Last Updated: 27 Mar 2004
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*** PLEASE NOTE: Link(s), If Provided, May Be Wrapped ***
In addition to VBScript and Perl, the following tools can
be used to view and edit the NT/Win2K registry.
CONSOLE COMMANDS
• REG .................... Resource Kit & Support Tools
• REGINI ................. Resource Kit
• KIXTART ................ Resource Kit
• PERL ................... Resource Kit
• SUBINACL ............... Resource Kit (Permissions)
• RegDACL ................ http://www.heysoft.de/
• DumpREG ................ http://www.somarsoft.com/
GUI
• REGEDIT ................ Native Utility
• REGEDT32 ............... Native Utility (Security)
• Active Registry Mon .... http://www.ntutility.com/arm/
• Multi-Remote ........... http://www.eytcheson.com/
• MultiReg ............... http://www.aelita.com/products/MultiReg.htm
• RecoverySafe ........... http://www.imaginelan.com/products.html
• RegBatch ............... http://affiliates.thethreshold.com/conan/dev/visualc/regbatch/help/regbatch.htm
• Registry Monitor ....... http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb545027.aspx
• RegSafe ................ http://www.imaginelan.com/products.html
• Resplendent Registrar .. http://www.resplendence.com/registry/registrar.htm
• Security Explorer ...... http://www.smallwonders.com/
• Various Tools .......... http://www.polderware.com/apps/sys-regt.shtml
HOW TO RECOVER FROM A CORRUPTED REGISTRY
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=156640
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=269075
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=307545
REGISTRY BACKUP TOOLS
• NTBACKUP ............... Native Utility
• ERUNT .................. http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/
REGISTRY CLEANING TOOLS
If you install and uninstall lots of apps or utils, you
will find that many applications (particularly the older
ones) do not properly clean themselves out of the
registry. Whether this is because they are under the
misguided belief that you will one day reinstall them,
or because they don't track changes you make after they
have been installed, the fact remains that they will
leave you with a bloated registry.
The registry under XP has undergone some architectural
changes that are meant to address both performance and
stability. You'll notice, for instance, that you no
longer need to establish a maximum registry size as
you did under NT and 2000.
While I am not that fond of using needless "Cleanup"
utils in Windows 2000 and XP, the following tools
can assist you in keeping your registry smaller and
more efficient.
Be advised that if you inadvertently delete the wrong
keys, particularly those in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, you can
cause grave harm to your system. The same goes for
installed all sorts of tools which purport to clean
your registry, while simply adding more services and
correcting problems that are only applicable to the
wonder world of Win9x/ME
• http://www.createwindow.com/wininfo/regclean.htm
• http://www.macecraft.com/regsupreme/
FEATURES OF REGEDIT & REGEDT32
The advantage of REGEDIT is that you can export keys
in plaintext to a .REG file, to import on additional
machines. To import a registry file silently, use the
following syntax:
REGEDIT /S filename.REG
Additionally, REGEDIT can search on more fields than
REGEDT32
The advantages of REGEDT32 include the following:
• Change security on keys
• Connect to remote registries
• Manipulate REG_MULTI_SZ types
• Manipulate REG_EXPAND_SZ types
• Import NTUSER.DAT file as remote registry
EXPORTING A VALUE TO A .REG FILE
To export a value from the registry, use REGEDIT with
the following syntax:
REGEDIT /E filename.REG "registry key"
REMOVING A KEY/VALUE WITH A .REG FILE
To remove a single value, set the value equal to a
hyphen without quotes:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Test]
"Stringtest"=-
To remove a key, start the key with a hyphen:
REGEDIT4
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Test]
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NOTE: If you don't want Win2K to save .REG files as
UNICODE, be sure to choose the Version4 format.
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REGEDIT PARAMETERS
• http://www.ss64.com/nt/regedit.html
• http://www.robvanderwoude.com/regedit.html
WHITEPAPERS & TECH DOCUMENTS
• http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/columns/honeycutt/02september16.asp
• http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/advanced/help/sag_ntregconcepts_mply.htm
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=168589
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=252388
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=245031
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=141377
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=146050
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=168646
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=249872
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=168877
• http://support.microsoft.com/?KBID=307545
• http://www.windowsitlibrary.com/Content/368/02/2.html
• http://www.systweak.com/winreg/wr15.htm
• http://safari.oreilly.com/main.asp?bookname=mwin2reg&snode=42
• http://docs.rinet.ru:8083/Registratura/htm/ch09.htm
• http://labmice.techtarget.com/windows2000/Registry/basics.htm
• http://registry.winguides.com/
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ADDITIONAL SEARCH OPTIONS (MS KB)
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/
• http://www.microsoft.com/technet/
• http://www.microsoft.com/
ALL WORDS .............. "registry hives"
EXACT PHRASE ........... "registry hives"
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PERSONAL NOTES
• Always backup your registry before messing around in
it, as you can seriously damage your OS install if you
don't know what you're doing in there...
• ALWAYS! Even if you think you know what you're doing.
• You can also obtain REG.EXE on the Win2K installation
CD as part of the Windows 2000 Support Tools (SUPPORT
folder)
• REG.EXE is now part of the base OS in Windows 2003
• REGEDIT in Windows XP can finally handle permissions
and extended data types (e.g. REG_EXPAND_SZ). The
advantages of REGEDT32 over REGEDIT do NOT apply with
Windows XP.
• Be careful when using Registry Cleaners. They're not
always accurate about what can be deleted.
