How to Check the Registry in XP
The Windows Registry is a Windows application that stores information for the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Information on third party vendors, Windows and some of the user's personal settings are all stored within the registry. Most of these applications check the registry during the Windows bootup process, or during the individual application's startup sequence. The registry itself takes up very little space on the hard drive. The registry is an integral part of the Windows environment, and for this reason the user must be very careful when accessing it in any way.
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Instructions
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Click "Start" on your taskbar.
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Type "regedit" in the "Run" box and press the "Enter" key. The Registry Editor will open.
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Access the registry. The Registry Editor employs a tree control searching environment to allow the user to maneuver through the registry. To find an area in the registry, you must click through the tree, but this is not much different from searching through folders on your hard drive.
The drive path on a hard drive tells the route you must take to get to a particular object. For example: You can access the Windows Paint program from your "Accessories" folder, but the actual path to find the program is C:\WINDOWS\system32\mspaint.exe. Clicking on the mspaint.exe file will also bring up the Windows Paint program. The registry works under this same concept.
If you wanted to know where your World of Warcraft game was installed, you would navigate through the registry tree following this path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Blizzard Entertainment\World of Warcraft. The location of where you installed your game is in the right-hand window, under "InstallPath."
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Tips & Warnings
Before making any changes to the registry, it is a good idea to back it up first. Follow these steps to back up your registry:
Go into the Registry Editor.
Find the area of the registry you want to edit.
Click the folder (or key) that you are going to edit.
Click "File." Select the "Export" option. Save the exported registry file to whatever location you would like. Click the "Save" button.
Saving the registry does not mean you can rip into it and not worry about possible damages you may cause. Do not play around in the registry. Deleting the wrong key can stop your computer or applications from operating correctly. Entering the registry is not recommended for someone who does not have very good computer skills.
