XP: Registry Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Harold Dozier
  • Start date Start date
H

Harold Dozier

I am probably way over my head, but I am curious as to "where" the xp
registry is located (stored). I presume it is on the hard drive one
boots to. If one has two hard drives in place, one "main" and one cloned
from "main", can one look at the cloned drive registry without booting
up to it?

Harold
 
Registry is made up of "Hives" - most of them reside at
%WinDir%\System32\Config

Each User profile has a "Hive" in their Documents & Settings
root folder as NTUser.Dat. From within Regedit this hive
appears as HKEY_CURRENT_USER
 
Why the h**l not? There's nothing wrong with having a healthy curiosity
about the universe around you, including Windows XP. Otherwise we'd still be
living in caves.

regards Tony.
 
Tony Luxton said:
Why the h**l not? There's nothing wrong with having a healthy curiosity
about the universe around you, including Windows XP. Otherwise we'd still
be living in caves.

regards Tony.
Click to expand...

So, I guess he'll know who to blame when he makes a change in the registry
and can't get Windows to start...
 
Yes, see www.dougknox.com, Win XP Tips, Advanced Registry Editing. While focused on the User portion of the Registry, its easily adapted to the Machine portions, as well.
 
Harold said:
I am probably way over my head, but I am curious as to "where" the xp
registry is located (stored). I presume it is on the hard drive one
boots to.
Click to expand...


The WinXP registry can be found in C:\Windows\System32\Config\.
It'll be divided into several data files, such as Security, Software,
and System. The user-specific portion of the registry is stored in each
user profile, in a file named NTUser.dat.

If one has two hard drives in place, one "main" and one cloned
from "main", can one look at the cloned drive registry without booting
up to it?
Click to expand...

I don't believe it can be done with native WinXP tools, but a Google
search may yield you a 3rd party solution.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
Uncle said:
It certainly would appear so


WHY????
Click to expand...


How else can one be expected to learn?


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
Doug said:
Yes, see www.dougknox.com, Win XP Tips, Advanced Registry Editing. While focused on the User portion of the Registry, its easily adapted to the Machine portions, as well.
Click to expand...


Very interesting. I'll have to play with that technique a bit. ;-}
Thanks, Doug.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin
 
You're welcome. It comes in handy for making changes to another user account, without having to actually log on to it.
 
I am probably way over my head, but I am curious as to "where" the xp
registry is located (stored). I presume it is on the hard drive one
boots to. If one has two hard drives in place, one "main" and one cloned
from "main", can one look at the cloned drive registry without booting
up to it?

Harold
Click to expand...

You can indeed.

The Registry is actually several files. You'd probably be most
interested in the one named "Software"

On my system it's here:
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\system32\config

05/21/2006 05:57 PM 19,398,656 software
1 File(s) 19,398,656 bytes

When I reinstalled Windows last year I needed to find a key for
Acronis (I think it was) and did indeed find it in the backup simply
by editing the "software" file with notepad. Alphanumeric data is
displayed in a weird way but you can find the actual text with a
little effort.

Don't attempt to edit or even view the actual Registry on your C:
drive this way, though.
 
I don't believe it can be done with native WinXP tools, but a Google
search may yield you a 3rd party solution.
Click to expand...

Oh, well I guess "notepad" isn't a "native WinXP tool" then.
 
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