Editing Registry Values

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 25, 2021)

You change information in the Registry by using the Registry Editor to change the contents of a value. Here's the simplest way to make your changes:

  1. Start the Registry Editor, as you normally would.
  2. Locate the value you want to change. (You can look for it manually by drilling down through keys and values or you can use the Find feature in the Registry Editor.)
  3. Either double-click the value name at the right side of the Registry Editor or highlight the value and press Enter. You'll see a dialog box that allows you to change the value's contents. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Registry Editor allows you to change Registry values.

  4. Make your changes, as desired.
  5. Click OK.

Remember that when you change values in the Registry, the effect of those changes may not be immediately apparent. In many cases, you'll need to restart Windows—and thereby force it to reload the Registry—in order to see the results of your change.

 This tip (10956) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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