Differences between Registry File Formats

 

Registrar supports both common file formats used by the native registry editors REGEDIT.EXE and REGEDT32.EXE. This table gives an overview of the different formats and their features.

  registration files registry hive files
Used by REGEDIT.EXE, third party software Windows, REGEDT32.EXE, REGEDIT.EXE on Windows XP
File Extension .reg .hiv, .dat or none
Format ANSI or UNICODE ini style text file binary
Compatibility all Windows versions Win95/98/ME and WinXP/2000/NT have different formats. Other formats exist for XP.
Registry key storage absolute (contains full path name) relative (does not store original path names)
Class Information not stored stored
Security Information (WinNT/2000) not stored stored (permissions, auditing, ownership, classname)
Volatile Registry Keys (WinNT/2000) stored not stored
Suitable for backup no Windows XP/2000/NT

RegEdit registration files are registry files of an undocumented format which allow you to add data or delete keys to the registry. They can be useful for creating redistributable registry scripts but should not be used for backup purposes.

All versions of RegEdit contain serious bugs which cause you to loose registry data of certain kinds. Furthermore, registration files do not store any class information, security descriptors and make no distinction between volatile and non-volatile keys.