Can you tell me how to backup my user profile?


Firas

Firas

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Windows 11 pro
I encounter two problems: firstly, I perform a significant amount of system restore backups, and occasionally they work properly.
Upon restarting and selecting System Restore in Windows Startup Settings, it displays the message 'Can't find'.
Also when I try to do Windows Recovery Environment

I am interested in backing up my user profile, which is the second issue
Due to this being my first attempt to back up, I always rely on my backup clone.
I'm looking at two options, one with 1.47MB and the other with 21.6GB. Which one should I back up?

xTB7O6Jw7j.png
 
Windows Build/Version
22621.2283

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
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    Asus
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10700K CPU @ 3.80GHz
    Motherboard
    PRIME Z490-A
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    32.0 GB DDR4
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When you use backup software to make a full backup of Windows... you are also backing up your profile.


Also... just saw this article...
arstechnica.com

Next major Windows update is available September 26, with new AI (and not-AI) features

Passkeys, Paint, Backup, and other app updates make this a significant release.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com

The last sentence was interesting to say the least... (the bolded part)

Built-in support for RAR and other types of compressed files should also be included, in addition to a new Windows Backup utility that allows "apps and personalized settings" to be saved and restored to a new PC or a PC with a fresh version of Windows installed.
Click to expand...
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦22631.3527 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® [May 2020]
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard
    Asus Pro WS X570-ACE (BIOS 4702)
    Memory
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    EVGA RTX 2070 (08G-P4-2171-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC1220P / ALC S1220A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U3011 30"
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB,
    WD 4TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    WD 8TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    DRW-24B1ST CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower
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    CM Hyper 212 EVO (push/pull)
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    Ducky DK9008 Shine II Blue LED
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    300/300
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    Firefox (latest)
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    Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 2.1
  • Operating System
    Windows XP Pro 32bit w/SP3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® (not in use)
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (OC'd @ 3.2Ghz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
    Memory
    TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX (2 x 1GB, DDR2 800)
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SSC
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" Professional (CRT)
    Screen Resolution
    up to 2048 x 1536
    Hard Drives
    WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA
    Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA
    Lite-On LTR-52246S CD/RW
    Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Generic Beige case, 80mm fans
    Cooling
    ZALMAN 9500A 92mm CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-BT96a
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keybooard 200
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox 3.x ??
    Antivirus
    Symantec (Norton)
    Other Info
    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 13 years?

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10700K CPU @ 3.80GHz
    Motherboard
    PRIME Z490-A
    Memory
    32.0 GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon RX 580 Series
    Sound Card
    AMD High-Definition Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC Q32G1WG4
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    PSU
    750
    Cooling
    Air
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 RGB
    Mouse
    G502 Hero
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
@

Ghot​

How is Life? What are you upto :coffee:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10700K CPU @ 3.80GHz
    Motherboard
    PRIME Z490-A
    Memory
    32.0 GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon RX 580 Series
    Sound Card
    AMD High-Definition Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC Q32G1WG4
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    PSU
    750
    Cooling
    Air
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 RGB
    Mouse
    G502 Hero
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
Ghot said:
When you use backup software to make a full backup of Windows... you are also backing up your profile.


Also... just saw this article...
arstechnica.com

Next major Windows update is available September 26, with new AI (and not-AI) features

Passkeys, Paint, Backup, and other app updates make this a significant release.
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com

The last sentence was interesting to say the least... (the bolded part)
Click to expand...
:alien:

www.elevenforum.com

Windows 11 version 22H2 Feature Update available September 26, 2023

UPDATE 9/26: https://www.elevenforum.com/t/kb5030310-windows-11-cumulative-update-preview-build-22621-2361-22h2.18272/ https://www.elevenforum.com/t/kb5030509-windows-11-22h2-configuration-update-september-26-2023.18283/ During the Microsoft Special Event, Microsoft announced Windows 11 version...
www.elevenforum.com www.elevenforum.com

For Windows Backup app:
www.elevenforum.com

Turn On or Off Remember Apps for Microsoft Account Across Windows 11 Devices Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Remember my apps for your Microsoft account across all your Windows 11 devices you sign in with the same Microsoft account. When Windows backup is turned on, Windows backs up the settings you choose across all your Windows 10 and Windows 11...
www.elevenforum.com www.elevenforum.com
www.elevenforum.com

Turn On or Off Remember Preferences for MSA Across Windows 11 Devices Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off Remember my preferences for your Microsoft account (MSA) across all your Windows 11 devices you sign in with the same Microsoft account. When Windows backup is turned on, Windows backs up the settings you choose across all your Windows 10 and...
www.elevenforum.com www.elevenforum.com
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
@Brink


Color me skeptical. Folks have been asking for a way to export settings and apps for decades.
I'll believe it when I see it. :-)
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win 11 Home ♦♦♦22631.3527 ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® [May 2020]
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
    Motherboard
    Asus Pro WS X570-ACE (BIOS 4702)
    Memory
    G.Skill (F4-3200C14D-16GTZKW)
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA RTX 2070 (08G-P4-2171-KR)
    Sound Card
    Realtek ALC1220P / ALC S1220A
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell U3011 30"
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1600
    Hard Drives
    2x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB,
    WD 4TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    WD 8TB Black FZBX - SATA III,
    DRW-24B1ST CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower
    Cooling
    CM Hyper 212 EVO (push/pull)
    Keyboard
    Ducky DK9008 Shine II Blue LED
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-100
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox (latest)
    Antivirus
    Bitdefender Internet Security
    Other Info
    Speakers: Klipsch Pro Media 2.1
  • Operating System
    Windows XP Pro 32bit w/SP3
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Built by Ghot® (not in use)
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (OC'd @ 3.2Ghz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition
    Memory
    TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX (2 x 1GB, DDR2 800)
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA 256-P2-N758-TR GeForce 8600GT SSC
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" Professional (CRT)
    Screen Resolution
    up to 2048 x 1536
    Hard Drives
    WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA
    Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA
    Lite-On LTR-52246S CD/RW
    Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD Burner
    PSU
    PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad EPS12V
    Case
    Generic Beige case, 80mm fans
    Cooling
    ZALMAN 9500A 92mm CPU Cooler
    Mouse
    Logitech Optical M-BT96a
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keybooard 200
    Internet Speed
    300/300
    Browser
    Firefox 3.x ??
    Antivirus
    Symantec (Norton)
    Other Info
    Still assembled, still runs. Haven't turned it on for 13 years?
Firas said:
I'm looking at two options, one with 1.47MB and the other with 21.6GB. Which one should I back up?
Click to expand...
I can remember playing with that dialog unsuccessfully in Windows 10.
If I remember correctly, it did not allow backups of the user profile but did something else. [It does not currently have a Copy to ... button so I can't try doing anything to refresh my memory].
The 1.47MB entry looks too small to contain a user profile. The 21.6GB one looks too big.

I back up user profiles in two way:
1 For the currently logged-in user, I backup the Registry HKCU hive.
2 For other users, I copy the C:\Users\USERNAME\NTUser.dat file.
There were lots of discussions about registry backing up in TenForums. Here is one Registry Backups - my scheme - post #4 - TenForums
If I need to read a backed up Registry hive, I use NotePad++ (portable).
Downloads Notepad++ - portable link is in individual version pages
Notepad++ - ElevenForum
NotePad++ command line switches.png



All the best,
Denis
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 Build 22631.3447
Every now and then I will use regedit and Export the full Registry. It's about 900MB.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
Berton said:
Every now and then I will use regedit and Export the full Registry. It's about 900MB.
Click to expand...
I agree that Export has a place in a Registry backup scheme - along with Reg Save. I use Reg commands for convenience.
I do both Export & Save for every Registry hive and they zip down to a total of 130MB.
Try3 said:
1 I export each section to a .reg file [HKLM, HKCU, HKCR, HKU, HKCC] using Reg Export commands.
- This gives me a running set of readable files for use in investigating Registry changes that I might become interested in.

2 I save the major hives [HKLM - SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM; HKU - .DEFAULT; HKCU] using Reg Save commands.
- This could be useful in manually creating a 'restore to last known good configuration'.
- I would have to boot from my InstallUSB then use its command prompt to copy the files back into place.
Click to expand...
Taken from Registry Backups - my scheme - post #4 - TenForums


Denis
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 Build 22631.3447
Try3 said:
they zip down to a total of 130MB
Click to expand...
Right. Those 5 files called Hives that make up the Registry are actually text files and like other text files they do compress quite well.

Mine today:

1695326542545.png
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro RTM
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 3400
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 11th Gen. 2.40GHz
    Memory
    12GB
    Hard Drives
    256GB SSD NVMe
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro RTM x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Vostro 5890
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 10th Gen. 2.90GHz
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Onboard, no VGA, using a DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Dell
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD NVMe, 2TB WDC HDD
    Browser
    Firefox, Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender/Microsoft Security
Try3 said:
I can remember playing with that dialog unsuccessfully in Windows 10.
If I remember correctly, it did not allow backups of the user profile but did something else. [It does not currently have a Copy to ... button so I can't try doing anything to refresh my memory].
The 1.47MB entry looks too small to contain a user profile. The 21.6GB one looks too big.

I back up user profiles in two way:
1 For the currently logged-in user, I backup the Registry HKCU hive.
2 For other users, I copy the C:\Users\USERNAME\NTUser.dat file.
There were lots of discussions about registry backing up in TenForums. Here is one Registry Backups - my scheme - post #4 - TenForums
If I need to read a backed up Registry hive, I use NotePad++ (portable).
Downloads Notepad++ - portable link is in individual version pages
Notepad++ - ElevenForum
View attachment 71653



All the best,
Denis
Click to expand...
Denis Thank you
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10700K CPU @ 3.80GHz
    Motherboard
    PRIME Z490-A
    Memory
    32.0 GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon RX 580 Series
    Sound Card
    AMD High-Definition Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC Q32G1WG4
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    PSU
    750
    Cooling
    Air
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 RGB
    Mouse
    G502 Hero
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
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