)

Run->Regedit, select My Computer, then File->Export. That will create a .reg file with all your stuff. Later you can Import it. But note, Import merges, doesn't overwrite.

You can backup part of the registry with that method, but that will not backup any encrypted part of the registry or hidden parts of it which are only readible in interactive mode.

Take a look at a couple of third party programs. One is called WinRescue 2000 and the other one is called Erunt.