The Windows Registry is a directory which stores settings and options for the operating system for Microsoft Windows. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, operating system software, most non-operating system software, users, preferences of the PC, etc. This post talks of Windows Registry Basics.

1. So, let’s start our tutorial about the basics of windows registry editor. The command prompt is a Registry Editor alternative. So you can imagine the importance of this tool. Whenever you need to tweak up some components of the Window, you must have to make changes in the Registry.
2. The Windows Registry is a special place where Windows stores configuration settings for device drivers, applications, system services, the Windows Desktop and the user interface. The settings are stored in a tree-structured database across several files that are hidden from the user.

Windows Registry Tutorial. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. Whenever a user makes changes to a Control Panel settings, or File Associations, System Policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the Registry.

Whenever a user makes changes to Control Panel settings, file associations, system policies, or most installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the registry. The registry also provides a window into the operation of the kernel, exposing runtime information such as performance counters and currently active hardware.

The Windows registry was introduced to tidy up the profusion of per-program INI files that had previously been used to store configuration settings for Windows programs. These files tended to be scattered all over the system, which made them difficult to track.

Windows Registry Basics

The Registry consists of the following 5Root Keys:

• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
• HKEY_USERS
• HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG.

Root Keys contain SubKeys. Subkeys may contain subkeys of their own too and contain at least one value, called as its Default Value. A key with all its subkeys and values is called as a Hive.

The Registry is located on the Disk in the system32/config folder as several separate Hive files. These Hive files are then read into memory every time Windows starts or when the User logs on. To see where the Hives are physically stored, see:

You can read more on the location of Windows registry files.

The Registry uses the following data types:

• REG_SZ : The SZ indicates zero-terminated string. This is a variable-length string that can contain Unicode as well as ANSI characters.
• REG_BINARY : It contains binary data. 0’s & 1’s.
• REG_DWORD : This data type is a Double Word. It is a 32-bit numeric value and can hold any number from 0 to 232.
• REG_QWORD : This data type is a Quadruple Word. It is a 64-bit numeric value.
• REG_MULTI_SZ : This data type contains a group of zero-terminated strings assigned to a single value.
• REG_EXPAND_SZ : This data type is a zero-terminated string containing an unexpanded reference to an environment variable, like say, %SystemRoot%.

Registry Virtualization in Windows Vista onwards

Starting with Windows Vista, along with File Virtualization, the Registry too, has been Virtualized, and hence unlike Windows XP, does not tend to suffer from bloat. The same has been continued in Windows 7.

In Windows Vista and later, the UAC utilizes the Registry Virtualization Feature, to redirect attempts to write to subkeys of

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftware

When an application attempts to write to this hive, Vista instead, writes it, to a per-user location,

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTVirtualStoreMachineSoftware

This is done discreetly. No one gets to know that this is happening!

This is, in short, Registry Virtualization, and it is a useful Security feature.

Incidentally, mention must also be made of another new technology underlying Windows Vista and later: The Kernel Transaction Manager, which enables the Transactional Registry. This feature enables a sort of a registry rollback. But it’s not implemented in Registry Editor. Instead, this feature is designed for use by developers who need to create robust applications using transactional processing.

Read:How to create a Registry Key in Windows.

Registry Editor

The primary tool in Windows 10/8/7/Vista for working directly with the registry is Registry Editor. To access it, simply type regedit in Vista’s Start Menu Search Bar and hit Enter!

You have to be doubly careful when working with the Registry, as there is no confirmation prompt or a click OK to save prompt. Changes made are directly incorporated.

You can read more about Windows Registry Editor Tips & Features. Users of Windows 10 v1703 can use the Address Bar to jump directly to any registry key.

Mention must specifically be made of the

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSet

hive as the keys in this particular are so essential for Windows to start-up, that its backup is maintained, which you can restore when necessary, simply by booting in Safe Mode and selecting Last Known Good Configuration.

To begin with, you might want to read this post on Start Menu and TaskBar Registry Tweaks. You can check out more articles on Windows Registry and go here to find out how to backup and restore the registry and how to monitor changes to the Registry. Learn how to open multiple instances of the Registry.

Post ported from WinVistaClub.com and updated and posted here.

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The Windows Registry usually referred to as just the registry, is a collection of databases of configuration settings in Microsoft Windows operating systems.

The Windows Registry is sometimes incorrectly spelled as the registery or the regestry.

What Is the Windows Registry Used For?

The Windows Registry is used to store much of the information and settings for software programs, hardware devices, user preferences, operating system configurations, and much more.

For example, when a new program is installed, a new set of instructions and file references may be added to the registry in a specific location for the program, and others that may interact with it, to refer to for more information like where the files are located, which options to use in the program, etc.

In many ways, the registry can be thought of as a kind of DNA for the Windows operating system.

It's not necessary for all Windows applications to utilize the Windows Registry. There are some programs that store their configurations in XML files instead of the registry, and others that are entirely portable and store their data in an executable file.

How to Access the Windows Registry

The Windows Registry is accessed and configured using the Registry Editor program, a free registry editing utility included by default with every version of Microsoft Windows.

Registry Editor isn't a program you download. Instead, it can be accessed by executing regedit from the Command Prompt or from the search or Run box from the Start menu. See How to Open Registry Editor if you need help.

Registry Editor is the face of the registry and is the way to view and make changes to the registry, but it's not the registry itself. Technically, the registry is the collective name for various database files located in the Windows installation directory.

How to Use the Windows Registry

Windows Registry Tutorial Xp

The registry contains registry values (which are instructions), located within registry keys (folders that contain more data), all within one of several registry hives ('main' folders that categorize all the data in the registry using subfolders). Making changes to these values and keys using Registry Editor will change the configuration that a particular value controls.

See How to Add, Change, & Delete Registry Keys & Values for lots of help on the best ways to make edits to the Windows Registry.

Here a few examples where making changes to registry values solves a problem, answers a question, or alters a program in some way:

The registry is constantly being referenced by Windows and other programs. When you make changes to nearly any setting, changes are also made to the appropriate areas in the registry, though these changes are sometimes not realized until you reboot the computer.

Considering how important the Windows Registry is, backing up the parts of it you're changing, before you change them, is very important. Windows Registry backup files are saved as REG files.

See How to Back up the Windows Registry for help doing that. Additionally, just in case you need it, here's our How to Restore the Windows Registry tutorial, which explains how to import REG files back into the Registry Editor.

Windows Registry Availability

The Windows Registry and the Microsoft Registry Editor program are available in nearly every Microsoft Windows version including Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 95, and more.

Even though the registry is available in almost every Windows version, some very small differences do exist between them.

The Windows Registry has replaced autoexec.bat, config.sys, and nearly all of the INI files that contained configuration information in MS-DOS and in very early versions of Windows.

Where Is the Windows Registry Stored?

The SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE, SYSTEM, and DEFAULT registry files, among others, are stored in newer versions of Windows (like Windows XP through Windows 10) in the %SystemRoot%System32Config folder.

Older versions of Windows use the %WINDIR% folder to store registry data as DAT files. Windows 3.11 uses only one registry file for the entire Windows Registry, called REG.DAT.

Windows Registry Complete Tutorial Pdf

Windows 2000 keeps a backup copy of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE System key that it can use in the event of a problem with the existing one.