Windows Registry: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:52, 30 October 2023

The Windows Registry is a unnecessarily nested key-value store.

The following things were noticed after installing the 16-bit version of Internet Explorer 5.01.

This one is bundled with the operating system. Run it with the /v flag to make it actually usable.

It only sees the type registrations (HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT in REGEDT16.EXE).
Spaces in keys are replaced with #.
There is only one value per key ((Default) in REGEDT16.EXE), and it is always a string.
A "Revert to Last Save" menu item exists.
Data is stored in %WINDIR%\REG.DAT.^[1]
Separate REGEDIT.HLP and REGEDITV.HLP files exist. The latter is used for the Help menu when running in verbose mode.

This one comes with the 16-bit version of Internet Explorer 5.01.

The About dialog states this is for both Windows 3.1 and Windows NT 3.51.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE are present too.
String, Binary, and DWORD are the only types.
Data is stored in %WINDIR%\REG16X2.DAT.^[2]
REG16X2.Enn for 00-99 are created next to the file for each installation and uninstallation attempt.

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 *A "Revert to Last Save" menu item exists.
 *Data is stored in <code>%WINDIR%\REG.DAT</code>.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry#Windows_3.11</ref>
+*Separate <code>REGEDIT.HLP</code> and <code>REGEDITV.HLP</code> files exist. The latter is used for the Help menu when running in verbose mode.
 === <code>REGEDT16.EXE</code> ===