Viewing registry files from other computers #
I was looking for an app to view registry files from other computers. Google quickly turned up Alien Registry Viewer, whose blurb read, "Alien Registry Viewer is similar to the RegEdit application included into Windows, but unlike RegEdit, it works with standalone registry files. While RegEdit shows the contents of the system registry, Alien Registry Viewer works with registry files copied from other computers." That sounded swell, but $69 seemed a bit steep for this type of app.
A little more digging turned up the freeware Windows Registry Recovery, "The best tool for crashed machine registry recovery". In addition to the raw registry data, it provides a host of information:
- File Information: In this explorer you can see basic file properties and checksums.
- Security Record Explorer: Displays all security records used in registry. Usage counter, owner SID, group SID, list of affected keys and list of SACL and DACL is displayed for every record with flags and permissions enumerated. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry hives.
- SAM: Displays Machine SID and part of SYSKEY. Enumerates local user and group accounts and some of their properties. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry SAM hive.
- Windows Installation: Displays Windows name, ID and key, install date and user registration info. Enumerates installed software with descriptions and install date and list of installed hotfixes with description. This explorer is available only SOFTWARE registry hive (Product ID and key are extracted in SYSTEM hive too).
- Control Set: Displays all configured devices that worked on host machine. They are displayed in "like Device Manager" tree with some properties. This explorer is available for SYSTEM registry hive.
- User Data: Displays user and machine name and tree based Start menu for selected USER hive. This explorer is available for USER registry hive.
- Startup Applications: Enumerates applications that are registered to be run after startup. This explorer is available for SOFTWARE registry hive.
- Services and Drivers: Enumerates all installed services and drivers with properties. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry SYSTEM hive.
- Network Configuration: Displays all installed network clients, protocols and services. Enumerates all defined network connections with its TCP/IP configuration. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry SYSTEM hive.
- Environment: Displays all environment variables. This explorer is available only for NT based system registry SYSTEM hive.
- Raw Data: This explorer displays whole registry in known tree format. Contains powerful searching and data interpreter.
/windows | Sep 15, 2006
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