Open registry by typing regedit in Run and hitting enter
Navigate to this key
2005 version
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQLServer
2008 version
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQLServer
and then in the right side check for the entry “BackupDirectory”
Double click it and change the default path to whatever desired.
You can verify whether the path is changed, by running the below statements in the Query window
2005 version
DECLARE @BackupDirectory VARCHAR(100)
EXEC master..xp_regread @rootkey=’HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’,
@key=’SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQLServer’,
@value_name=’BackupDirectory’,
@BackupDirectory=@BackupDirectory OUTPUT
SELECT @BackupDirectory
2008 version
DECLARE @BackupDirectory VARCHAR(100)
EXEC master..xp_regread @rootkey=’HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’,
@key=’SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQLServer’,
@value_name=’BackupDirectory’,
@BackupDirectory=@BackupDirectory OUTPUT
SELECT @BackupDirectory
And if we want to revert back the changes made to the default path, then run the following statement
version 2005
EXEC master..xp_regwrite
@rootkey=’HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’,
@key=’SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQLServer’,
@value_name=’BackupDirectory’,
@type=’REG_SZ’,
@value=’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Backup’
version 2008
EXEC master..xp_regwrite
@rootkey=’HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE’,
@key=’SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQLServer’,
@value_name=’BackupDirectory’,
@type=’REG_SZ’,
@value=’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Backup’
Thanks,
Sudhir