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.