ARCHIVED: In Windows, what is the registry?
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Introduction
The Windows registry is the database most Windows-based operating systems use to keep track of the settings for the operating system and all installed programs.
Registry files
Windows NT-based operating systems (e.g., Vista and
XP) store most registry information in files called
"hives". Hives are stored permanently on the hard drive and are not
necessarily the same from one computer to another. Only administrators
can access hives or delegate the rights to access them. Hives for the
"Machine" keys are typically found in the
\System32\Config\
directory within the Windows directory,
which is on the drive where Windows is installed. For example, if your
computer has Windows Vista or Windows XP installed on drive
C:
, the hives will be in:
C:\Windows\System32\Config
Hives for the "User" keys are found in the Documents and
Settings
folder, also on the drive where Windows was
installed. The various User hives are scattered throughout different
subfolders in the Documents and Settings
folder (some in
LocalService
, some in the actual user folder, etc.).
For a definitive list of where your Windows computer stores its registry hives, open the Registry Editor and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\hivelist
You will see a list of keys indicating the location of each specific hive. For example, for the Machine Security entries, you'll see something like:
\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SECURITY REG_SZ \Device\HarddiskVolume1\Windows\system32\config\SECURITY
The text of the above example refers to
C:\Windows\system32\config\SECURITY
(or
D:\Windows...
etc., if Windows is installed
on the D:
drive).
All hive file locations for your computer will appear in the above list.
Editing the registry
In all versions of Windows, you can edit the registry from a command
prompt by entering regedit
.
This is document aeof in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 12:14:36.