Windows Registry Search

Use this dialog box to search in the Windows registry.

Options

Search for

Enter the text you are searching for (in key or value names, or in value data).

Find Now/Stop

The Find Now button starts searching. While searching is in progress, the Find Now button is replaced by the Stop button, which you can use to stop the search.

Look in

Specifies the registry key where you want to start searching. The path "REG:\" represents the root of the Windows registry (meaning you will search the entire registry). For example, the path "REG:\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software" represents the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software key.

Help

Displays this help page.

Show options

When checked, additional search options are displayed. Otherwise, only the Found Items list view is shown.

Include subkeys

Select this check box to search all subkeys of the key listed in the Look in box.

Look at: Keys, Values, and Data

Specify whether to search in key names, value names, and/or value data.

HEX-mode

This option applies to the Search for edit box. In hexadecimal mode, characters are entered as hexadecimal numbers. You can also enter normal text in hexadecimal mode, but it must be enclosed in double quotes. For example, if you enter '01 02 "text" 00', it creates a pattern with 7 characters (2+4+1).

Case sensitive

This option applies to the Search for edit box. When checked, searching is case sensitive. Otherwise, searching is case insensitive (uppercase and lowercase characters are treated as equal).

Whole words

This option applies to the Search for edit box. When checked, a found substring must be preceded and followed by a space, tab, or punctuation character, or appear at the start or end of the name. Otherwise, the found substring may be part of a larger string.

Regular expression

This option applies to the Search for edit box. When checked, the Search for field contains a regular expression. Otherwise, it contains plain text. See the description of regular expressions.

Newer or equal to

Searches only keys and values with a date and time newer than or equal to the specified date and time.

Older or equal to

Searches only keys and values with a date and time older than or equal to the specified date and time.

Found items

Found items are displayed here. Click a column header to sort by that column. Use the Space key to focus an item in the active panel.

See Also

Searching in the Windows Registry