System registry hive
- The logical group of keys, subkeys, and values in the registry that has a set of supporting files containing backups of its data is called as Hive.
- Each time a new user logs on to a computer, a new hive is created for that user with a separate file for the user profile. This is called the user profile hive.
- It supports for files containing backups of the data and logical group of keys, subkeys, values in the registry.
- The two formats contain the registry files: standard and latest.
Standard
- The standard format is supported by Windows 2000. It is also supported by new versions of Windows for backward compatibility.
Latest
- The latest format is supported starting with Windows XP.
- Windows version that support the latest format, but hives use the standard format: HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Security, and HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT; all other hives use the latest format.
- Maximum the supporting files for the hives are in the
%SystemRoot%\System32\Configdirectory. These files are updated each time a user logs on.
List of Standard hive and their suppoting files
