Editing Windows Registry (section)

=== Registry editors ===

The registry contains important configuration information for the operating system, for installed applications as well as individual settings for each user and application. A careless change to the operating system configuration in the registry could cause irreversible damage, so it is usually only installer programs which perform changes to the registry database during installation/configuration and removal. If a user wants to edit the registry manually, Microsoft recommends that a backup of the registry be performed before the change.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/171325
 | title=Incorrect Icons Displayed for .ico Files
 | date=November 15, 2009
 | access-date=31 March 2012
}}</ref> When a program is removed from control panel, it may not be completely removed and, in case of errors or glitches caused by references to missing programs, the user might have to manually check inside directories such as program files. After this, the user might need to manually remove any reference to the uninstalled program in the registry. This is usually done by using RegEdit.exe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.askvg.com/how-to-completely-uninstall-remove-a-software-program-in-windows-without-using-3rd-party-software/|title=How to Completely Uninstall / Remove a Software Program in Windows without using 3rd Party Software? - AskVG|website=www.askvg.com|date=August 26, 2011 }}</ref> Editing the registry is sometimes necessary when working around Windows-specific issues e.g. problems when logging onto a domain can be resolved by editing the registry.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/906866
 | title=You may receive a "STOP 0x00000035 NO_MORE_IRP_STACK_LOCATIONS" error message when you try to log on to a domain
 | date=October 9, 2011
 | access-date=31 March 2012
}} This page tells the user to edit the registry when resolving the issue.</ref>

Windows Registry can be edited manually using programs such as RegEdit.exe, although these tools do not expose some of the registry's metadata such as the last modified date.

The registry editor for the 3.1/95 series of operating systems is RegEdit.exe and for Windows NT it is RegEdt32.exe; the functionalities are merged in Windows XP. Optional and third-party tools similar to RegEdit.exe are available for many Windows CE versions.

Registry Editor allows users to perform the following functions:
* Creating, manipulating, renaming<ref>key renaming is implemented as removal and add while retaining subkeys/values, as the underlying APIs do not support the rename function directly</ref> and deleting registry keys, subkeys, values and value data
* Importing and exporting .<code>REG</code> files, exporting data in the binary hive format
* Loading, manipulating and unloading registry hive format files (Windows NT systems only)
* Setting permissions based on [[Access control list|ACLs]] (Windows NT systems only)
* Bookmarking user-selected registry keys as Favorites
* Finding particular strings in key names, value names and value data
* Remotely editing the registry on another networked computer