How to Backup Program Compatibility Settings

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

Starting with Windows XP, Microsoft added a new feature, Compatibility mode, which may allow you to run older programs made for older versions of Windows. On Windows Vista and 7, this also includes the setting to Run this program as an Administrator. I've configured quite a few programs with compatibility settings, and in case I ever had to reinstall Windows, I didn't want to reconfigure all of these manually. So I figured out where these settings are stored and how to back them up.

If you don't need any further guidance and just want to know where the settings are stored, they're stored under this registry key.

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

HKCU is short for HKEY_CURRENT_USER

You can save that registry key to a .reg file by running this command from a command prompt.

reg EXPORT "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers" compinfo.reg

You may rename the file, compinfo.reg, to whatever you like. Be sure to include the quote " " marks.

Windows 7 (and maybe Vista) have an optional /y switch to overwrite the file if it already exists. Windows XP does not.

You can create a batch file to do this for you. I wrote a simple batch file which will keep two backup files. Copy and paste this text into notepad, and save it as a *.bat file. Be sure to save the batch file where you want the backup files to be stored.

@echo off

rem Delete old file if it exists

if EXIST compinfo.reg.old (

del compinfo.reg.old

)

rem Backup current file if it exists

if EXIST compinfo.reg (

rename compinfo.reg compinfo.reg.old

)

rem Backup compatiblity information in registry

reg EXPORT "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers" compinfo.reg

Task Scheduler

The last step, if you so wish, you can automate the backup process using Task Scheduler.

Open Task Scheduler by opening Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Task Scheduler.

Choose a folder under Task Scheduler Library. Right click in an empty space to the right and choose Create Basic Task...

Type in a name for the task, and optionally a description, and click next.

Choose your own time settings, how often you want it to run the backup.

When choosing an action, leave it set to Start a Program

Preferably, you saved the command to a *.bat file. Set the path of the batch file (click Browse...) and then click Next.

Click Finish. From here on, your compatibility settings should be backed up automatically.

Restore Compatibility Settings

This is easy enough. To restore your compatibility settings, double click the backup registry file. When you see the popup, just click Yes.

[toprngr]

This is one of the solutions that offer window vista users a way out for programs that they are not able to run due to the software that they intended to run is quite old in age. In fact, this is one way out for those that wanted to play old games or software on computers that are running on windows vista. But for some reason, only a certain games worked, not all have successful outcome.

[MS Bob 11]

Or use the Compatibility Administrator in Application Compatibility Toolkit.