How can I restore the Time Machine exclusion list from a Time Machine backup?
Open that plist from your previous install and look for "SkipPaths". Under that key you should find the exclusion paths you had set on your previous install.

For example from my own it looks like this:

&lt;key&gt;SkipPaths&lt;/key&gt;
&lt;array&gt;
    &lt;string&gt;~alistair/Documents/Virtual Machines&lt;/string&gt;
    &lt;string&gt;~alistair/Downloads&lt;/string&gt;
&lt;/array&gt;


That would at least tell you which paths you had excluded before so you could re-add them through the Time Machine preferences pane in System Preferences.