Windows 8 registry editor how to open. How to open the Windows registry: all methods

Windows 8 is widely popular among PC users. But not everyone knows how to open the Registry Editor. There are several simple and effective ways to start editing it.

detailed instructions

Option 1

A shortcut using the Win+R key combination will open the Run window.

Write the regedit command there and confirm the action with OK.

Option 2

We call the Task Manager with the well-known combination Ctrl+Alt+Del.

At the end of the procedure, enter the already familiar regedit request and confirm the action.

Option 3

If you hold the mouse cursor on the right side of the screen, the so-called Curtain will appear, which we will need. On it we look for the Search line.

Under the Applications item there is a Search line, where we write the word regedit.

All that remains is to activate the application.

Option 4

On the right top corner In the My Computer window there is a Search line, which is what we need. There you need to write the regedit command.

Among several shortcuts, you need to select the one that is saved in the C:\Windows directory.

Option 5

Go back to My Computer and open drive C.

Among the abundance of shortcuts, you need to find regedit with the Application type. Open it by double clicking.

These are the methods available to clearly see how to launch the registry. Also this instruction Suitable for Windows 8.1. Each option only takes a few minutes.

The registry is a repository of all parameters and settings of the operating system. Editing the registry of windows 7, 8, etc. carried out when you need to quickly change something in the system settings.
But you should do this only if you are confident of success, otherwise you can provoke a failure software or operating system

Quick opening

This method is universal for all versions of operating systems, from “seven” and higher. In addition, this method will be the fastest to open 7. It is carried out through the window for entering Execute commands. For some users, it is placed on the main start menu or start screen. If it is not there, then you will have to call the window additionally. To call the console in this way, repeat the algorithm:

• Press and hold the Win button and the R button at the same time;
• Regardless of the OS type, a small window will appear with the title “Run” and a line for entering a command;

Enter regedit in the field

• Press OK or Enter;
• The required window will open.

The desired window may not open immediately. First, the system may require confirmation from you. administrative rights. Click confirm permissions and start using the console. This method is the simplest and fastest, and therefore it is better to remember the command.

The editor itself looks like this

Launch via Search

In order to call the registry in Windows 7, you can use the search in folders and system files of the computer. To perform a search, do the following:

1. Open the Start menu by left-clicking on the button in the lower left corner of the screen;
2. At the bottom of the expanded list, in the left block, there is a line for entering text ( search query);
3. Type regedit into it and press Search or Enter.

You won't get many results.

Most often this is one required file

But if there are several results with the same name in the search results, choose the one that has the exe format and is marked with a blue cube icon. This method of entering the Windows 7 registry editor is popular among users.

How to open Registry Editor in Windows 8.1

Menu and everything Windows design 8.1 is significantly different from Windows 7. Of course, for those users who did not configure the function of saving the old menu for convenience using special utilities. Therefore, you won’t be able to get into the Windows 8 registry through Search in the same way as on the “seven”.

• To find the search query input line, go to the start screen of the operating system;
• Start typing the required command on the keyboard. There is no need to place the mouse pointer in any specific place;
• When you enter from the keyboard, a search window will automatically open with what you typed;

Enter regedit in the field and press Enter or the magnifying glass image to the right of what you wrote

The results will show you the same program as in the previous case. By clicking on it, you can enter the Windows 8 registry. The registry opens in the same way on the new “top ten”. But sometimes the search does not work on it and you need to use other methods.

Manually opening a file

This method of entering the registry for Windows xp, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 is universal, as it works on any version of the OS, even old ones. It is understandable even for inexperienced users, but it takes a lot of time. To do this, go to the shortcut to open the registry by clicking from folder to folder or through Explorer.

The location of the shortcut varies depending on the OS version and settings. More often, you can find the registry in Windows 8 by following the path Computer – Disk C – Windows – System32.

You open the same file as when launched from the search, but instead of an automated search in the OS, you go through the path to the program manually.

1. If the OS is 64-bit, then the path changes, it looks like My Computer - Disk C - Windows - SysWOW64. Another reason for possible differences is the presence or absence of disk partitioning, etc. So the path is different but regedit.exe is in the main folder with system files. Sometimes it's even herself Windows folder on drive C.
2. In addition, if you did not use the search in Windows 7 as in the second method, but opened the folder containing the program, you can see that it contains regedt32.exe. This is also a registry available on 64-bit OSes. You can edit either of the two registers.
3. In extremely rare cases, the registry does not open in Windows 7 when it is located at this address. Or it may not be in the folder at all. It's on the computer, but you need to find it. An alternative storage location is the WinSxS folder in Windows directories. Sometimes there are other alternative storage locations for the editor open shortcut.
4. The contents of such folders are numerous, and therefore, in order to open the registry in Windows XP or another version of the OS in this way, you will need to spend time searching. Apply sorting, although this is unlikely to speed up the process. Therefore, this method is an alternative and is used only when search does not work in Windows 7.

In my articles, tips and notes, I often refer the reader to the Windows Registry Editor. Many of them involve intensive work with registry keys and values. I suddenly realized that not all of my readers had gotten their teeth into working with this program, and some had never even launched Registry Editor. Therefore, I decided to write a small guide to this program.

Table of contents:

What is Registry Editor

Registry Editor was historically created as a tool for users who needed to change Windows settings, which do not appear in the user interface. The main function of this program is to view and change settings in system registry, that is, a set of special binary files that contain information about the Windows configuration and about almost all programs that are installed on your computer. Windows OS, and many programs (with the exception of those that are so-called “portable”, portable, in other words, do not require installation) store their settings in the registry.

How to launch Registry Editor

Method 1
Regardless Windows versions installed on your computer, this method will work:

Method 2
The Registry Editor executable is located in C:\Windows, which means you can open this folder in Explorer and run the regedit.exe file with a mouse click.

Alternatively, you can create a shortcut for Regedit.exe and place it in the Start menu/list Windows applications 8.x, to the folder

%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

This will make Registry Editor visible in the results Windows search, and will also allow you to launch the application with one click of the mouse.

General view of the Registry Editor

The Registry Editor looks like this:

As you can see in the picture above, it consists of two panels:

• the left one displays a hierarchical representation of the data structure, it is called sections (or keys);
• the right panel displays options. They are name = data pairs and are stored inside keys.

What the Registry Editor shows

As I mentioned above, the editor shows us sections and options.

Sections are a virtual representation of data from several files that form registry database. You can see which files represent the registry on your computer if you go to this section:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\hivelist

Here you can see a list of files on your hard drive that store registry data. The data inside them, as mentioned above, has a hierarchical structure, and the Registry Editor shows it in the form of a “tree”. Tree roots (main keys) in general case represent a specific file to which data is provided access.

However, there are also virtual keys that appear in the Registry Editor as regular files, but in reality they are a representation of several files or even individual registry branches. They exist generally for backward compatibility. For example, HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG is a virtual view, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT is also a virtual view that combines the current user's registry keys and the system keys.

Please note that some registry files do not appear in the Registry Editor window. For example, you will never see what is stored inside the SAM (Security Accounts Manager) file. In the registry editor it is represented by the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM branch and it is supposedly empty there. This is done for security reasons.

Registry Settings used by Windows OS and many third party applications for storage various parameters configurations and parts of user data. Parameter values ​​are various types, but in general these are text values/strings, numeric values, or binary values.

How to create a new registry key

To create a new key, right-click on the parent partition in the left pane and select Create -> Section from context menu.

You must name the created partition according to the requirements of the program for which you are creating it.

How to create a new parameter

To create new parameter, you need to right-click

• on the current section on the left
  or
• in the empty space in the right panel.

Select the appropriate type for the new parameter and enter its name. Double-click the parameter name to set its value.

How to become the owner of a section and get full access to it

Just as the concepts of "permissions" and "owner" apply to files and folders in file system NTFS, they also exist for registry keys. Since the era Windows Vista To this day, most registry keys that store OS settings are protected by restricted access rights so that they cannot be easily deleted or changed by the user. Sometimes you may need to change the data in such partitions, and for this you need to be able to change the owner of the partition and get to it full access. This is quite easy to do.

How to restore TrustedInstaller as partition owner

Almost all system registry keys in Windows Vista, 7 and 8 have the TrustedInstaller account as their owner. After editing partition permissions, you must return ownership rights to this account, otherwise the operating system may not work correctly. To restore the TrustedInstaller property in Windows Vista, 7 and 8, enter NT Service\TrustedInstaller in the "Enter the names of the selected objects" field. Click OK.

How to change permissions on a registry key

After changing the owner of a registry key, you almost always have to change the access rights, otherwise you won't be able to change the parameter values. To do this, you must switch to the Permissions tab in the Advanced Security Settings dialog box.

Subsections may have so-called inherited permissions from its parent section. Alternatively, subkeys can also have explicit permissions that are different from the parent key.

In the first case, that is, if the permissions are inherited from the parent key, you must disable inheritance and copy the parent section's permissions to the current key in order to be able to change them. To do this in Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP, uncheck the "Add permissions that are inherited from parents" option and click the Add button in the confirmation dialog box.

After disabling inheritance, select the appropriate account user and click the button Change to change access rights.

Windows 8 has a special button to disable inheritance:

Permissions can be set in two ways: after disabling inheritance, you can set them only on the current key, or you can set permissions on the current key, and then apply them to all its subkeys. To do this, check the box Replace all permission entries of a child object with those inherited from this object. This action will push the permissions you set down the key hierarchy for all subkeys.

Registry Editor command line switches

Go to the desired registry section with one click

Option #1

Some time ago I created a utility called RegOwnershipEx, which allows you to gain full access to a registry key with one click. In addition, it allows you to go to the desired registry section. I recommend that you familiarize yourself with it.

RegOwnershipEx allows the following:

• become the owner and gain full access to the selected registry section. There is a registry overview window for easy selection of a section.
• Favorites - for quick access to your favorite registry section. It is integrated with the Registry Editor's Favorites menu.
• restore the permissions and ownership that you changed earlier. those. The program allows you to return rights to their original state.
• "open in regedit" function - you can open the selected key in the registry editor. This is a very convenient option to quickly jump to a section by simply copying its name.
• shortcuts for root partitions - you can use HKCU instead of HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKLM instead of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and so on.
• getting the registry path from the Windows clipboard.
• argument command line"/j" to extract the path to the registry key from the Windows clipboard and quickly jump to the registry editor.

All this is damn convenient!

Option 2

I have sketched out a simple script that will receive the contents of the clipboard, write it to the registry and open the registry editor. The following scenario is assumed: You are reading an article, it says “go to the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion”. You select the path to the section, press CTRL+C and run the script. The Registry Editor opens in in the right place. .

Today's topic is about the eight. As you already know, this OS has changed a lot GUI, and even experienced users found it difficult to find familiar elements. For example, due to the redesign of the start menu, not everyone could, and many such situations arose. To make it easier for users, let’s take a closer look at how to log in Windows registry 8 in several ways.

Remember, any changes made through the registry editor may negatively affect the stable operation of your computer. Before editing, make a system restore point, through which, in case of an error, you will return the PC to a working state. You can also make a copy of the registry section that you are editing. After all the preparations, you can start running regedit.

Ways to open the Registry Editor in Windows 8

The first method uses search. Click "start" and you will be taken to the start screen. In this area, move all the way to the right, then click the magnifying glass icon located next to the power control (shutdown) button.

Note: You don't have to go to the start screen, just press Win + W where you are now.

A panel with a search form will appear in front of you, where you will need to enter regedit.exe. After successful entry, click the Enter key or select Registry Editor from the list that appears below.

If you see a UAC window, click “yes”. This way you can access the registry on Windows 8.

In order not to enter the name of the editor file each time, I suggest placing the regedit file shortcut in a visible place. While typing the file name, when regedit appears in the list, right-click on it and select one of the following options:

1. Pin to home screen– the Windows 8 registry editor is attached as a tile to the work area of ​​the start screen.
2. Pin to taskbar - The most productive of these two methods, a registry shortcut is placed on the taskbar.

The second method is to click on the context menu item. Windows 7 does not provide this function, so in the previous article we added this item manually. Right-click on an empty space on your desktop. IN open menu Select the item called “registry editor”.

In the third method it is necessary. This is done by a combination Windows keys+ R, after which the familiar construction regedit.exe is entered into the line, then Enter or OK is pressed.

By following 1 of 3 recommendations, you can enter the Windows 8 registry in a way convenient for you. All the described recommendations can be used equally, and there is no clear leader here. Sometimes a picture emerges that after trying all the steps, the Windows 8 Registry Editor does not open, showing an error that, follow the link to fix the problem.

The registry is a large database that stores all the parameters necessary for the normal operation of the operating system. You can view it through the registry editor, which is available in Windows. Any user can log in if their account has administrator rights.

And if you made any changes, or the computer turned off by itself, for various reasons, or you accidentally pressed the wrong key and deleted a parameter or an entire registry branch, then this may not have the best effect on the operation of the computer.

And yet, if this happens, let's figure out what ways there are to restore the Windows 7 and Windows 8 registry so that the computer can operate normally.

Using a backup

As you probably guessed, this the method will work not everyone. If you previously created backups registry via “File” – “Export” - read on, if not, move on to the next method.

So, you have a backup copy. Press the combination Win + R, the “Run” window will open. In the “Open” field we write regedit and click “OK”.

The Registry Editor window should appear. In it, go to the “File” tab and select “Import” from the menu.

Explorer will open, find the previously created backup in it and click “Open”.

Wait while the files are copied.

Using System Restore

System recovery can be done using restore checkpoints. You could create them earlier, when the system was stable and you were satisfied with everything. Or they could be created automatically by the system: when making changes to the computer configuration, before installing drivers, etc.

Let's first consider how to restore the registry if the operating system boots. In Windows 7, go to Start - "Control Panel".

Here we are interested in the point "Recovery".

In the next window, click "Run System Restore".

Now you need to select a restore point. If there are several points, and you are in doubt, look at the date the point was created - did your computer work normally on these dates?! - choose her. Clicking "Search for affected programs", you can see which programs will be removed as a result of recovery. Click "Next".

We confirm the system rollback to the selected state by clicking “Finish”.

All data, including the registry, will correspond to the state that was at the time the selected recovery point was created.

If you have Windows 8 installed on your computer, read the article: Windows 8 restore point and system rollback. There you will be interested in the second part. The steps you will need to perform are the same as those described above.

If the OS does not start

Restore the registry if the computer does not turn on It's also possible. In the operating room Windows system 7, When the computer boots, press the F8 button at 1 second intervals. A window will appear "More download options". In it, use the arrows to select the item "Troubleshooting your computer".

In the next window, select your language and click Next.

Select your account, it is better if it has administrator rights, then enter the password if you have one set when logging in, and click OK.

The following window should appear, select the item in it "System Restore".

A recovery window will open, click “Next” in it and repeat the steps described in the paragraph above.

If you have Windows 8 installed on your computer, you can press F8 or Shift+F8 when loading, but you are unlikely to see a window for additional download options. It's best to use a system repair disk or bootable USB flash drive. You can create them on any other computer with Windows 8 installed.

Follow the link and read the article on how to restore Windows 8. Everything is described there in detail. You should see the following window. Then follow the path: “Diagnostics” – "System Restore", and select the desired restore point.

Via command line

In Windows, the files that are responsible for the operation of the registry are stored in the following path: C: (your system drive letter)/Windows/System32/config. There is also a folder RegBack, it stores backup copies of all registry branches. They are updated automatically by the system, depending on the settings, every 5-10 days.

We need to do the following: delete the files DEFAULT, SAM, SECURITY, SYSTEM, SOFTWARE, which are located in the config folder, and replace them with similar files from the RegBack folder.

IN operating system we will not be able to do this, since we will need to replace the files responsible for its operation. Therefore, you need to use additional boot options and open the command line.

In Windows 7, press F8 when the system boots. Then you need to do everything as described in the paragraph above. In the window "System Recovery Options", select item "Command line". As a result, the command line will launch as administrator.

In Windows 8, you can open the command line using the combination. This is described in detail in the article: Windows 8 Safe Mode. Read the point: go to safe mode using the combination Shift+reboot. When the following window appears, select "Command line".

If the computer does not turn on at all due to changes in the registry, then read the paragraph: enter safe mode using a system repair disk (you can create it on any computer with installed Windows 8).

So, we launched the command line. Now enter the following commands line by line. At the end of each line, press Enter. First, let's create a badreg folder on system disk, we will copy all the files of our non-working registry into it. Then we safely delete the files DEFAULT, SAM, SECURITY, SYSTEM, SOFTWARE from the config folder, because we have copies of them. And lastly, copy the backups from the regback folder to the config folder.

MD c:\badreg
copy c:\windows\system32\config\default c:\badreg
copy c:\windows\system32\config\sam c:\badreg
copy c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\badreg
copy c:\windows\system32\config\security c:\badreg
copy c:\windows\system32\config\software c:\badreg

delete c:\windows\system32\config\default
delete c:\windows\system32\config\sam
delete c:\windows\system32\config\system
delete c:\windows\system32\config\security
delete c:\windows\system32\config\software

copy c:\windows\system32\config\regback\default c:\windows\system32\config\
copy c:\windows\system32\config\regback\sam c:\windows\system32\config\
copy c:\windows\system32\config\regback\system c:\windows\system32\config\
copy c:\windows\system32\config\regback\security c:\windows\system32\config\
copy c:\windows\system32\config\regback\software c:\windows\system32\config\
exit

After you enter the exit command, the command prompt window will close and the computer will restart.

I hope one of the methods will help you restore the registry in the Windows 7 or 8 operating system.

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Discussion: 16 comments

I enter the commands in the line as shown, for some reason it says: “the system was unable to find this path,” what should I do?

Answer

1. Most likely, your DEFAULT, SAM, SECURITY, SYSTEM, SOFTWARE folders are located in a different path, but not c:\windows\system32\config.

   Answer

   1. So what should I do?

      Answer

      1. You need to find out the path to the specified files. Do you have the 32-bit or 64-bit version installed?