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Regedit file



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 14th 11, 05:36 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize
Peter
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Posts: 7
Default Regedit file

When you hit the run icon and type in regedit, you find a series of
directectories and such. Where can I find this folder ??? How can I copy
the entire many pages and edit it and then re copy it back to a new
installation copy of xp home 32 bit ???

Peter
Australia


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  #2  
Old July 14th 11, 07:27 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize
VanguardLH[_2_]
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Posts: 10,881
Default Regedit file

Peter wrote:

When you hit the run icon and type in regedit, you find a series of
directectories and such. Where can I find this folder ??? How can I copy
the entire many pages and edit it and then re copy it back to a new
installation copy of xp home 32 bit ???


You obviously have no clue how the registry works. Stay away from
regedit or any other registry tools until you spend the time to learn
about the registry. You're like the psycho doctor that thinks they can
do a heart transplant just because they have a scalpel. Go visit your
local public library and start reading some Dummies books on Windows
followed by more in-depth books, especially those that specifically
target the registry, like "Windows Registry".

http://tinyurl.com/6gfmkpy
http://tinyurl.com/66vmo3d
http://tinyurl.com/649ykdk
  #3  
Old July 14th 11, 02:23 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize
Stan Brown
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Posts: 2,904
Default Regedit file

On Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:36:28 +1000, Peter wrote:

When you hit the run icon and type in regedit, you find a series of
directectories and such. Where can I find this folder ??? How can I copy
the entire many pages and edit it and then re copy it back to a new
installation copy of xp home 32 bit ???


Vanguard wrote in harsh language, but the message was correct, I'm
afraid.

The system registry contains a *lot* of stuff that relates to this
particular system's configuration. If you simply transplanted it
wholesale to a new PC, the odds are you'd have a non-bootable PC.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...
  #4  
Old July 14th 11, 07:15 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize
Twayne[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,276
Default Regedit file

In ond.com,
Peter typed:
When you hit the run icon and type in regedit, you find a
series of directectories and such. Where can I find this
folder ??? How can I copy the entire many pages and edit
it and then re copy it back to a new installation copy of
xp home 32 bit ???
Peter
Australia


It would be a LOT easier to just remove/reinstall all the programs and a lot
faster, too. Unless you have an identical machine with identical hardware,
software applications and settings, I'd guess you might have a 0.09% chance
of that workng. Otherwise maybe only a 2% chance of it working, as several
files are "created" on the fly which may not be part of the regstry, in
addition to their own caches probably not located anywhere near the
"registry" files. Remember, the full registry only actually resides in RAM,
not necessarily on the disk.

Good luck!

Twayne`


  #5  
Old July 15th 11, 08:40 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default Regedit file

In message . com, Peter
writes:
When you hit the run icon and type in regedit, you find a series of
directectories and such. Where can I find this folder ??? How can I copy


No, you find something that is _presented_ as _looking like_ directories
and such. The registry actually resides in RAM while Windows is running,
and is stored in just a few files when you shut down (in Windows 9x it
was in two files of type .dat, I'm not sure for XP).

the entire many pages and edit it and then re copy it back to a new
installation copy of xp home 32 bit ???


As Vanguard said very harshly, and Mayayana explained in great detail,
this is Not A Good Idea To Try, and probably wouldn't work (and could
well stop the new machine working).

Peter
Australia



--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Electricians do it 'till it Hz.
  #6  
Old July 16th 11, 12:21 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize
Peter
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7
Default Regedit file

I understand machine codes and converting registry from the old days of the
vic-20, commodore 64 and a few other older machines of which i still own and
use, it's just i want to find via ztree the registry in winodws xp home
edition. Over the years i have collected a great many machine codes and
write my own software which i use daily in my business, others look oddly at
the simplicity of the programming involved, so i do understand the registry
and the pitfalls involved and yes i can boot from a floppy and if any probs
appear, can restore the system back to the way it was. Have you ever gotten
a idea, and went to any lengths to investigate your idea. FUnny how i work,
but at the moment the commodore 64 is working away on a databse for a local
business involving over 100,00 single items.
Any way thank you for your words of wisdom, any help always adds a piece to
the jig-saw.

Peter
Australia

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
In message . com, Peter
writes:
When you hit the run icon and type in regedit, you find a series of
directectories and such. Where can I find this folder ??? How can I copy


No, you find something that is _presented_ as _looking like_ directories
and such. The registry actually resides in RAM while Windows is running,
and is stored in just a few files when you shut down (in Windows 9x it was
in two files of type .dat, I'm not sure for XP).

the entire many pages and edit it and then re copy it back to a new
installation copy of xp home 32 bit ???


As Vanguard said very harshly, and Mayayana explained in great detail,
this is Not A Good Idea To Try, and probably wouldn't work (and could well
stop the new machine working).

Peter
Australia



--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Electricians do it 'till it Hz.



  #7  
Old July 16th 11, 12:12 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize
J. P. Gilliver (John)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 5,291
Default Regedit file

In message . com, Peter
writes:
I understand machine codes and converting registry from the old days of the
vic-20, commodore 64 and a few other older machines of which i still own and
use, it's just i want to find via ztree the registry in winodws xp home


You won't find it; although regedit presents something that _looks_ like
a directory tree, the registry does not exist as a directory tree on
disc that you will find with ztree (hi, I still use Xtree Gold myself,
for one or two things). The registry is a complex database that exists
purely in memory all the time Windows is running - and even there, it
does not have a files and directories type structure. Regedit just makes
it look like that, to make it easier to understand (and, indeed, edit).

When you shut down Windows, the registry is of course saved back to disc
- but not as the directories and files structure that you "see" in
regedit: it is saved into a very small number of files. (Under Windows
9x, I think it was two.) If you find and examine these files, you won't
be able to make any sense of them; it's a compacted (and, I suspect,
deliberately obscured, though I have no proof of that) form.

edition. Over the years i have collected a great many machine codes and
write my own software which i use daily in my business, others look oddly at
the simplicity of the programming involved, so i do understand the registry
and the pitfalls involved and yes i can boot from a floppy and if any probs
appear, can restore the system back to the way it was. Have you ever gotten
a idea, and went to any lengths to investigate your idea. FUnny how i work,
but at the moment the commodore 64 is working away on a databse for a local
business involving over 100,00 single items.


I too hark from that era - or befo my first computer, a Tangerine,
started out with 1K (yes, K - 1024 bytes) of memory. (Later upgraded to
8K!) And I'm a great fan of tiny code - my favourite example for the PC
is a flames simulator, of size 453 bytes. (Still runs under XP - haven't
tried it under anything later!)

You certainly can machine-code (or write in other simple languages -
there are a few BASICs, including an emulation of the BBC one) for the
PC, though under Windows it's important to add in all the hooks to make
your code talk to Windows. Provided you don't do any direct hardware
accesses, you will probably be able to run anything you write in a DOS
box. "Visual Basic" I believe lets you program in something not
dissimilar to BASIC but includes basic Windows functions like boxes and
buttons, though I've never tried it.

Any way thank you for your words of wisdom, any help always adds a piece to
the jig-saw.

[]
Glad to help, if I am doing - and apologies if you knew all the above.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

This area of 'when does a computer know that it doesn't know' is relatively
undeveloped. - Colin Barker (Computing, 1999-2-18 [p. 20])
  #8  
Old July 23rd 11, 04:51 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize
Twayne[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,276
Default Regedit file

In ,
J. P. Gilliver (John) typed:
In message
. com,
Peter writes:


snip

Perhaps this will help him a little with figuring out why it's so dangerous
to mess with the Registry. And this is not complete: At least one section is
missing. XP adheres to the NT Platform and this does apply to XP.


REGISTRY MAKEUP





NTUSER.DAT files are the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive for the registry.

One NTUSER.DAT for each user on the machine, some templates and repair.
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService
C:\Documents and Settings\NetworkService
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here\NTUSER.DAT
C:\WINDOWS\repair
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\systemprofi...





To locate your Windows Registry files you will need to know which Windows
platform you have. There are currently only two Windows platforms that all
versions of Windows are built on. They are both named after the earliest
version of each platform.

Windows XP, 2000, 2003 and Vista are all newer versions of the Windows NT
platform. They all use the NT Kernel32.dll, although the Kernel32.dll has
been updated / modified for each Windows operating system.

Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, and ME use the Windows 95 Kernel32.dll and are all
part of the Windows 95 platform. Here again, the Kernel32.dll has been
updated / modified for each new operating system.

The Registry files cannot be read from a DOS prompt, or the Recovery
Console, or even a text editor in Windows. These files are databases, and
only RegEdit, Regedit32 and the Kernel32 can read them. To read them in
Windows enter RegEdit in the Run window at the Start button.








In Windows XP, 2000, and 2003 there are several Registry files. These files
are named without a file extension and are stored in the
Windows\System32\Config folder. These files are named Software, System, SAM,
Security, Default, and UserDiff. There is one more Registry file and it does
have a file extension, NTuser.dat. In Windows XP, 2000 and 2003. NTuser.dat
is stored in the users folder under the Documents and Settings folder. Each
user has their own NTuser.dat file. The NTuser.dat file stores all settings
that each user selects; these settings will override settings stored in the
System file.

The function of each file is different. Security stores information about
security. The SAM file stores information about the Security Accounts
Manager service. Neither of these two files, Security and SAM, are viewable
in RegEdit, unless you reset the permissions. System stores all the
information about hardware. Software stores information about your software
and how Windows will perform and the default Windows settings. The Default
file, stores all the default user settings, the NTuser.dat file overrides
the default user settings. The UserDiff file stores information about the
corresponding SubKeys in the HKEY_USERS Hive for each registered user.

Each of these Registry files has its own backup which is made during the
Windows installation. They are never updated. They are located in the
Windows\System32\Config folder, and have a file extension of sav. These file
are created at the end of the text base part of the Windows installation,
before the graphic part begins. Installing these sav Registry files will
reset Windows to the point of finishing the Windows installation. These
files will only be updated if you perform a Windows repair by using the R
option during a Windows reinstall.

There is also another set of Registry files save to Windows\Repair. These
are same as the sav file. Except they will never be updated. If you use
these files you will reboot back into Windows to the point, "Windows is Now
Setting Up" during a Windows installation. Your software setting and user
setting are all gone. There are no users yet in these files .

On Windows XP, Windows also creates a current backup of the Registry each
time System Restore creates a restore point. These Registry files are
located in the System Restore Information folder on the same drive as
Windows is installed. However, the System Restore only seems to work if the
Registry is not damaged or corrupted. It just seems like it never works when
you really need it.

For security reasons, the Kernel32.dll protects these files from being
copied or altered without the use of the Kernel32.dll. You cannot manually
make backups, and you cannot change some of the Keys' information.

To make a backup of the Registry you will need to use either a third party
backup tool or Windows Backup. If you use the Windows Backup tool you need
to make a System State backup to backup the Registry.



----------------------------

I have more detaled files on the Registry but they are HUGE! Too large
really to post.





  #9  
Old July 24th 11, 05:48 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize
Mayayana
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 6,438
Default Regedit file

| The Registry files cannot be read from a DOS prompt, or the Recovery
| Console, or even a text editor in Windows. These files are databases, and
| only RegEdit, Regedit32 and the Kernel32 can read them. To read them in
| Windows enter RegEdit in the Run window at the Start button.
|

I'm not sure all this info. is really useful, except, as you
say, to show how ill-advised it would be to try to access
the Registry in the form of disk files. It's potentially confusing,
and mostly irrelevant, to talk about Win9x vs WinNT
differences.

But for what it's worth, the above bears clarification.
There are 3rd-party programs that can access the
Registry. Windows Script Host and WMI also have
native functions to access the Registry. Something like
VBScript can be used to automate the creation/saving of
..reg files. (A common VBScript hack is to edit the Registry
by exporting a .reg, editing the text of that, then
re-merging the .reg file , via calls to regedit.)

Kernel32.dll is *not* a repository of Registry functions.
They're in advapi32.dll, with wrapper functions in shlwapi.dll.
Those functions allow anyone who is using the Win32 API to
access Registry keys/values. (It gets slightly more complex
with Win64. The Win32 API writes to its own subkey for
parts on the Win64 Registry, unless one knows enough
to target the Win64 values and has reason to want to.)

While the Registry files are different in Win9x vs WinNT,
from the point of view of anyone using any of the above
methods the differences are mostly transparent. In other
words, the actual Registry files are different but the API
calls, WSH functions, and WMI functions hide that. Aside
from a few minor quirks in specific API calls, the functions
are all the same and do not require knowing what version of
Windows one is using.


 




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