The Load Hive… and Unload Hive… commands were first introduced to Regedit.exe with the release of Windows XP and are also present in Regedit.exe version included with the products of the Windows Server 2003 family. We saw above that these represent the same functionality that was provided by the similarly named commands present in the older application, Regedt32.exe. These commands allow you to load registry files previously exported from the registry and saved in the registry hive format, or unload registry hives, respectively. Note that only those registry keys that actually represent physical hives can be saved in the registry hive format (a complete list of registry hives was provided in Chapter 1 ). Furthermore, the Load Hive… and Unload Hive… commands are only applicable to the HKEY_USERS and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE keys. Therefore, these commands will be available only if one of these registry keys is selected. In all other cases, the commands will be grayed and unavailable. The hive that you have loaded in the registry becomes one of the subkeys under the root keys mentioned above. To load a registry hive, proceed as follows: 1. Select the HKEY_USERS or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry key to activate the appropriate menu command. 2. Select the Load Hive… command from the File menu. The Load Hive window will open, allowing you to select the previously exported registry hive. Select the required hive file and click Open. 3. Enter the name that will be used for the newly loaded hive (Fig. 3.5 ). This name will be used for the new subkey that will appear in the registry after you load the hive (Fig. 3.6 ). Now you are able to edit the loaded registry hive to carry out the required modifications. Figure 3.5: Loading a registry hive Figure 3.6: The newly loaded copy of the SYSTEM hive (SYS_COPY) now appears as a nested subkey under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE root key Note In order to be allowed to carry out this procedure, you need to log on to the local system as the Administrator or a user belonging to the Administrators group. If your computer is part of a network, network security policy will also influence your ability to perform this operation. 4. Having finished the editing of the loaded registry hive, you can unload it by selecting it, and then choosing the Unload Hive… command from the file menu. You need to save any changes to the hive that you're going to unload, in order to restore them later. Note The Load Hive… and Unload Hive… commands can be particularly useful for troubleshooting unbootable Windows installations. If you have a parallel OS installation that is bootable, you can boot into that system, load the hive from the damaged system, and edit it appropriately in order to eliminate the problem. More detailed information and step-by-step instructions for this process will be provided in Chapters 6 , 12, and 13. The Connect Network Registry… command allows you to edit the registry of a remote computer. This command will be available only if the computer running Regedit is part of a network that contains servers running Windows NT/2000, Windows Server 2003, or Novell NetWare. To connect to a remote registry, you need to specify the name of the computer where the remote registry is located (Fig. 3.7 ). Note that the set of options available for browsing and searching the network is significantly extended in comparison to the functionality provided by the Registry Editor version supplied with Windows NT/2000, where, actually, only the Browse option was available. Figure 3.7: The Select Computer window now provides extended browsing and searching functionality Note To be able to carry out this procedure, you need to log on to the local system as the Administrator or a user belonging to the Administrators group. If your computer is part of a network, network security policy will also influence your ability to perform this operation. To disconnect the remote registry, use the Disconnect Network Registry… command. If you are not currently part of a network, this command will be unavailable. You can use the Print… command from the File menu to print the whole registry or only a part it. The ability to print a selected branch of the registry is a convenient alternative. Use the Exit command to close the Registry Editor window and terminate the registry- editing session. The Edit Menu Commands The Edit menu contains commands that allow you to find and modify registry entries:  Modify  Modify Binary Data  New  Permissions  Delete  Rename  Copy Key Name  Find  Find Next The Modify command is used for editing data contained in the registry entries. This option will be available only if you select one of the entries displayed in the right pane of the Registry Editor window. Modify Binary Data allows you to edit any data (including other data types) in the binary-editor window. As with the previous command, this will also become available only after you select one of the registry values listed in the right pane of the registry-editor window. The New command allows you to add new keys and value entries. Note that, in comparison to the Regedit.exe version supplied with Windows NT/2000, which allowed you to add only string data, binary data, and DWORD data, the newer version of Regedit.exe supplied with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 provides an extended set of options. It also allows you to add multi-string and expandable-string data (Fig. 3.8 ). These options become available after selecting the New option. The same options will be available in the right-click menu. Figure 3.8: The New command allows you to add new keys, string, binary, DWORD, multi-string, and expandable string values Note As you certainly have noticed, even this extended functionality is rather limited, because an actual list of existing registry data types (which was provided in Chapter 1) is much longer. For example, built-in registry editors don't allow you to manually create the data such as, for example, REG_QWORD, REG_RESOURCE_LIST, and so on. However, there are freeware utilities that provide such functions (for example, the REGLN tool available for downloading from http://www.ntinternals.net allows to create registry values of the REG_LINK data type). Of course, if you decide to use any of the tools of this type, you must do so at your own risk, because they are even more dangerous than registry editors. Other options of the Edit menu, such as Rename and Delete, allow you to delete and rename the value entry. You can also delete the value entry by selecting it and clicking the <Del> key. To rename the value entry, right-click it, select the Rename command, and enter the new name. Note Deletion of registry keys and value entries using the Regedit.exe utility is irreversible. Regedit.exe has no Undo command. Because of this, you should be very careful when deleting keys and value entries. Windows will display a warning message prompting you to confirm your intention to delete the registry entry. After you confirm it, it will be impossible to cancel the operation. The Copy Key Name command allows you to copy the selected key name to the clipboard. Later, you can paste the copied key name using the Paste command present in any text editor. Remember that the registry is a hierarchical database and the path to the registry entry you need may be very long and difficult to memorize. Because of this, many users appreciate this feature. The Copy Key Name command is easy to use in combination with other commands such as Find and Find Next; you may use it for various purposes, including registry editing and inserting key names into the text. Commands such as Find/Find Next are used for searching registry keys and value entries. When you select the Find command from the Edit menu, the Find dialog opens, allowing you to describe the key, value entry, or its data (Fig. 3.9 ). You can search for keys, value entries or data in any combination. The values to search for can be both text and numeric. Figure 3.9: The Find dialog To find the registry entry you need, enter the value to be searched into the Find what field. You can also restrict the search range by selecting one of the following options listed in the Look at group:  Keys. The function will only search for registry keys. Both root and nested keys will be found.  Values. The function will only search for value names that are displayed in the right pane of the Registry Editor window (in the Name column).  Data. The function will only search for data. The Find dialog contains the Match whole string only option. When this option is set, Registry Editor will only find whole strings, excluding partial hits from the search range. For example, if you've installed a number of applications with names including the "Paint" string (for example, Microsoft Paint, PaintShop Pro, etc.), Regedit.exe will find them all. However, if you only need to find entries related to Microsoft Paint, then use the Match whole string only option. If you need to find all the entries that contain the "Paint" string, clear the checkbox if it's set. This feature is useful if you don't remember the exact spelling of the string you're searching for, and need to find all possible variations. Using the Match whole string only option increases the time required to perform the search. The amount of time can be significant if the registry is large. To start the search procedure, fill in all the required fields in the Find dialog and click the Find Next button. When Regedit.exe finds the matching item, it highlights it, thus helping to determine the key or subkey where the matching item resides. If Regedit.exe finds the data or value names, it will open the associated registry keys in the left pane and highlight the value name. However, it still may be difficult to determine the registry path to the item just found. Because of this, you should use the status bar, since it displays the path to the highlighted registry entry, including all parent keys and the name of the computer (as you know, the computer name won't necessarily be the name of the local system). Now you have finally found the registry entry. But is it the entry you really need? If it is, you may edit this item and finish the search procedure; otherwise, ignore the result and continue searching. To find the next match, press <F3> or select the Find Next command from the Edit menu. Note When searching the registry, remember that the names of the keys and value entries may not be unique. The same name may be encountered many times. Because of this, the more information you provide for the search function, the more correct your result will be. For example, the "inbox" string is encountered about 10 times. Also, if you want to automate registry searches, consider using the Dureg.exe Resource Kit utility, which, besides estimation of the size of the whole registry or specific registry key, also provides searching capabilities. Command-line Resource Kit tools are especially useful for administrative scripting. Finally, the Permissions command, allowing you to manage registry key permissions and audit the actions related to the registry keys, deserves special mention. Once again, it is necessary to emphasize the fact that, in Windows NT/2000, this functionality was available only in Regedt32.exe, where there was the Security menu command. In Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, this functionality was integrated into a single version of the registry editor - the Regedit.exe utility. Registry-key permissions can be assigned independently from the file system type on the system partition. Modifying Keys and Value Entries Now, since we have provided a brief overview of the Edit menu commands, let us proceed with a more detailed discussion of their use for adding, modifying, or deleting registry keys and value entries, and for setting registry-key permissions. . Select the HKEY_USERS or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry key to activate the appropriate menu command. 2. Select the Load Hive… command from the File menu. The. to the HKEY_USERS and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE keys. Therefore, these commands will be available only if one of these registry keys is selected. In all other