What is the point of the registry

[Alpha90]

Ive used DOS then Windows all my computing life (which happens also to be all my life) and i recently converted over to primarally using Unix Derivitives.

Now Unix derivitives such as linux have a etc directory which stores all the conf and unmarked configuration files while DOS uses interdirectory INI files for configuration... WHile windows uses INI files, appdata directories in each user directory, a program data root directory, configuration directories in the windows/system32 directory AND the registery...... What is the point of it all, the registery is a great single point of failure and its redundant. it makes no sense to me.

 

[Brink]

Hello Alpha90,


Here's some info about the registry in Windows to help explain what it's all about and what the point of it is.

• The Windows Registry
• Windows Registry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope this helps some,
Shawn

 

[logicearth]

the registery is a great single point of failure

Nope. While the Registry may look like a single database it is in fact split into multiple databases. It is also harden against and repairable from corruption as long as the part that is corrupted is not system critical. The same applies to configurations on *nix systems. Corrupting system critical configuration on *nix can cause it to kernel panic (known as a BSoD on the Windows side.)

Sadly, people contribute a lot of problems to the Registry when the Registry has nothing do to with the problem in the first place. Oh and for the record, Windows 7 uses no INI files for its configuration. The INI files that exist on the system are for backwards compatibility with old applications. Windows itself does not use them. AppData and ProgramData do not store just configuration but other data that is not suited for the Registry, plus not all applications use the Registry anyways.

For Windows and Microsoft applications almost all configuration is stored in the Registry, very few places otherwise you will find loose configuration files.

 

[Trucidation]

lol, I'd rather have one place to look than have to hunt down scores of ini files, which don't follow a uniform naming scheme let alone the rat's nest of contents. That said, things could be organized better.

 

[Layback Bear]

To me it's a simple answer. To days registry in Windows operating systems took us out of the dark ages of computing.