Win vista regedit

Learn more Don't have a valid product key for Windows Vista? You can still get around those pesky activation pop-ups. Vista allows you to extend your activation grace period by days. With a little tweaking you can renew your activation indefinitely. You can extend your activation even if you've been locked out of Windows. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers. Please log in with your username or email to continue. No account yet?

Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article Steps. Related Articles. Author Info Last Updated: September 16, Open Windows if you're locked out. Perform the following actions if you're locked out by the activation timer.

If you aren't locked out, skip to the next step. Select "Access your computer with reduced functionality". Confirm that you want to run it when prompted. Open the Command Prompt as an administrator. There are a couple different ways to do this: Click the Start menu, right click on Command Prompt, and select "Run as administrator".

Note 2: Another clue that amateurs are not supposed to open the registry, is that the special editor, Regedit, does not appear on any Vista menu. Note 3: The actual executable is called regedit, but for backwards compatibility with NT 4. Editing the Windows Vista Registry with Regedit When a computer is not working properly, there are situations where editing the registry is the best troubleshooting technique.

A replacement for all those ancient. A database for Group Policy settings. A no-go area for amateurs! A tool for troubleshooting operating system problems. Registry Skills Progression To become expert at any task you need to acquire a range of skills.

Let us assume that your mission is to change a setting in Vista by using the registry editor. About The Author Guy Thomas. Related Posts. Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.

Feedback will be sent to Microsoft: By pressing the submit button, your feedback will be used to improve Microsoft products and services. Privacy policy. This article describes the Windows registry and provides information about how to edit and back up it. A central hierarchical database used in Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows NT, and Windows used to store information that is necessary to configure the system for one or more users, applications, and hardware devices.

The Registry contains information that Windows continually references during operation, such as profiles for each user, the applications installed on the computer and the types of documents that each can create, property sheet settings for folders and application icons, what hardware exists on the system, and the ports that are being used.

The Registry replaces most of the text-based. Although the Registry is common to several Windows operating systems, there are some differences among them. A registry hive is a group of keys, subkeys, and values in the registry that has a set of supporting files that contain backups of its data. The file name extensions of the files in these folders indicate the type of data that they contain. Also, the lack of an extension may sometimes indicate the type of data that they contain.

In Windows 98, the registry files are named User. In Windows Millennium Edition, the registry files are named Classes. The following table lists the predefined keys that are used by the system. The maximum size of a key name is characters. Many of the bit keys have the same names as their bit counterparts, and vice versa. For more information about how to view the registry on Bit versions of Windows, see How to view the system registry by using bit versions of Windows.

The following table lists the data types that are currently defined and that are used by Windows. The maximum size of a value name is as follows:. Long values more than 2, bytes must be stored as files with the file names stored in the registry. This helps the registry perform efficiently. The maximum size of a value is as follows:. Before you edit the registry, export the keys in the registry that you plan to edit, or back up the whole registry.

If a problem occurs, you can then follow the steps in the Restore the registry section to restore the registry to its previous state. To back up the whole registry, use the Backup utility to back up the system state. For more information about how to use the Backup utility to back up the system state, see the following articles:. Back up and restore your PC. How to use the backup feature to back up and restore data in Windows Server To modify registry data, a program must use the registry functions that are defined in Registry Functions.

Administrators can modify the registry by using Registry Editor Regedit. We recommend that you use the Windows user interface to change your system settings instead of manually editing the registry. However, editing the registry may sometimes be the best method to resolve a product issue.