Managing The Windows 2000 Registry

Chapter 11. The Registry Documented

Documenting the Registry is like building a cathedral in the Middle Ages: it’s a task that spans generations,^[57] with many collaborators each doing a small piece of the work. Powerful forces come to bear; some help the work, while others hinder it. In the end, the result is overwhelming: massive, imposing, yet open to all comers. (One major difference: cathedrals are spiritually uplifting. Try as I might, I just can’t get that same feeling from the Registry. If you do, drop me a note.)

What’s Here and What’s Not

Because the Registry is so dynamic, there’s no possible way to capture the meaning of every key in a single document. As I write this, Microsoft is preparing to release a host of new Windows 2000-based products, each of which will have its own set of Registry keys and values. Quite apart from the proliferation of key is the problem of what configuration a particular machine has. What software’s on it? Which service pack? Is it part of a network? Does it run any server products?

As if Microsoft products alone weren’t enough of a problem, there’s an ongoing flood of third-party products running on Win32--web servers, Usenet news servers, CAD tools, office applications--and they all have their own keys.

So, the first confession I have to make is that this chapter is incomplete. By design, it doesn’t include information about keys that aren’t part of either the core Windows 2000 or NT 4.x operating systems: no BackOffice components, no Netscape ...