How to Edit Registry Key (regkey) in Windows XP or Vista?

Keep in mind that editing registry keys can be very complicated and highly risky.

Warning: Please do NOT try this unless you are absolutely positive that you might mess up the system, and, as always, it’s highly recommended that you do a backup of the registry (or whole system) before making any modifications.

Here are the most common steps you might ever need to know for basic troubleshooting:

EDITING REGISTRY KEY IN WINDOWS XP:

Step 1. Go to Start.
Step 2. Click Run.
Step 3. Type “regedit” and click on OK.

Step 4. Now it opens the Registry Editor.

Step 5. In order to modify the registry key, you need to find the exact registry key you want to edit. In case you know what exact subkey you are looking for, you can easily navigate through the subkey.

Or, you can press Ctrl + F (or go to Edit  -> Find) to locate the subkey that contains the value you want to edit.

Click F3 to Find Next.

Example: I will provide you the example of editing the reg key which would restrict anonymous user accounts.

In this case, you have to make some changes in the registry.

Step 1. Go to Start.
Step 2. Click Run.

Step 3. Type “regedit” and click on OK.
Step 4. Now it opens the Registry Editor.

Step 5. Find the following key:
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet ->LSA
Step 6. Find the existing DWORD value which is named “RestrictAnonymous”

Step 7. Set the value either to “0″, “1″ or “2″ from the list below:

• 0 – Allow anonymous users
• 1 – Restrict anonymous users
• 2 – Allow users with explicit anonymous permissions

Finally, you might be asked to restart Windows for the change going to be effected.

EDITING REGISTRY KEY IN WINDOWS VISTA:

Step 1. Go to Start.
Step 2. Type “regedit” in Search files and folders section.


Step 3. Click Enter.
Step 4. Open the Windows Registry.
Step 5. Click OK to continue the procedure.
Step 6. Now you are on the Windows Registry.

Step 5. In order to modify the registry key, you need to find the exact registry key you want to edit. In case you know what exact subkey you are looking for, you can easily navigate through the subkey.

Or, you can press Ctrl + F (or go to Edit  -> Find) to locate the subkey that contains the value you want to edit.

Click F3 to Find Next.

Example: I will provide you the example of how you can edit windows registry in order to control the icon titles. You can either choose the icon titles to be word wrapped over multiple lines, or shown in one longer line.
Step 1. Go to Start.
Step 2. Type “regedit” in Search files and folders section.

Step 3. Click Enter.
Step 4. Open the Windows Registry.
Step 5. Click OK to continue the procedure.
Step 6. Now you are on the Windows Registry.

Step 7. Find the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Control Panel -> Desktop -> Window Metrics
Step 8. Find the existing DWORD value which is named “IconTitleWrap .”

Step 9. Set the value either to “0″ or “1″:

• 0 – disabled
• 1 – enabled.

You might be asked to restart your computer in order to make the changes visible.
Keep in mind that any changes in Windows Registry should be taken with caution. Be sure you know what you are doing.