Windows Registry is the database used to store configurations, settings and options for Microsoft Windows systems. The database has a hierarchical structure.
The entire settings for low-level operating system components along with applications operable on that operating system are contained in the registry. It finds application in the kernels, SAM, device drivers, services, third party applications and user interface.
To boost computers performance, the registry also gives a method to use counters.
At the time registry was first coupled with Windows 3.1, its main aim was to store information on configuration of components based on COM.
But the use of Windows Registry extended with the launch of Windows NT and Windows 95. It included a large number of per-program INI files wherein configuration settings for Windows had been stored.
The Registry database has two essentials: keys and values.
Registry Values refer to the pairs of name/data stored within the keys.
The Windows API functions, querying and manipulating values of registry, get value names in a different way from the key path. They may also use handle which identify the parent key.
Although, the term is a little bit confusing, with values resembling associative arrays, wherein standard definition suggests that a key is the name portion of value.
These terms are an archive from 16-bit registry in Windows
The biggest advantage of Registry in Microsoft Windows is that it can be edited manually with the help of regedit.exe or regedt32.exe in the Windows directory.
However, sloppy registry editing can lead to a slow computer or losses that cant be reversed. So, performing registry backups must be the priority, and the same has been advised by the software giant Microsoft and various other professionals, authors and editors of business magazines.
A direct implementation of the current registry tool was seen in Windows 3.x, known as the “Registration Editor” or “Registration Info Editor”.
Typically, it was merely a database of applications that are used to edit OLE objects embedded in documents.
Here is the test of alertness as there are a lot of distinctions between the two editors available on these operating systems.
For the first time, the two programs were merged into one by Windows XP, which adopted the traditional REGEDIT.EXE as interface and added to it the functionality of REGEDT32.EXE.
These editors do not show such differences on Windows XP and newer systems. For instance – REGEDIT.EXE is the more refined and sophisticated editor, while REGEDT32.EXE is only a stub that invokes REGEDIT.EXE.
The Registry Editor permits users to carry out functions that follow:
- Loading, manipulating and unloading registry hive format files (Windows NT-based systems only)
- Setting permissions based on ACLs (Windows NT-based systems only)
- Bookmarking user-selected registry keys as Favorites
- Finding particular strings in key names, value names and value data
- Remotely editing the registry on another networked computer
Linux platform too allows for editing the registry with the assistance of an open source tool called Offline NT Password & Registry Editor.