Repair Disk Utility Does Not Update SAM and Security Hives

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This article was previously published under Q126464

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SYMPTOMS

When you restore the SAM and Security hives from an updated Emergency Repair Disk, the versions that were saved when you installed Windows NT are restored.

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CAUSE

Repair Disk Utility (RDISK.EXE) does not save the Windows NT Registry SAM and Security hives.

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WORKAROUND

To avoid losing information in the future, use one of the following methods:

Use Windows NT Backup (NTBACKUP.EXE) and select the option to backup the Registry.

NOTE: Using NTBackup is the only supported method for creating a backup of your system registry.

-or-
Back up the Sam.* and Security.* files in the %Systemroot%\System32\Config directory.

-or-
Use Regback.exe from the correct version of the Windows NT Resource Kit for the version of NT being used.

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Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT Workstation and Server versions 3.51 and 4.0. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

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