CertiGuide to A+ (A+ 4 Real)  9  Chapter 1: What are Operating Systems and How Do They Work?       9  The Registry            9  Registry Tools - RegEdit.EXE

Creating a New Registry Key 1 Exporting and Importing Registry Data

Next, we will add some values to the key. Right click either anywhere in the white space in the right hand pane, or on the CompTIA key in the left hand pane. Select “New” from the popup menu, and click on “String Value”. A new string value will be created in the key, and you will be prompted to name it. Give it any name you like, and press return. The string is currently empty, so double click it to display the value editor dialog.

Enter any text you like into the “Value data” text box, and click OK to set the value. The RegEdit window is updated, and the value is now accessible by any application that chooses to use it.

Next, right click on the CompTIA key in the left hand pane, select “New” and click the “DWORD Value” option. A dialog will appear.

Type a number into the “Value data” box, but do not click “OK”. Instead, click the “Decimal” radio button. Notice how the value you entered in the “Value Data” box has changed? When creating a new DWORD, RegEdit will automatically convert the value, you enter between hexadecimal and decimal. In the above screenshot, the 99 hexadecimal value will be converted to 153 decimal when the “Decimal” radio button is clicked. This is a very important behavior of RegEdit, as it can be easy to enter a completely wrong value without realizing. If the value required is actually 99 decimal, click the “Decimal” radio button first, then enter 99 in the “Value Data” box. Once you are happy that the correct number will be used, click “OK” to create the value.

Note that RegEdit displays the hex value of the DWORD first, followed by the decimal value in brackets.

Creating a New Registry Key 1 Exporting and Importing Registry Data