Professional Windows® Embedded CE 6.0

Chapter 8. The Registry

The registry is a collection of data containing configurations, settings, and usage parameters for the operating system, device drivers, and applications. The registry is a critical part of the system.

The registry affects the operating system's boot process, device driver, and application loading process. Some device drivers and applications have dependencies and must be configured to load after certain components are loaded before launching. When the registry is not configured correctly, the system may not function properly and may even fail to complete the boot process.

This chapter takes a brief look at the CE registry and provides an overview of persisting registry settings and how the boot process can be affected by the registry.

Windows Embedded CE Registry

The registry data structure for Windows Embedded CE is similar to the registry data structure for desktop Windows. In addition to storing the configuration data and settings for the OS run time and installed device drivers, the Windows Embedded CE registry also stores configuration and usage parameters for applications. For some devices designed to support multiusers, the CE registry also stores user profile information.

The registry stores data in a tree structure. Each branch of the tree is called a registry key. Each registry key may contain other registry subkeys and entries. Each registry entry has a value, which can be a string or binary value. The registry data are stored in the registry entry. ...