Differences between regedit and regedt32

trick000

What are their main differences? I think one is that regedt32 allows you to view the registry in read only mode while regedit does not. Also regedt32 is available with windows 2000 but not with windows 9x. It's also available with xp but I don't think XP is part of the objectives. Anyway, if I'm wrong please correct me!

RussS

I haven't a W2K machine available right now, but I seem to remember having regedit and regedt32 both open when I was doing my A+ training. With XP I don't seem to be able to do that. I also seem to remember that the difference between them was that there wasn't a search function in REGEDT32 like there was in regedit and that may be why both were included in W2K.
REGEDT32 may have a read only function, but the biggest difference is the way that it looks - kind of like sysedit with cascading windows (all very 3.1 looking actually ... lol).

RussS

Dang - multitasking again - sorry guys.

A good quick ref is http://www.ntfaq.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=14738

A MS article http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/advanced/help/default.asp?url=/windows2000/en/advanced/help/sag_ntregconcepts_kvzt.htm

Another good article with screenshots http://www.petri.co.il/before_you_begin.htm

trick000

thanks for the prompt reply. After reading some of the links you gave me I found out that regedt32 in XP/2003 is just a small program that runs regedit. haha... why do they even have it on there?

RussS

Why have it there? - hmmm we will never know ... hahahaha

Actually I think it probably was just one of those things with the way XP was developed.

Webmaster

I'm sorry guys, but you missed the most important things...

The main differences (from the top of my head, so you might want to follow RussS' links) are that regedit is the Win 9x version and regedt32 is the NT version (and since 2000 and XP and 2003 are 'built on' NT...) and that regedt32 allows permissions to be configured on hives and keys in the registry, and regedt32 can export individual subtrees and keys. Regedit can be used to make a complete backup of the registry.
And, if I remember correctly from my NT 4 sys admin days, regedit supports less value types than regedt32...

Regedit can be used in Windows NT and 2000 but is not recommended, use regedt32.exe instead.

If your windows 9x registry is so corrupted Windows can't start, you can use regedit in command-line mode in real dos mode to perform a restore for example.

I wouldn't say that "regedt32 in XP/2003 is just a small program that runs regedit". The commands now both start the Registry Editor with all the features combined.

Johan