The registry contains extended information, settings and
various other values for the the Microsoft Windows
95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows ME operating system. Within
the registry you can control a great majority of the operating system as well
as fix a lot of issues with Windows. However we only recommend those whom are
experienced with computers or whom feel confident to go into the registry.
Before going into the Registry and changing or deleting
anything we ALWAYS recommend that you backup the registry.
The computer registry consists of two files hidden in the
Windows directory, system.dat and user.dat.
User-specific system information is contained in the user.dat
file and Computer and Hardware specific information in the system.dat
file.
To get into the Windows 95 or Windows 98 registry click
Start / Run / type regedit
When typing regedit you
will get the following screen this window as you can see is the Registry
editor. This windows looks very similar to Explorer
however within each folder you have sub folders which have various settings.
The following are the types of files that you will see
during the time you are in the registry.
- Open
or selected folder just as you would see in Windows Explorer
- Closed
folder just as you would see in Windows Explorer
- String
Value allows you to place certain values to certain aspects of a program
such as a version number.
- Binary
Value allows you to set attributes to a particular application, values are
in binary.
- Dword Similar to the binary
value allowing you to set attributes however done in binary and hex.
BACKING UP / RESTORING THE REGISTRY
Backing up Windows 95 Registry:
To backup Windows 95 Registry from the Windows desktop
click Start / Shut Down / Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode.
At C:\WINDOWS> type the following:
attrib user.dat -r -a -s -h <press enter>
attrib system.dat -r -a -s -h <press enter>
md
backup <press enter>
copy user.dat backup <press enter>
copy system.dat backup <press enter>
The above will copy the registry files into a backup
directory in your Windows directory. Once the above has been done you can
restart the computer and edit the registry as needed.
Restoring Windows 95 Registry:
If you by chance make a mistake while in the registry and
have done the above, get to a DOS prompt. If you are not able
to get into Windows. As the computer is booting up and you see Starting
Windows 95 or you hear a beep press your F8 key on the keyboard this should get
you into the Windows 95 Startup menu. Choose the option for Safe Mode command
prompt only.
When at the DOS prompt type cd\windows
(note you will not be able to get into this directory if you have not followed
the above steps earlier in backing up your registry.
Once in the Windows directory type the following:
attrib user.dat -r -a -s -h <press enter>
attrib system.dat -r -a -s -h <press enter>
del user.dat
<press enter>
del system.dat
<press enter>
Once these files have been deleted type cd\windows\backup
once in the windows\backup directory type the following:
copy user.dat c:\windows <press enter>
copy system.dat
c:\windows <press enter>
The above should copy two files, once copied reboot the
computer and you should now be able to get back into Windows.
Backing Windows 98 Registry:
Windows 98 has a new feature referred to as scanreg that will automatically backup your registry each time
you boot up your computer, however the steps listed above for backing up
Windows 95 registry also work but are not necessarily need unless you wish to
keep an originally un-touched copy of the registry.
Restoring Windows 98 Registry:
To restore Windows 98 registry get into a DOS prompt, if
you are not able to get into Windows 98 to shutdown the computer to get into a
DOS prompt as the computer boots up press and hold your left ctrl key on your
keyboard which should get you into a Windows 98 startup menu, in this menu
choose the option for command prompt only (safe mode command prompt only will
not work).
Once at the prompt type cd\windows\command
Once in this directory type scanreg
/restore this will restore a previously backed up copy of your registry.
You then should be able to reboot the computer and get back into Windows.
If you backed up your registry using the Windows 95 steps
use the Windows 95 restore steps to restore the registry.
|
KEY |
DESCRIPTION |
|
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT |
Points to branch of Hkey_Local_Machine that describes certain software
settings. This key displays the same data as it did in Windows 3.1 -
essential information about OLE and association mappings to support
drag-and-drop operations, Windows 95 shortcuts (which are, in fact, OLE
links), and core aspects of the Windows 95 user interface. |
|
HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
This key points to a branch of Hkey_Users for the user who is currently logged on. |
|
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE |
Contains computer-specific information
about the type of hardware installed, software settings, and other
information. This information is used for all users who log on to this
computer. |
|
HKEY_USERS |
Contains information about all
the users who log on to the computer, including both generic and
user-specific information. The generic settings are available to all users
who log on to the computer. The information is made up of default settings
for applications, desktop configurations, and so on. This key contains sub
keys for each user that logs on to this computer. |
|
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG |
Points to a branch of Hkey_Local_Machine\Config that contains information about
the current configuration of hardware attached to the computer. |
|
HKEY_DYN_DATA |
Points to a branch of Hkey_Local_Machine that contains the dynamic status
information for various devices as part of the Plug and Play information.
This information may change as devices are added to or removed from the
computer. The information for each device includes the related hardware key
and the device's current status, including problems. |
The Main Windows of the Registry Editor
Q: Is there a way to edit the registry from a command prompt (DOS)?
A: Unfortunately because the registry is a part of Windows it
is not possible to edit the registry without running Regedit
through Windows. If you are not able to get into Windows you may wish to
attempt to run regedit.exe from Safe mode.
http://www.winguides.com/registry/