Microsoft® Windows® XP Unleashed

Registry Basics

The Windows XP Registry is structured using a number of components. To begin with, the Registry is stored in several different files on your computer. These files are named hives and are located in the \Windows\system32\config and \Documents and Settings\username folders (we will come back to hives and files a bit later in this chapter). However, when you use the Windows Registry Editor (regedit.exe), the Registry is presented to you as one seamless hierarchy that looks much like a folder tree you would see in Windows Explorer, as shown in Figure 20.1.

Figure 20.1. The Windows Registry Editor.

Note

In previous versions of Windows, ...