Hi all,
I want to see the changes made to my Registry after install an app.
So,
1. I took a snapshot of my Registry in Before.reg.
2. Installed the app.
3. Took another snapshot, After.reg.

I'm trying to compare the two .reg files using Windiff.
Its says the two files differ only in blanks. I know thats not true.
I have no idea why its saying that.

Are there any other tools which can compare two .reg files?

Thanks for your time,
Prab

In microsoft.public.win2000.registry Prabh wrote:

> Hi all,
> I want to see the changes made to my Registry after install an app.
> So,
> 1. I took a snapshot of my Registry in Before.reg.
> 2. Installed the app.
> 3. Took another snapshot, After.reg.
>
> I'm trying to compare the two .reg files using Windiff.
> Its says the two files differ only in blanks. I know thats not
true.
> I have no idea why its saying that.
>
> Are there any other tools which can compare two .reg files?

Not your question, but I'd recommend an Installation Tracking Utility
for the task instead. The free InCtrl5 may still be available
somewhere or one of these perhaps:
http://lists.gpick.com/pages/Install...tall_Tools.htm
Total Uninstall has been frequently praised by many.

Or for some purposes using a Registry Monitor (real-time) such as
REGMON from Sysinternals may be useful when a limited number of
registry changes.

For the original question what is "snapshot"? A Regedit4/5-formated
"Export"? "Exporting" more than a key or sub-branch is not very
practical. "Export" is never suitable for registry backup purposes.

Hello,
The problem is registry exports are unicode in Win2K and higher, and
WinDiff does not work correctly with Unicode. You can have a look at
our Compare It! tool from http://www.grigsoft.com/wincmp3.htm.
As an example, here is our comaparison chart with WinDiff:
http://www.grigsoft.com/windiff.htm

Igor Green
http://www.grigsoft.com
Compare It! + Synchronize It! : Files and folders comparison never was
easier!

In microsoft.public.win2000.registry Igor Green wrote:

> Hello,
> The problem is registry exports are unicode in Win2K and higher,

Only by default in regedit.exe "5" though. One can select output to be
ANSI ("REGEDIT4" format), use REG.EXE, or many other registry tools
default to "4" format. Or the regedit.exe from NT4 will do.

> and WinDiff does not work correctly with Unicode. You can have a
> look at our Compare It! tool from
> http://www.grigsoft.com/wincmp3.htm. As an example, here is our

I'll bookmark that against future need.

On 7 Oct 2004 13:12:45 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (Prabh) wrote:

>Hi all,
>I want to see the changes made to my Registry after install an app.
>So,
> 1. I took a snapshot of my Registry in Before.reg.
> 2. Installed the app.
> 3. Took another snapshot, After.reg.
>
>I'm trying to compare the two .reg files using Windiff.
>Its says the two files differ only in blanks. I know thats not true.
>I have no idea why its saying that.
>
>Are there any other tools which can compare two .reg files?
>
>Thanks for your time,
>Prab

You can select Win9x / NT4 Registration file for the drop-down list
to get plain text and then use windiff.

or you can use the command line to export it:

See tip 2750 in the 'Tips & Tricks' at http://www.jsiinc.com


Jerold Schulman
Windows: General MVP
JSI, Inc.
http://www.jsiinc.com