Registry Data Structure

Before using the Registry Editor, you must first understand the data structure of the registry, such as the display mode of the Registry, primary key and subkey, and type of key-value item data.
Registry Display Mode

In Windows, the Registry uses the keyword and its key value to describe the logon items and their data. All keywords start with "HKEY. In fact, the "keyword" is a handle. This Convention allows system and application developers to use the API functions in the Registry for application development. Therefore, Windows provides several API functions to add, modify, query, and delete registry logon items when developing a for Windows application.

In the registry, keywords can be divided into two types: one is defined by the system, which is generally referred to as the "predefined keyword", and the other is defined by the application, the Login Items vary depending on the installed application software. In Windows, open the Registry Editor and you can see the keywords in the registry ,:

The Registry uses the "Root Key" at the top of the primary keyword. For example, HKEY_CURRENT_USERS in the registry is a root key, which is also displayed on the title bar.) And subkeys are used to manage various information, "Keyboard Layout" in is a primary key. After expansion, you can see the subkeys in it. All information in the registry is saved in various forms of "key-value item data". For example, the data of the key-value item Attributes is "REG_DWORD: 0 ". "REG_DWORD" indicates the Data Type of the key value, and "0" indicates the value assigned to the key value.

In the left-side window of the Registry, all data is organized in a tree structure using keys and subkeys, which is very similar to the directory structure in the resource manager, for example. Each key contains a specific set of information. The key name of each key is related to the information it contains. The registry appears in English, for example, 'controlpanel 'indicates some content in the Control Panel ).

If this key contains a subkey, a "+" sign appears on the left side of the registry editor window, indicating that there is still a lot of content in this folder. If the folder is opened by the user, the "+" number is changed to "-", which is the same as the method used by resource manager ,: