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1

I went into "C:WindowsSystem32config" on my Windows 10 machine, and tried to open the registry hive files.

SOFTWARE, for example, has a size of exactly 128 MB as reported by Explorer, but when opening it with Visual Studio Code, it is shown as empty. Notepad refuses to open it because it is "used by another process". I get the same results for the other files (SYSTEM, SECURITY, etc.).

Is Windows trying to prevent me from doing something stupid? Are these files special in some way (besides hosting the registry)?

windows windows-registry

share|improve this question

asked 8 hours ago

ArnoArno

5313624

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Of course they are special - they are the heart of Windows.
  
  – harrymc
  8 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @harrymc: So is ntoskrnl.exe, but that opens up in Notepad just fine.
  
  – grawity
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @grawity: Are you looking for homogeneity in Windows permissions?
  
  – harrymc
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

1

I went into "C:WindowsSystem32config" on my Windows 10 machine, and tried to open the registry hive files.

SOFTWARE, for example, has a size of exactly 128 MB as reported by Explorer, but when opening it with Visual Studio Code, it is shown as empty. Notepad refuses to open it because it is "used by another process". I get the same results for the other files (SYSTEM, SECURITY, etc.).

Is Windows trying to prevent me from doing something stupid? Are these files special in some way (besides hosting the registry)?

windows windows-registry

share|improve this question

asked 8 hours ago

ArnoArno

5313624

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Of course they are special - they are the heart of Windows.
  
  – harrymc
  8 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @harrymc: So is ntoskrnl.exe, but that opens up in Notepad just fine.
  
  – grawity
  8 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @grawity: Are you looking for homogeneity in Windows permissions?
  
  – harrymc
  7 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

I went into "C:WindowsSystem32config" on my Windows 10 machine, and tried to open the registry hive files.

SOFTWARE, for example, has a size of exactly 128 MB as reported by Explorer, but when opening it with Visual Studio Code, it is shown as empty. Notepad refuses to open it because it is "used by another process". I get the same results for the other files (SYSTEM, SECURITY, etc.).

Is Windows trying to prevent me from doing something stupid? Are these files special in some way (besides hosting the registry)?

windows windows-registry

share|improve this question

asked 8 hours ago

ArnoArno

5313624

share|improve this question

asked 8 hours ago

ArnoArno

5313624

share|improve this question

asked 8 hours ago

ArnoArno

5313624

asked 8 hours ago

ArnoArno

5313624

asked 8 hours ago

ArnoArno

5313624

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

5

They appear as empty because Visual Studio Code doesn't understand the concept of not being able to open the file. They're not actually empty, vscode is just literally unable to know whether they are or not.

Windows has the concept of "exclusive open" (aka "share modes", elsewhere also called "mandatory locking"). It is commonly used by database software to prevent another program from writing data at the same time as the database engine is managing it; if two handlers tried to write at once, they could end up corrupting the entire database. The same applies to filesystems – Windows doesn't actually let you access the raw disk device if it is mounted as a filesystem.

(That said, there are database formats specifically made for simultaneous access, such as LMDB.)

But the primary reason Windows Registry uses exclusive open is for security enforcement. Each Registry key can have a set of permissions (DACL/SACL) attached to it, just like a file or folder. If you could directly open a registry hive (especially the system or security hives), you could simply read the data that was supposed to be secured via permissions.

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

grawitygrawity

248k38526586

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Blocking other readers is potentially useful for a database that doesn't want other readers to see some of the file from before a transaction, some of the file from after a write, and even some bytes from the file during a supposedly atomic transaction. It's certainly inconvenient for use-cases where you don't care about getting a clean snapshot of the whole file, though.
  
  – Peter Cordes
  6 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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5

They appear as empty because Visual Studio Code doesn't understand the concept of not being able to open the file. They're not actually empty, vscode is just literally unable to know whether they are or not.

Windows has the concept of "exclusive open" (aka "share modes", elsewhere also called "mandatory locking"). It is commonly used by database software to prevent another program from writing data at the same time as the database engine is managing it; if two handlers tried to write at once, they could end up corrupting the entire database. The same applies to filesystems – Windows doesn't actually let you access the raw disk device if it is mounted as a filesystem.

(That said, there are database formats specifically made for simultaneous access, such as LMDB.)

But the primary reason Windows Registry uses exclusive open is for security enforcement. Each Registry key can have a set of permissions (DACL/SACL) attached to it, just like a file or folder. If you could directly open a registry hive (especially the system or security hives), you could simply read the data that was supposed to be secured via permissions.

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

grawitygrawity

248k38526586

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Blocking other readers is potentially useful for a database that doesn't want other readers to see some of the file from before a transaction, some of the file from after a write, and even some bytes from the file during a supposedly atomic transaction. It's certainly inconvenient for use-cases where you don't care about getting a clean snapshot of the whole file, though.
  
  – Peter Cordes
  6 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

5

They appear as empty because Visual Studio Code doesn't understand the concept of not being able to open the file. They're not actually empty, vscode is just literally unable to know whether they are or not.

Windows has the concept of "exclusive open" (aka "share modes", elsewhere also called "mandatory locking"). It is commonly used by database software to prevent another program from writing data at the same time as the database engine is managing it; if two handlers tried to write at once, they could end up corrupting the entire database. The same applies to filesystems – Windows doesn't actually let you access the raw disk device if it is mounted as a filesystem.

(That said, there are database formats specifically made for simultaneous access, such as LMDB.)

But the primary reason Windows Registry uses exclusive open is for security enforcement. Each Registry key can have a set of permissions (DACL/SACL) attached to it, just like a file or folder. If you could directly open a registry hive (especially the system or security hives), you could simply read the data that was supposed to be secured via permissions.

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

grawitygrawity

248k38526586

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Blocking other readers is potentially useful for a database that doesn't want other readers to see some of the file from before a transaction, some of the file from after a write, and even some bytes from the file during a supposedly atomic transaction. It's certainly inconvenient for use-cases where you don't care about getting a clean snapshot of the whole file, though.
  
  – Peter Cordes
  6 mins ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

They appear as empty because Visual Studio Code doesn't understand the concept of not being able to open the file. They're not actually empty, vscode is just literally unable to know whether they are or not.

Windows has the concept of "exclusive open" (aka "share modes", elsewhere also called "mandatory locking"). It is commonly used by database software to prevent another program from writing data at the same time as the database engine is managing it; if two handlers tried to write at once, they could end up corrupting the entire database. The same applies to filesystems – Windows doesn't actually let you access the raw disk device if it is mounted as a filesystem.

(That said, there are database formats specifically made for simultaneous access, such as LMDB.)

But the primary reason Windows Registry uses exclusive open is for security enforcement. Each Registry key can have a set of permissions (DACL/SACL) attached to it, just like a file or folder. If you could directly open a registry hive (especially the system or security hives), you could simply read the data that was supposed to be secured via permissions.

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

grawitygrawity

248k38526586

share|improve this answer

edited 8 hours ago

answered 8 hours ago

grawitygrawity

248k38526586

answered 8 hours ago

grawitygrawity

248k38526586

answered 8 hours ago

grawitygrawity

248k38526586