Win2000 Registry Editor Overview

Windows Registry Overview

The Registry is a database in Windows that stores computer configuration information, including the settings of the running mode to be called during system running. Windows registry includes the following items: configuration files for each user, programs installed on the computer, document types that can be created for each program, attribute settings for folders and program icons, hardware in the system, and ports in use.

The Registry is organized by hierarchy and consists of items, subitems, configuration units, and value items. The registry includes the following items:
● HKEY_CURRENT_USER: root directory that contains the configuration information of the current logon user. User folders, screen colors, and control panel settings are stored here. This information is called a user configuration file.
● HKEY_USERS: contains the root directory of all user configuration files on the computer. HKEY_CURRENT_USER is the subitem of HKEY_USERS.
● HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE: contains the configuration information for this computer for any user.
● HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT: the subitem of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software. The information stored here ensures that when you use Windows Resource Manager to open a file, the corresponding file type will be opened using the correct application.
● HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG: contains the hardware configuration file used by the local computer during system startup.

You must use a dedicated editor to modify the Registry. This tool is provided in Windows. Microsoft provides a Registry Editor for multi-user systems in Win2000. This is what we will introduce.

Note: Generally, you do not need to modify the registry, because it includes all the configurations required for Windows Startup and running, incorrect settings will cause the application to run and system errors until the system crashes or cannot be started. If you need to edit the registry, you must back up the registry project in advance!

Registry Editor in Win2000

In Win2000, the system provides two registry editing tools, one from Win9x and the other from the new operating system. Here we will introduce the latter.

1. Program startup
Click the system start button and select the "run" command from the association menu to activate the relevant interface. Enter "regedt32" in the text box and press the Enter key to start the program, as shown in interface 1.

2. Add a new entry or subitem to the Registry.
If you need to add some system running settings to the system registry, and the information is not provided in *. reg format, you can only use the Registry Editor to complete the process. The specific steps are as follows:

Start the program. In the tree List window on the left of the program, select the item or subitem under which the new item will be added. Click "edit" in the menu bar of the program interface, and select the "add item" command from the associated drop-down menu. The page shown is displayed.

In the "item name" text box in the window shown in, enter the name of the new item to be added. For a specified category, you can set it based on your needs. Of course, you can also do this if you do not add it. Click OK to return to the program interface.

If you need to add new content to the main item of HKEY_USERS or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, the method is different. In this case, the "add item" command in the "edit" menu is not allowed. The correct method to add is: click the "load configuration unit" command in the drop-down menu of "file" in the menu bar of the program interface. The program will provide a list box where you can select the object to be loaded, then, click the OPEN button. The program will display the "load configuration unit" dialog box, enter the name of the new project, and click OK. It should be noted that the loading Configuration unit is mainly used to pass the Registry configuration in different machines. For machines with the same configuration, this can save the system configuration time.

3. assign a value to the registry value
A value item is a subitem in the registry that contains a data string. This setting is represented by a string. common values include binary values, string plaintext, and DWORD dubyte values. To assign a value to a value, first select an item or subitem in the left-side window of the Registry Editor interface, select the "add value" command from the "edit" drop-down menu in the menu bar of the program interface. Page 3 is displayed. Enter the name of the value item to be created in the "Value Name" text box), and select the value type from the "Data Type" drop-down text box. The meaning of each list item is:
● REG_BINARY: binary value;
● REG_DWORD: DWORD value;
● REG_EXPAND_SZ: extensible string;
● REG_MULTI_SZ: multiple strings;
● REG_SZ: data string.
Select as needed, and then click OK. Note: If the value assignment type is different, the program will provide the associated setting interface, in which you can set the specific value, and then confirm it.

To modify or edit the value assignment, double-click the value assignment list item in the window on the right of the program interface, and the program will provide the corresponding value assignment editor to edit or modify it, very simple.

4. Search by keyword
Because the registry contains a large number of items, it is necessary to use the search function to locate the required items or subitems. The specific usage of this function is as follows: first, select the window where the items or subitems to be scanned are located on the program interface, and click the "Search items" command in the drop-down menu of "View" items, the page shown in Figure 4 is displayed. Enter the keyword of the content to be searched in the "search content" text box, select the appropriate scan control method, and click "find next.

5. Delete useless subkeys or value items in the Registry
Although the current applications are designed to have the automatic uninstallation function, most programs cannot completely delete the items they add in the Registry, which also leads to the increasing registry, A long time may cause system operation to slow down and other undesirable phenomena. If you know about the composition of the Registry, you can delete these useless settings from the Registry. Of course, this operation is risky. You should back up the registry data file before using it. It is very easy to delete a project in the Registry: First, find the main item window in which the project to be deleted resides, and then locate the value item to be deleted, generally, Software registration items are included in the Software subitem under HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Click the "Delete" command in the "edit" drop-down menu of the menu bar of the program interface or press the "Delete" Key directly. The program will display the "Delete confirmation" dialog box and click "Yes.

In addition, you cannot directly Delete the Configuration unit items. You must follow these steps: select the Configuration unit list items to be deleted, then select the "Uninstall Configuration unit" command from the "file" drop-down menu on the program interface.

6. Save the registry project
To save the registry project, follow these steps: first, select the registry project object to be saved on the program interface, and then select the "Save item" command from the "file" drop-down menu on the interface, the program will provide a dialog box in which the file name and path for saving the file should be set to "all files" for the file type, click "save" on the page. Since the Win2000 Registry Editor provides a separate window based on different items, you need to save the corresponding items for the complete registry.

7. Restore the registry project
For restoring the registry project, we can understand it as restoring the backup settings of the registry project or restoring the registry project. Before using this function, we backed up the registry project. This function is easy to use: first, select the item display window of the project to be restored, and click the "Restore" command in the "file" drop-down menu of the program interface, the program will provide a dialog box, select the file name to be restored in the file list window, and click "open" to confirm.

Note that for project restoration, the backup registry key is used to completely replace all the original configurations in the current registry, in addition, all configurations of the locations to be restored in the current registry are deleted.

8. open and close the registry
When the Registry Editor is started, the local registry is automatically opened for editing. However, as a tool provided by Win2000, the program provides the remote computer registry editing function, but the project we can open is limited to HKEY_USERS and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. To close the local registry window, select the close command from the "file" drop-down menu.

To open the registry of a remote computer, you can select the "select computer" command from the "file" drop-down menu and select the name of the machine to be accessed from the computer list box, click the OPEN button to confirm.

9. Set Registry Key Permissions
Setting permissions is an important method to effectively protect the registry project. You can use this function to specify the users and groups that can open this item. The procedure is as follows: first, select a permission item in the program interface window, click the "Security" drop-down menu on the interface, and select the "permission" command, in the "name" list box, select the user or group for which you want to set permissions. If you haven't added the group yet, click "add, on the associated "Select User, computer, or group" Settings page, select the object to be added. In the "permission" option list box on the interface, set the permission to use the currently selected object, including read-only and fully-controlled read/write ). If you want to assign permissions to a subitem and you want the inherited permissions assigned to the parent item to be applied to the subitem, select the "allow propagation of inherited permissions to this object from parent" check box. In addition, if you click the "advanced" button on the page, the program will provide access control settings for the current authorization registry entry, including more rigorous authorization settings, for example, you can select whether to query numeric values, set numeric values, create subitems, enumerate subitems, notifications, create links, delete, write DAC, write owner, and read Control Based on your needs.