Windows Vista in a Nutshell

What’s in the Registry

Data in the Registry is stored in individual pieces called values. Every value has a name and is capable of holding one of several types of data. Values are grouped and organized in keys, which are represented by Folder icons in the Registry Editor. Keys can also contain other keys, thereby forming the basis for the hierarchy in the Registry. Like Explorer, the Registry Editor arranges the keys in a collapsible tree structure, allowing you to navigate through the branches to locate a particular key, and hence, all the values contained therein.

Often, in order to view or modify a certain key or value, you must follow a Registry path. A path is merely a series of key names, separated by backslashes (\), used to specify an absolute location in the Registry. For example, to navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard, simply expand the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch by clicking on the right-facing triangle next to it, then expand the Control Panel branch, and finally click on the Keyboard key name to display its contents. The path leading to the currently highlighted key is always shown at the bottom of the Registry Editor window.

Warning

It’s easy to get confused about keys and values. In fact, value names sometimes appear at the end of a path, although this is mostly a holdover from the early days of the Registry. It’s important to realize that only values can contain data, and keys are used only to organize values—just like files and folders in Explorer, ...