In 64-bit Windows (Vista/7), there's HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node where all the 32-bit registry stuff is. If I have a .reg file with some keys in it, how can I tell regedit to import it into the 32-bit registry (under Wow6432Node) rather than the 64-bit registry?
Even if I put the Wow6432 path into the registry keys in the .reg file, Windows "cleverly" ignores them and puts them in the main 64-bit registry.
24 Answers
You should be able to access the 32-bit registry exclusively using the 32 bit version of regedit. Just import your .reg files using:
\Windows\syswow64\regedit.exe <REG_FILE.reg> If you're using reg import yourfile.reg from a 32 bit executable or a batch file, and for some crazy reason you want the keys inside yourfile.reg to NOT be redirected to Wow6432Node, simply use the following syntax:
reg import yourfile.reg /reg:64 As easy as that.
1The reg tool installed with the 64-bit version of Windows is aware of the registry virtualization technique. It has two new switches: /reg:32 and /reg:64. If you want to apply a registry export from a 32-bit system to a 64-bit system, use the following command line:
reg import <CONF-APP-32.reg> /reg:32 The reg tool has a command line help that explains this in a very short form via reg import /?.
...you will find this also online (though a bit hard to google) for example:
I have used below powershell commands to achieve it :
$RegFileName = ($_.RegFileName).trim()
reg import ".\$RegFileName" /reg:32
