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Why do Windows registry hives appear empty?
Why do Windows registry hives appear empty?
Folder shortcut created on Windows 7 behaving oddly on XP and 2003Is it possible to open a file with different programs from explorer and from shell?Grant Admin rights to an entire registry Hive?System32 folder is emptyWhy do different programs show different contents of c:windowssystem32How do I fix my Windows 10 PC to normal condition after using a registry cleaner without backing upTrying to fix Windows 7 PC after deleting a registry key for a class experimentAttempted to restore registry from WindowsSystem32ConfigRegBackup with xcopy. Got Share Violation errorWindows 10 adds ---open-url to registry value for default program open commandHow to fix Windows 10 Registry With bootable Install USB?
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I went into "C:WindowsSystem32config" on my Windows 10 machine, and tried to open the registry hive files.
SOFTWARE, for example, has a size of exactly 128 MB as reported by Explorer, but when opening it with Visual Studio Code, it is shown as empty. Notepad refuses to open it because it is "used by another process". I get the same results for the other files (SYSTEM, SECURITY, etc.).
Is Windows trying to prevent me from doing something stupid? Are these files special in some way (besides hosting the registry)?
windows windows-registry
asked 11 hours ago
ArnoArno
5363624
add a comment |
I went into "C:WindowsSystem32config" on my Windows 10 machine, and tried to open the registry hive files.
SOFTWARE, for example, has a size of exactly 128 MB as reported by Explorer, but when opening it with Visual Studio Code, it is shown as empty. Notepad refuses to open it because it is "used by another process". I get the same results for the other files (SYSTEM, SECURITY, etc.).
Is Windows trying to prevent me from doing something stupid? Are these files special in some way (besides hosting the registry)?
windows windows-registry
asked 11 hours ago
ArnoArno
5363624
Of course they are special - they are the heart of Windows.
– harrymc
11 hours ago
@harrymc: So is ntoskrnl.exe, but that opens up in Notepad just fine.
– grawity
10 hours ago
1
@grawity: Are you looking for homogeneity in Windows permissions?
– harrymc
10 hours ago
add a comment |
I went into "C:WindowsSystem32config" on my Windows 10 machine, and tried to open the registry hive files.
SOFTWARE, for example, has a size of exactly 128 MB as reported by Explorer, but when opening it with Visual Studio Code, it is shown as empty. Notepad refuses to open it because it is "used by another process". I get the same results for the other files (SYSTEM, SECURITY, etc.).
Is Windows trying to prevent me from doing something stupid? Are these files special in some way (besides hosting the registry)?
windows windows-registry
asked 11 hours ago
ArnoArno
5363624
I went into "C:WindowsSystem32config" on my Windows 10 machine, and tried to open the registry hive files.
SOFTWARE, for example, has a size of exactly 128 MB as reported by Explorer, but when opening it with Visual Studio Code, it is shown as empty. Notepad refuses to open it because it is "used by another process". I get the same results for the other files (SYSTEM, SECURITY, etc.).
Is Windows trying to prevent me from doing something stupid? Are these files special in some way (besides hosting the registry)?
windows windows-registry
windows windows-registry
asked 11 hours ago
ArnoArno
5363624
asked 11 hours ago
ArnoArno
5363624
asked 11 hours ago
ArnoArno
5363624
asked 11 hours ago
ArnoArno
5363624
asked 11 hours ago
ArnoArno
5363624
5363624
Of course they are special - they are the heart of Windows.
– harrymc
11 hours ago
@harrymc: So is ntoskrnl.exe, but that opens up in Notepad just fine.
– grawity
10 hours ago
1
@grawity: Are you looking for homogeneity in Windows permissions?
– harrymc
10 hours ago
add a comment |
Of course they are special - they are the heart of Windows.
– harrymc
11 hours ago
@harrymc: So is ntoskrnl.exe, but that opens up in Notepad just fine.
– grawity
10 hours ago
1
@grawity: Are you looking for homogeneity in Windows permissions?
– harrymc
10 hours ago
Of course they are special - they are the heart of Windows.
– harrymc
11 hours ago
Of course they are special - they are the heart of Windows.
– harrymc
11 hours ago
@harrymc: So is ntoskrnl.exe, but that opens up in Notepad just fine.
– grawity
10 hours ago
@harrymc: So is ntoskrnl.exe, but that opens up in Notepad just fine.
– grawity
10 hours ago
1
1
@grawity: Are you looking for homogeneity in Windows permissions?
– harrymc
10 hours ago
@grawity: Are you looking for homogeneity in Windows permissions?
– harrymc
10 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
They appear as empty because Visual Studio Code doesn't understand the concept of not being able to open the file. They're not actually empty, vscode is just literally unable to know whether they are or not.
Windows has the concept of "exclusive open" (aka "share modes", elsewhere also called "mandatory locking"). It is commonly used by database software to prevent another program from writing data at the same time as the database engine is managing it; if two handlers tried to write at once, they could end up corrupting the entire database. The same applies to filesystems – Windows doesn't actually let you access the raw disk device if it is mounted as a filesystem.
(That said, there are database formats specifically made for simultaneous access, such as LMDB.)
But the primary reason Windows Registry uses exclusive open is for security enforcement. Each Registry key can have a set of permissions (DACL/SACL) attached to it, just like a file or folder. If you could directly open a registry hive (especially the system or security hives), you could simply read the data that was supposed to be secured via permissions.
answered 11 hours ago
grawitygrawity
248k38526585
1
Blocking other readers is potentially useful for a database that doesn't want other readers to see some of the file from before a transaction, some of the file from after a write, and even some bytes from the file during a supposedly atomic transaction. It's certainly inconvenient for use-cases where you don't care about getting a clean snapshot of the whole file, though.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
1
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votes
They appear as empty because Visual Studio Code doesn't understand the concept of not being able to open the file. They're not actually empty, vscode is just literally unable to know whether they are or not.
Windows has the concept of "exclusive open" (aka "share modes", elsewhere also called "mandatory locking"). It is commonly used by database software to prevent another program from writing data at the same time as the database engine is managing it; if two handlers tried to write at once, they could end up corrupting the entire database. The same applies to filesystems – Windows doesn't actually let you access the raw disk device if it is mounted as a filesystem.
(That said, there are database formats specifically made for simultaneous access, such as LMDB.)
But the primary reason Windows Registry uses exclusive open is for security enforcement. Each Registry key can have a set of permissions (DACL/SACL) attached to it, just like a file or folder. If you could directly open a registry hive (especially the system or security hives), you could simply read the data that was supposed to be secured via permissions.
answered 11 hours ago
grawitygrawity
248k38526585
1
Blocking other readers is potentially useful for a database that doesn't want other readers to see some of the file from before a transaction, some of the file from after a write, and even some bytes from the file during a supposedly atomic transaction. It's certainly inconvenient for use-cases where you don't care about getting a clean snapshot of the whole file, though.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
add a comment |
They appear as empty because Visual Studio Code doesn't understand the concept of not being able to open the file. They're not actually empty, vscode is just literally unable to know whether they are or not.
Windows has the concept of "exclusive open" (aka "share modes", elsewhere also called "mandatory locking"). It is commonly used by database software to prevent another program from writing data at the same time as the database engine is managing it; if two handlers tried to write at once, they could end up corrupting the entire database. The same applies to filesystems – Windows doesn't actually let you access the raw disk device if it is mounted as a filesystem.
(That said, there are database formats specifically made for simultaneous access, such as LMDB.)
But the primary reason Windows Registry uses exclusive open is for security enforcement. Each Registry key can have a set of permissions (DACL/SACL) attached to it, just like a file or folder. If you could directly open a registry hive (especially the system or security hives), you could simply read the data that was supposed to be secured via permissions.
answered 11 hours ago
grawitygrawity
248k38526585
1
Blocking other readers is potentially useful for a database that doesn't want other readers to see some of the file from before a transaction, some of the file from after a write, and even some bytes from the file during a supposedly atomic transaction. It's certainly inconvenient for use-cases where you don't care about getting a clean snapshot of the whole file, though.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
add a comment |
They appear as empty because Visual Studio Code doesn't understand the concept of not being able to open the file. They're not actually empty, vscode is just literally unable to know whether they are or not.
Windows has the concept of "exclusive open" (aka "share modes", elsewhere also called "mandatory locking"). It is commonly used by database software to prevent another program from writing data at the same time as the database engine is managing it; if two handlers tried to write at once, they could end up corrupting the entire database. The same applies to filesystems – Windows doesn't actually let you access the raw disk device if it is mounted as a filesystem.
(That said, there are database formats specifically made for simultaneous access, such as LMDB.)
But the primary reason Windows Registry uses exclusive open is for security enforcement. Each Registry key can have a set of permissions (DACL/SACL) attached to it, just like a file or folder. If you could directly open a registry hive (especially the system or security hives), you could simply read the data that was supposed to be secured via permissions.
answered 11 hours ago
grawitygrawity
248k38526585
They appear as empty because Visual Studio Code doesn't understand the concept of not being able to open the file. They're not actually empty, vscode is just literally unable to know whether they are or not.
Windows has the concept of "exclusive open" (aka "share modes", elsewhere also called "mandatory locking"). It is commonly used by database software to prevent another program from writing data at the same time as the database engine is managing it; if two handlers tried to write at once, they could end up corrupting the entire database. The same applies to filesystems – Windows doesn't actually let you access the raw disk device if it is mounted as a filesystem.
(That said, there are database formats specifically made for simultaneous access, such as LMDB.)
But the primary reason Windows Registry uses exclusive open is for security enforcement. Each Registry key can have a set of permissions (DACL/SACL) attached to it, just like a file or folder. If you could directly open a registry hive (especially the system or security hives), you could simply read the data that was supposed to be secured via permissions.
answered 11 hours ago
grawitygrawity
248k38526585
edited 11 hours ago
answered 11 hours ago
grawitygrawity
248k38526585
answered 11 hours ago
grawitygrawity
248k38526585
answered 11 hours ago
grawitygrawity
248k38526585
248k38526585
1
Blocking other readers is potentially useful for a database that doesn't want other readers to see some of the file from before a transaction, some of the file from after a write, and even some bytes from the file during a supposedly atomic transaction. It's certainly inconvenient for use-cases where you don't care about getting a clean snapshot of the whole file, though.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
add a comment |
1
Blocking other readers is potentially useful for a database that doesn't want other readers to see some of the file from before a transaction, some of the file from after a write, and even some bytes from the file during a supposedly atomic transaction. It's certainly inconvenient for use-cases where you don't care about getting a clean snapshot of the whole file, though.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
1
1
Blocking other readers is potentially useful for a database that doesn't want other readers to see some of the file from before a transaction, some of the file from after a write, and even some bytes from the file during a supposedly atomic transaction. It's certainly inconvenient for use-cases where you don't care about getting a clean snapshot of the whole file, though.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
Blocking other readers is potentially useful for a database that doesn't want other readers to see some of the file from before a transaction, some of the file from after a write, and even some bytes from the file during a supposedly atomic transaction. It's certainly inconvenient for use-cases where you don't care about getting a clean snapshot of the whole file, though.
– Peter Cordes
2 hours ago
add a comment |
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Of course they are special - they are the heart of Windows.
– harrymc
11 hours ago
@harrymc: So is ntoskrnl.exe, but that opens up in Notepad just fine.
– grawity
10 hours ago
1
@grawity: Are you looking for homogeneity in Windows permissions?
– harrymc
10 hours ago