Managing the Windows NT Registry

The Windows NT Registry is the repository for all hardware, software, and application configuration settings, and Managing the Windows NT Registry is the system administrator's guide to maintaining, monitoring, and updating the Registry database. The book addresses four main areas: What is the Registry? Where does it live on disk? How do system services access and use it? What do you do if it's damaged or corrupted? Every NT administrator faces questions like this, often in a desperate attempt to fix something that's broken. What tools are available? Detailed descriptions of Regedit, RegEdt32, the System Policy Editor, and selected Resource Kit utilities explain how to edit and secure the Registry both on local and on remote computers. How can I access the Registry from a program? Regularly monitoring the Registry's contents is one way to preclude unpleasant surprises. Using examples in C++, Visual Basic, and Perl, Managing the WIndows NT Registry demonstrates how to create Registry-aware tools and scripts. What's in the Registry? Not all Registry keys are adequately documented by Microsoft or by the other vendors who store configuration data in the Registry. Managing the Windows NT Registry offers a guided tour of some of these undocumented keys; in addition, the associated Web site provides a "living database" of Registry keys that readers can search (and contribute to). This book is a "must have" for every NT system manager or administrator.

Table of Contents:
Preface. 1. A Gentle Introduction to the NT Registry A Brief History of the Registry What Does the Registry Do? Advantages Offered By the Registry Registry Zen. 2. NT Registry Nuts and Bolts How the Registry Is Structured What Goes in the Registry Getting Data In and Out. 3. In Case of Emergency Don't Panic! Safety Strategies All About Emergency Repair Disks Backing Up the Registry Restoring a Backed-Up Registry 4. Using RegEdit Know Your Limitations Learning the RegEdit Interface "Just Browsing, Thanks" Connecting to Other Machines' Registries Searching for Keys and Values Printing Registry Contents Working with Keys and Values Exporting and Importing Data RegEdit Command-Line Options. 5. Using RegEdt32 How RegEdt32 and RegEdit Differ Learning the RegEdt32 Interface Browsing with RegEdt32 Remote Registry Editing Searching for Keys Saving and Loading Registry Keys Printing Registry Contents Editing Keys and Values Registry Security. 6. Using the System Policy Editor All About NT Policies Introducing the System Policy Editor Managing Policies with POLEDIT Distributing Policies What's in the Standard Policy Templates Picking the Right Policies. 7. Programming with the Registry The Registry API Programming with C/C++ Programming with Perl Programming with Visual Basic. 8. Administering the NT Registry Setting Defaults for New User Accounts Using Initialization File Mapping Limiting Remote Registry Access Fixing Registry Security ACLs Encrypting HKLM/SAM with SYSKEY Miscellaneous Good Stuff Using the Resource Kit Utilities Spying on the Registry with NTREGMON. 9. Registry Tweaks User Interface Tweaks Filesystem Tweaks Security Tweaks Performance Tweaks Network Tweaks Printing Tweaks. 10. The Registry Documented What's Here and What's Not HKLM\HARDWARE HKLM\SOFTWARE HKLM\SYSTEM HKU HKCR HKCU HKCC HKDD. Index

About the Author :
Paul Robichaux is an experienced software deveoper and author. He's worked on UNIX, Macintosh, and Win32 development projects over the past six years, including a stint on Intergraph's OLE team. He is the author of the Windows NT Server 4 Administrator's Guide.