Getting information from the Windows registry

The Windows operating system stores all the system configuration information in an internal database called the Windows Registry that is stored as a data dictionary in key-value format for each registry entry.

The registry stores information in a hierarchical way, where the operating system has six entries in the root registry that are located in the system32 folder in the Windows directory structure. In this way, all the contents of the registry have these entries as their starting point.

The following are the top six entry registries and their associated locations in the Windows file structure:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SYSTEM: system32\config\system
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SAM: system32\config\sam
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SECURITY: system32\config\security
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE: system32\config\software
• HKEY_USERS \UserProfile: winnt\profiles\username
• HKEY_USERS.DEFAULT: system32\config\default

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