INSTALL WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL FROM A MASTER IMAGEIN THIS EXERCISE, Y...

4-19Lesson 2 Editing the RegistryTable 4-8

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Subkeys

Subkey Description

SAM The directory database for the computer. The SAM hive maps to the SAM and

SAM.LOG files in the %systemroot%\System32\Config directory. Applications

that query SAM must use the appropriate application programming interfaces

(APIs). This hive is a pointer to the same one accessible under

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY\SAM.

SECURITY The security information for the local computer. The SECURITY hive maps to

the Security and SECURITY.LOG files in the %systemroot%\System32\Config

directory.

Applications cannot modify the keys contained in the SECURITY subkey.

Instead, applications must query security information by using the security APIs.

SOFTWARE Information about the local computer software that is independent of per-user

configuration information. This hive maps to the Software and SOFTWARE.LOG

files in the %systemroot%\System32\Config directory. It also contains file asso-

ciations and OLE information.

SYSTEM Information about system devices and services. When you install or configure

device drivers or services, they add or modify information under this hive.

The SYSTEM hive maps to the System and SYSTEM.LOG files in the

%systemroot%\System32\Config directory. The Registry keeps a backup of

the data in the SYSTEM hive in the SYSTEM.ALT file.

Control Sets

A typical Windows XP Professional installation contains the following control set sub-

keys: Clone, ControlSet001, ControlSet002, and CurrentControlSet. Control sets are

stored as subkeys of the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM (see Figure