Microsoft disabled registry backup feature to save storage space

Windows 10’s automatic registry backup feature has been disabled by default since version 1803 to save storage space. That writes Microsoft in a support message. Users can still enable the feature themselves.

Registry backups allow users to restore an older version of the registry when the registry gets corrupted. However, last October, Ghacks noticed that the feature stopped working. The site thought it was a bug at the time, leaving the RegBack folder empty, even though Task Scheduler said it successfully performed a backup.

Now Microsoft says in a support message that this is not a bug, but that it works as it should. Since version 1803, which came out last April, Windows 10 no longer automatically backs up the registry to the RegBack folder. When users navigate to the folder, according to Microsoft, they will see backup files. However, these all have a size of 0KB. Microsoft emphasizes that this is how it should be and that the company has done this to reduce the storage space that Windows takes up.

According to Microsoft, users can re-enable the feature themselves. To do this, they must navigate to HLKMSystemCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerConfiguration Manager through the Registry Editor. Here users have to create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value, name it EnablePeriodicBackup and pass a value of 1. After restarting the computer, the registry backups should be created again.

It is not clear why Microsoft did not disclose the reason for the disablement until more than a year after the feature was disabled. Users who are faced with a corrupt registry and no longer have a backup due to this decision by Microsoft are recommended to use a system restore point.