Registration file

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A registry file is a file that contains information from a registry (for example, the Windows registry ). Registry files can be used on computer systems operated with Microsoft Windows or ReactOS to export and pass on information from the registry database or to import it back into the same. These files end in .reg and can be added to the registry database in the standard Windows configuration by double-clicking. In connection with Wine , the registration files are special text files that can be located in the ".wine" subdirectory within a user profile on a Linux system. They are also referred to as internal registration files, as they have a different format than the registration files that were created using the export function of the regedit program supplied with Wine. The Wine registration files contain both configuration data from Wine itself and data stored by third-party software. In contrast to Windows, the entire registration database under Wine is bound to the user profile (including HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE), so there is no global registration information.

Problems and dangers

Under the Microsoft Windows and ReactOS operating systems, the registration database is the central element for controlling the behavior of the system or system services. Changes made by executing registry files can cause profound changes in the system, start malicious programs automatically or even render the computer unusable because the operating system no longer starts correctly.

construction

If the registry file was created using the export function of the Regedit utility program under Microsoft Windows, the first line always shows " Windows Registry Editor Version Version number ". Internal registration files created by Wine have the following header in the same place: " WINE REGISTRY Version Version number ". In the next line, if the files were created automatically by Wine, there is a comment introduced with " ;; " which indicates which key the file refers to, for example: " ;; All keys relative to \\ Machine " in the file "~ / .wine / system.reg".

Then a blank line follows.

This is followed by a line that specifies the path in square brackets that indicates the location in the registry where the following information is to be stored. This is followed by pairs of keys and values, each enclosed in quotation marks, which are saved. The key and value are separated by an equal sign.

By placing a "-" in front of the path in square brackets, the entire tree below is deleted when the .reg file is imported into the registry database. Example: [-HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Applets \ Regedit] (deletes the history of the Windows registry editor)

( Backslashes are masked out by double backslashes .)

example

  • Wine (internal registration, "~ / .wine / system.reg")
WINE REGISTRY Version 2
;; All keys relative to \\Machine

[Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run]
"StarteMeinenTaschenrechner"="C:\\WINDOWS\\calc.exe"


  • Wine (exported registry file, character encoding: ANSI; typically Windows-1252)
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"StarteMeinenTaschenrechner"="C:\\WINDOWS\\calc.exe"


  • Windows (exported registry file, character encoding: Unicode; typically UTF-16 little-endian)
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"StarteMeinenTaschenrechner"="C:\\WINDOWS\\calc.exe"


This registration file, if it is entered in the registration database, has the effect that the calculator supplied with Wine or Windows is automatically executed when the compatibility layer Wine or the Microsoft Windows operating system is started.