Windows Registry Search

Use this dialog box to search in the Windows registry.

Options

Search for
Enter the text you are searching for (in names of keys or values or in data of values).
Find Now/Stop
The Find Now button starts searching. When searching is in progress, the Find Now button is replaced by the Stop button which you can use to stop searching.
Look in
Specifies the key in the registry where you want to start searching. The path "REG:\" stands for the root of the Windows registry (it means you will search in the whole registry). E.g. the path "REG:\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software" stands for the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software key.
Help
Displays this help page.
Show options
When checked, you can see more search options. Otherwise, you can see only the Found Items listview.
Include subkeys
Select this check box if you want to search all subkeys of the key listed in the Look in box.
Look at: Keys, Values, and Data
Specify if you want to search in names of keys, names of values, and/or data of values.
HEX-mode
This is the option for the Search for edit box. Hexadecimal mode will be used to set character by character in hexadecimal numbers. You can also input normal text in the hexadecimal mode, but it must be quoted using double quotes. So if you set '01 02 "text" 00', it will be a pattern with 7 characters, 2+4+1.
Case sensitive
This is the option for the Search for edit box. When checked, searching for a substring is case sensitive. Otherwise, searching is not case sensitive (upper and lower case characters are equal).
Whole words
This is the option for the Search for edit box. When checked, a found substring must be preceded and followed by a space, tab, or punctuation character, or be at the start or end of the name. Otherwise, the found substring may be a fragment of a larger string.
Regular expression
This is the option for the Search for edit box. When checked, the Search for field contains a regular expression. Otherwise, it contains a plain text. See description of regular expressions.
Newer or equal to
Searches only keys and values with date and time newer or equal to the specified date and time.
Older or equal to
Searches only keys and values with date and time older or equal to the specified date and time.
Found items
You can see found items here. Click on a header of a column to sort according to the column. Use the Space key to focus an item in an active panel.

See Also

Searching in the Windows Registry