I am new to system administration. I have joined as a junior system administrator engineer in a small company in my area. While studying my senior work, he mentioned many things related to the Windows Registry, and in fact, he is using the Registry option to control most of the Windows 10 features in my office.
I would like to know more about the Windows Registry. What is the Windows Registry? Why is it more important in Windows 10? What happens if I mess up the Windows Registry? etc etc.,
Any clear explanation would be more helpful. Thanks for reading and hoping to get better answers
Thanks
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What is Windows Registry Key:
The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores low-level settings for the Microsoft Windows operating system and applications that opt to use it. The kernel, device drivers, services, Security Accounts Manager, and user interface can all use the registry. The registry also allows access to counters for profiling system performance.
In other words, the registry, or Windows Registry, contains information, settings, options, and other values for programs and hardware installed on all versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems. For example, when a program is installed, a new subkey containing settings such as a program’s location, its version, and how to start the program is added to the Windows Registry.
Why Registry Keys are very Important:
The registry is very important because it stores vital information about your Windows system and its configuration, as well as information about all application programs installed on your computer.
Your registry is changed whenever you add and remove software, change your settings, add new devices, or upgrade your system.
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A registry hive is a group of keys, subkeys, and values in the registry that has a set of supporting files that contain backups of its data. The supporting files for all hives except HKEY_CURRENT_USER are in the %SystemRoot%\System32\Config folder on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista. The supporting files for HKEY_CURRENT_USER are in the %SystemRoot%\Profiles\Username folder. The file name extensions of the files in these folders indicate the type of data that they contain. Also, the lack of an extension may sometimes indicate the type of data that they contain.
| Registry hive |
Supporting files |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM |
Sam, Sam.log, Sam.sav |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security |
Security, Security.log, Security.sav |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software |
Software, Software.log, Software.sav |
| HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System |
System, System.alt, System.log, System.sav |
| HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG |
System, System.alt, System.log, System.sav, Ntuser.dat, Ntuser.dat.log |
| HKEY_USERS\DEFAULT |
Default, Default.log, Default.sav |
|
|
In Windows 98, the registry files are named User.dat and System.dat. In Windows Millennium Edition, the registry files are named Classes.dat, User.dat, and System.dat.
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