The Windows Registry is a large database in which the settings of both the operating system itself and the applications installed in it are recorded.
The role of the registry.
The registry can be thought of as a Windows notebook – as soon as the system needs some information, it looks for it in the registry.
The registry performs the following main functions:
- keeps track of all system devices and their settings, including resources such as interrupt requests (IRQs) and direct memory access (DMA) channel numbers;
- acts as a database that unifies the operation of applications;
- verifies that the necessary drivers are available for the installed hardware. When adding a new peripheral device, the Configuration manager of the operating system places the device’s configuration data in the registry;
- Provides system services that are required by many applications;
- Ensures that the desired application can be launched with a mouse click;
- stores information related to system rules, user profiles, and administration tools.
The registry is a hierarchical structure consisting of subtrees, sections, subsections, and parameters. The top level of the system registry hierarchy consists of subtrees (branches). The subtrees are the five most important parts of the registry.
The second level in the registry hierarchy are the so called partitions or keys. Keys are displayed in the Registry Editor (RegEdit) as subfolders of the HKEY_ branches. Keys in the registry hierarchy are intended solely to facilitate access to information and are one of the means of organizing it. By their functionality, the registry keys can be divided into the following two categories:
1) Specified by the system. The names of the keys are chosen by the operating system, and changing them may make Windows completely inoperable.
2) Specified by the user. The key names may be changed by the administrator of the computer, and such modifications will not cause any fatal problems.
One step down in the registry hierarchy are registry subkeys. Subsections are not directly associated with any data types and are not used under any naming conventions
Registry subsections form files.
The SAM registry file is the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM section of the Windows registry, which is located in the Windows system directory, in the systemroot\System32\Config folder. The SAM file contains the names of the local users of the given computer and their encrypted passwords.
The SECURITY registry file represents the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security registry section, which is located in the Windows system folder, in the systemroot\System32\Config folder.
The SECURITY registry file contains information related to security.
The SOFTWARE registry file represents the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software registry section, which is located in the Windows system folder,in the systemroot\System32\Config folder.This file contains information about the local computer software.
The SYSTEM registry file represents the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System registry, which is located in the Windows system directory,in the systemroot\System32\Config folder.This file contains information about the system devices and services that are modified when installing or configuring device drivers or services.
The Windows registry is stored in the \Windows\System32\config folder.
+The fourth level in the structural hierarchy is Parameters (values). This registry component contains the data itself, which determines the operation of the operating system and the entire computer.