Windows Registry Branches

Today we are going to delve deeper into Microsoft Windows Registry editing by looking at the 5 main branches of the Windows Registry.

The Windows Registry consist of 5 main branches, as you can see from the pictures below.

Windows Registry 5 Main Branches

Inside this main 5 branches in Windows Registry are registry keys, which are represented by folders, and inside them are Registry SubKeys and Registry Values.

The main 5 branches in the Windows Registry are:

1. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
   The HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT branch contains the information Microsoft Windows needs for internal functions such as OLE (Object Linking and Embedding, the ability to copy and paste between different programs and documents) and drag-and-drop. The HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT is also the database for file associations, which is how the OS determines what program opens when you double click a specific file type. This branch is by far the least user-friendly and the least edited from all the branches.
2. HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   This Windows Registry Branch contain several configuration settings for the user that is currently logged in only. All the customizations that have been made to Windows, such as a new desktop configuration, or a change of font will be stored here. Any Windows or application setting that is specific to your user can be found within this branch of the registry. As such, there are many customization options here. HKEY_CURRENT_USER is actually a sub-set of the HKEY_USERS branch, specific to the currently logged in user only.
3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE is probably the most edited friendly registry branch. This branch contains configuration settings that are specific to the computer and the software installed on it, but independent of users. As such, any changes made here will apply to any user that is logged in.
4. HKEY_USERS
   Like the CURRENT_USER branch, this contains individual configuration settings specific to individual users. However, it contains these options for all users that have been created. The users are identified by their SID (Security Identifier) number.
5. HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
   This is connected to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, in much the same way that the CURRENT_USER branch connects to HKEY_USERS. It specifies hardware and software settings that apply to all users, for a given hardware profile.

Inside each of these 5 main registry branches are keys which hold subkeys and value. We will look into the keys, subkeys and value in the next article.