What is a Windows Registry

Posted Date: 14-Jun-2010		Category: Performance & Optimization
Author: Raghav	Member Level: Gold
Rating:	Points: 20 (Rs 20)

The Windows Registry is a database used to store settings and options for the Windows Operating systems. In this article, you can find more information about Windows Registry.

What is Windows Registry

The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database which is used for storing the configuration settings and options of the Microsoft Windows Operating Systems.

The Windows Registry database contains the details of the settings for all the hardware, software, users and other preferences. Whenever a user makes some changes in control panel settings, or system policies or install a new software or uninstall a old software, every thing is reflected and stored in the registry.

The Windows Registry was first introduced with Windows 3.1. The primary purpose of Windows Registry when it was first introduced was to store configuration information for COM based components.

Keys and Values of Windows Registry

The Windows Registry has two basic elements. They are called as Keys and Values. The Windows Registry keys. are similar to folders. Each key can contain sub keys which in turn may contain further sub keys and so on. The keys are referenced with a syntax similar to the Windows' path names by using back slashes to indicate the hierarchy.

There are six Root Keys in Windows Registry:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

HKEY_CURRENT_USER

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

HKEY_USERS

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG

HKEY_DYN_DATA

The Registry values are the name or data pairs stored within the registry keys. The value names can also contain backslashes but it will be difficult to distinguish them from their key paths.

Hives in Windows Registry

The Windows Registry. is split into a number of logical sections called as hives. The hives in Windows Registry are generally named after their Windows API definitions, which all begin with "HKEY". They are abbreviated to a three or four letter short names starting with "HK". ( For ex. HKCU, HKLM).

The Windows Registry can be edited manually by running the program regedit.exe or regedit32.exe. But you should be very careful while editing Windows Registry. An irreversible damage can be caused by careless editing. So it is advisable to have a back up of the registry before editing it manually.

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