quinriva Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Does anyone know of any programme that will monitor and record any changes to the registry. Basically I reinstall windows a lot and some applications particularly game won't run if certain registry values aren't set. Basically I want to record all the changes that are made on an initial install of the application so that when I reinstall windows I can just update the registry instead of reinstalling the whole game just for a few lines of code.Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLeU Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 Total Uninstall does that..it basicly works by comparing changes in "before" and "after" snapshots of your registry and files/folder on hard disk.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 There are many programs that take before and after snapshots of your registry. One popular one is RegSnap.Google is also your friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marthax Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 I use RegShot. Excellent program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeveL Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 (edited) There are many programs that take before and after snapshots of your registry. One popular one is RegSnap.Google is also your friend.Isn't this the same exporting the whole registry, calling it 1.reg, then exportingthe whole registry after and calling that 2.reg?The problem is still that you need to compare those 2 registry files properly.I found a program to at least compare the 2 registry files - ExamDiff ProYou can set the filter to show only added text and then apply that filter but hereswhy it doesn't always work: if you have an ADDED registry key, like this:[HKLM_Software_AcmeSoftware]"an_entry"=00000001Thsn, this is fair enough, the DIFFERENCE between the registry files is OK and itsall clear, but what about when a program puts entries in the "SharedDlls" key, thenyou get this confusing matter:[HKLM_Software_AcmeSoftware]"an_entry"=00000001"some_shared_dll"=00000001See how the "some_shared_dll" entry there does not have any [sUB_KEY] above it!This is the real kicker.What we need is a program that, when it finds an added entry (stuff on one line in double quotesand NOT stuff in square brackets) it needs to see if any registry sub-key existed there before, inthe case of shared DLL files ,yes there is already a key in the Microsoft Windows XP registry, whichyour program might add entries to!This means you have to sift through it trying to spot those gaps like in the above quote, wheretheres a gap it means it has not "recorded" the change to the KEY, because there is no addedkey! In an ideal world, ExamDiff Pro could take this into account comparing registry files andgive us this correct result:[HKLM_Software_AcmeSoftware]"an_entry"=00000001[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDlls]"some_shared_dll"=00000001The software however, only compared files, it doesn't take this into account and I don'tknow of any software that will check to see if the "entry on its own" had a subkey alreadyin the original 1.reg. Well, it DID have a [KEY] above it, because its there on its own witha gap! Edited June 7, 2007 by LeveL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcemanND Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 formerly from sysinternals now microsoft has their grubby paws on it: regmon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeveL Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 (edited) formerly from sysinternals now microsoft has their grubby paws on it: regmonYeah but the problem is comparing the two files:001 - Registry exported BEFORE installing program.reg002 - Registry exported AFTER installing program.regExporting the registry before and after is simple, its the comparison afterwards thatshard, because if you have a program that puts in shared DLL's and it puts in 1Mb worthof entries, theres no way you're going to be able to check through the "changes" pickingout all the places where it might have put an entry under an already existing key.The problem is - your program (WinDiff, ExamDiff or whatever) only picks up the changesso it is NOT going to pick up on changes where your program puts an entry in under a keythat already exists in the Microsoft Windows Registry like for instance the shared DLL'skey, or the installed programs key!I know of NO program that takes this into account, you would need a program expecially madefor comparing registry files. Edited June 7, 2007 by LeveL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IcemanND Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I wasn't recommending regmon to compare REG files, rather to monitor registry changes live and being able to save that log file to a file to look at afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idontwantspam Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Can't you set this through the Audit Policies in local security policies? I don't remember how, but I think it can be done. Google it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecretNinja Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 cant you use something like Wininstall LE 2003. this alows toy to take before and after snapshots of the system state when installing programs. this will record all registry keys added removed and changed. iirc (i dont have any examples to hand to check) it saves a reg file that you can then use to rewrite the reg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyeball Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 I use RegShot. Excellent program.Same here, as you say Marthax, great program Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 LeveL, try Beyond Compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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