Как сравнить два реестра windows

Here is a list of Best Free Software To Compare Registry of your PC.  These software come in handy when you want to check what changes have been made to your computer’s Registry after installing/running a software, or over a period of time.

Registry comparison is done by taking 2 snapshots of Registry. The first snapshot is taken as a baseline reference, then the second snapshot is taken after installing/running a software or after a given time. After the snapshots are taken, these software compare the Registry snapshots to find out what files have been deleted, added, or modified in the Registry. Most of these software also let you export the comparison report in TXT or HTML format.

This list includes the use of default Windows tools (Command Line Tool and Registry Editor) and third party software as well. Some folks prefer going with conventional and basic ways, and for that, File Comparison command in CMD is used, which also saves comparison result in TXT format. However, third party software to compare Registry automate the process and save time and effort.

Go through the list to find out more about these software for Registry Comparison, and you will also get to know How to Compare Registry using the mentioned software.

My Favorite Software To Compare Registry:

I like Regshot the most as Registry Comparing software. Its a very basic software, designed just for one job, that is to compare Registry. The process for Registry comparison is pretty straight forward, and it also lets you save results in TXT or HTML format.

You can also checkout the list of best free Registry Monitor Software, Registry Backup Software, Registry Cleaner Software.

Regshot

Regshot is an open source Registry comparison software for Windows. It is a smart and simple utility, designed just to compare Registry. It lets you take 2 snapshots of your computer’s Registry at different instances.

Say, you want to compare Registry status after making some changes to your PC. You can take the 1st shot before making the changes, then take the 2nd shot afterwards. Before you begin comparing the Registry screenshots, you can select whether to save the comparison log as TXT or HTML. It also lets you select an output location to save the comparison log.

You will also find a Clear option, which lets you get rid of 1st shot values stored, so that you can start fresh.

When you check the comparison log, you will find the compared values of Keys Added, Values Added, Values Modified, and Total Changes in the Registry.

What Changed

Картинка с сайта: listoffreeware.com

What Changed, as the name suggests, tells you what changed in your computer’s Registry by comparing Registry snapshots. Not only you can compare Registry files selectively, you can also compare all the drives of your PC. Under Registry, you can select to scan from Classes Root, Local Machine, Current User, or Users.

It lets you take a Baseline snapshot of Registry as a reference point. Now you can take the second snapshot of Registry after some time or after any changes are made to system. The progress of scan is displayed and you can abort the process any time you want.

An option to clear temp files is available, so that you can start fresh with getting a baseline state of Registry.

After the scan is complete for step 2, a report with Registry comparison data is saved in TXT format in the folder where the EXE file of this software is located.

InstallSpy

Картинка с сайта: listoffreeware.com

InstallSpy is one of the best software to compare Registry. It mainly focuses on tracking changes made to Registry by installing a software or after running a software. All of this can be carried out in 7 simple steps available on the interface. These steps guide you to perform a set of actions to compare Registry. You have to click Yes after carrying out each step. These steps are:

1. Close or pause all non-essential program and services.
2. Is the program ready to install/run (DO NOT INSTALL/RUN UNTIL STEP 4).
3. Scanning files and registry, please wait.
4. Click Yes and proceed to install/run the program.
5. Has the program finished installing/running?
6. Scanning for file and registry changes, please wait.
7. Compiling report.

These steps for Registry comparison are very easy to carry out. After you click Yes for the last time, a detailed report is generated in HTML format. This report displays the deleted, new, and modified Registry files.

CRegistry Comparison

Картинка с сайта: listoffreeware.com

CRegistry Comparison is a simple software to compare Registry. It shows the difference between two Registry snapshots categorized under New Keys and Deleted Keys. It works the same as other Registry comparison software by taking a snapshot of Registry as base reference, then taking another snapshot afterwards.

It lets you scan the whole Registry, or selectively scan Registry from the options: Classes Root, Local Machine, Current User, Current Config and Users.

The comparison result can be saved as TXT file.

TrackWinstall

Картинка с сайта: listoffreeware.com

TrackWinstall lets you keep an eye on your PC’s Registry by two methods: One Click Protocol and Two Phase Mode. The first method lets you monitor changes made by installed software on your PC’s Registry; however, the second method lets you perform Registry comparison. It compares your computer’s Registry’s snapshots from two instances, and displays what changes have been made.

Basically you have to run a scan to take Registry snapshot as base reference, then run a software or wait for some time to take the second snapshot. The changed values of Registry are displayed on the interface.

Registry snapshot is saved as SNA file.

InstallWatch Pro

Картинка с сайта: listoffreeware.com

InstallWatch Pro is designed to check the changes made by a software on your computer’s Registry. It lets you compare Registry snapshot of your computer before and after installing a software.

Create a snapshot of your computer’s Registry before you Install a program. The Install option available on the interface lets you do so before you can install a program. After snapshot process is complete, install/run the program, and then take another screenshot for comparison.

After comparison is complete, a list of number of changes made to Registry is displayed. This list includes:  Added files, Deleted files, Modified files, Added registry, Deleted registry, and Modified Registry. For detailed information for each category, click on the respective category.

It lets you export Registry snapshot as Original or New; this means, as it was before installation and after installation.

Registrar Registry Manager

Картинка с сайта: listoffreeware.com

Registrar Registry Manager‘s home version is available for free, which can be used for Registry comparison. It is a Registry manager software, and can be utilized to perform various Registry based activities, such as: editing Registry, monitoring Registry, Registry backup/restore, Registry comparison, etc.

The Advance Compare option lets you compare Registry snapshots before and after installation of a software. It lets you compare the whole Registry, or select from these comparison options: Key names, Values name, Compare data, and Case sensitive data compare.

After the Registry comparison, the result is displayed, which includes: Total key compare, Key name matches, Value name matches, Missing keys, Data matches/Difference, and Time elapsed.

The Pro version of this software lets you export the Registry comparison result.

CMD

Картинка с сайта: listoffreeware.com

Using Window’s inbuilt Command Line Tool (CMD) to compare Registry is a basic way to do it. It takes 2 Registry backup files, then compares them and saves comparison data as a TXT file. To carry out Registry comparison, first you need to save Registry backup data from two instances at a similar location. After saving Registry backup, run the File comparison tool using CMD.

How to generate Registry backup:

• Open Run dialog box by pressing Windows Key + R or by typing Run in the Start menu.
• Now type Regedit in the Run dialog box to open Registry Editor.
• Current Registry backup can be saved easily. Go to File>Export and save Registry backup in .Reg format.
• Repeat the above 3 steps to generate another Registry backup file after making changes to your computer or after a given time period.

After generating Registry backups, you will have to open Command Prompt. Press Windows key + R to open Run dialog box again, then type CMD in it and press Enter. This opens Command Prompt. Now you have to change the active directory in CMD to the directory where the Registry files are stored. Changing directory in Command Prompt is a very basic and easy affair.

Now type the following command, in order to run the Registry comparison:

fc registryfile1.reg registryfile2.reg > result.txt

Here registryfile1.reg and registryfile2.reg are the Registry backups that I saved on my PC. In place of registry backup names that I entered, you will have to enter the file names of the Registry backups you create. The result of file comparison will be saved in TXT format at the same location where Registry backups are located. You can name the TXT file to whatever you want. Here I have used Result.txt as filename of the comparison file.

Although there are software that automate this long process, some people find it convenient to carry out the process of Registry Comparison through Command Prompt.

See Also

• OfflineRegistryFinder — Scan and search Windows Registry Hives (offline / external drive).

Description

RegistryChangesView is a tool for Windows that allows you to take a snapshot of Windows Registry and later compare it with another Registry snapshots, with the current Registry or with Registry files stored in a shadow copy created by Windows.
When comparing 2 Registry snapshots, you can see the exact changes made in the Registry between the 2 snapshots, and optionally export the Registry changes into a standard .reg file of RegEdit.

System Requirements

This utility works on any version of Windows, starting from Windows XP and up to Windows 11. Both 32-bit and 64-bit systems are supported.

Versions History

• Version 1.30:
  • Added option to change the sorting column from the menu (View -> Sort By). Like the column header click sorting, if you click again the same sorting menu item, it’ll switch between ascending and descending order. Also, if you hold down the shift key while choosing the sort menu item, you’ll get a secondary sorting.
  • Added ‘Sort By’ toolbar button.
• Version 1.29:
  • Fixed bug: RegistryChangesView failed to handle large values (with more than 16,344 bytes) when a value is added or removed.
• Version 1.28:
  • Updated to work properly in high DPI mode (Toolbar, status bar, and properties window).
• Version 1.27:
  • Fixed bug: When specifying relative path to create a Registry snapshot, the security hive was created under the System32 directory instead of the specified snapshot folder.
• Version 1.26:
  • Fixed the /cfg command-line option to load the .cfg file from the current directory if full path is not specified.
• Version 1.25:
  • Added option to create a Registry snapshot with the ntuser.dat hive of another user on your system, instead the user that runs the RegistryChangesView tool.
• Version 1.22:
  • Added option to choose another font (name and size) to display in the main window.
• Version 1.21:
  • Added ‘Case Sensitive’ option to the Quick Filter window.
• Version 1.20:
  • Added more command-line options, which allow you to compare Registry snapshots and export the result to .reg file or csv/tab-delimited/xml/html file.
• Version 1.15:
  • Added new columns: ‘Data Length’ and ‘Data Length Changed To’.
• Version 1.12:
  • Fixed bug: RegistryChangesView failed to handle large values (with more than 16,344 bytes) properly and this problem also caused RegistryChangesView to crash on some systems.
• Version 1.11:
  • Added /cfg command-line option to start RegistryChangesView with the specified config file.
• Version 1.10:
  • RegistryChangesView now consumes less memory when loading large amount of items.
• Version 1.08:
  • Fixed bug: RegistryChangesView generated .reg file incorrectly when the value names had ‘\’ or ‘»‘ characters.
  • Fixed bug: In some circumstances, RegistryChangesView omitted the key name of the first .reg file value.
• Version 1.07:
  • Fixed bug: RegistryChangesView exported REG_EXPAND_SZ values incorrectly.
• Version 1.06:
  • Fixed bug: The browse button on the ‘Create Registry Snapshot’ window didn’t work.
• Version 1.05:
  • Added /CreateSnapshot command-line option for creating Registry snapshot from command-line.
• Version 1.01:
  • Fixed bug: Under certain conditions, RegistryChangesView skipped half of subkeys or crashed while reading Registry key that had many subkeys.
• Version 1.00 — First release.

Картинка с сайта: www.nirsoft.net

Examples for useful things you can do with this tool

• You can create a Registry snapshot before installing a new software and then after the installation is completed, compare this Registry snapshot with the current Registry and see
  all Registry changes made by the installer (Be aware that you’ll also see some changes made by Windows or other programs in the same time).
  If there are Registry changes that you don’t like, you can generate a .reg file to revert back the changes.
• If you make a change in Windows configuration from the GUI of Windows and you want to see how to make this change in the Registry, simply
  create a Registry snapshot before making the config change and then after the configuration change, compare this Registry snapshot with the current Registry and optionally
  generate a .reg file that makes this configuration change.
• If there is unwanted change in the Registry of your system but you don’t have any previous snapshot, you can compare the current Registry with a shadow copy created by Windows and
  try to locate the unwanted Registry changes.
• You can also use this tool as a simple way to backup the Registry. The snapshot created by RegistryChangesView simply contains Registry hive files with the same name as the original one (ntuser.dat, SYSTEM,
  SOFTWARE, and so on…)

Start Using RegistryChangesView

RegistryChangesView doesn’t require any installation process or additional DLL files. In order to start using it, simply run the executable file — RegistryChangesView.exe

After running RegistryChangesView, the main options window is displayed, which allows you to choose 2 Registry snapshots to compare.
For every snapshot , you can choose one of the following data sources: ‘Current Registry’, ‘Saved Registry Snapshot’, and ‘Shadow Copy’.
You can choose any combination you want, as long as ‘Data Source 1’ is not identical to ‘Data Source 2’. For example: you can choose to compare the Registry of 2 different shadow copies,
compare a shadow copy with current Registry, compare a saved Registry snapshot with current Registry, compare a saved Registry snapshot with another saved Registry snapshot, and so on…

If you want to generate a new Registry snapshot, simply choose ‘Saved Registry Snapshot’ in the data source combo-box and then click the ‘Create Registry Snapshot’ button.
In the ‘Create Registry Snapshot’ window choose the folder to save the Registry Snapshot, click the ‘Create Snapshot’ button, and wait a few seconds to create the snapshot.
You can also create a new Registry snapshot from the main window by pressing F8 (File -> Create Registry Snapshot).

After choosing the 2 Registry data sources to compare , you should also set the following options:

• Direction:
  This field determines how the 2 Registry snapshots are compared. For example: if the direction you choose is ‘Registry Data Source 1 => Registry Data Source 2’, every Registry key or value that exists on the second snapshot but
  doesn’t exist on the first snapshot will be displayed as ‘Added Key’ or ‘Added Value’. But if you choose the opposite direction (‘Registry Data Source 2 => Registry Data Source 1’), every Registry key or value that exists on the second snapshot but
  doesn’t exist on the first snapshot will be displayed as ‘Removed Key’ or ‘Removed Value’.
  
  The direction field also affects the way that .reg file is generated (‘Export Selected Items To .Reg File’ and ‘Copy As .Reg File Format’ options).
  if the direction you choose is ‘Registry Data Source 1 => Registry Data Source 2’, the generated .reg file will make the changes from snapshot 1 to snapshot 2.
  if the direction you choose is ‘Registry Data Source 2 => Registry Data Source 1’, the generated .reg file will make the changes from snapshot 2 to snapshot 1.

• Hives to compare:
  Allows you to choose which Registry hives to compare.
  For example, If you only want to see the Registry changes on HKEY_CURRENT_USER, you should select the ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER’ and ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes’ hives and deselect all others.

After choosing all option, click the ‘Ok’ button. RegistryChangesView will compare the 2 Registry data sources you chose and the result will be displayed on the main window.

Some Important Remarks

• By default, the SAM and SECURITY Registry hives are not selected for comparison and for generating new Registry snapshots.
  You can choose these 2 Registry hives if you need to compare them, but you should be aware that there is a security risk:
  These Registry hives contain encryption keys and password hashes of your system and if you leave a Registry snapshot with SAM/SECURITY hives that can be accessed by a non-admin user,
  hacker that finds these files on your system might be able to use them for penetrating your system.
• When you choose ‘Current Registry’ as one of the data sources, RegistryChangesView generates a temporary Registry snapshot on %temp%\TempRegSnapshotX folder (X = numeric value) and deletes it after the Registry comparison process is finished.
• The Registry snapshot created by RegistryChangesView is just a folder that contains the Registry files with their original name.
  If you have a copy of Registry hives and you want to use them as a snapshot, simply copy them into a separated folder with their original filename ( Software, System, ntuser.dat, UsrClass.dat ) and choose this folder as a Registry snapshot.

Columns Description

• Registry Key:
  Full path of the Registry key.

• Change Type:
  Type of Registry change:
  Added Key, Removed Key, Added Value, Removed Value, Modified Value.

• Value Name:
  Name of the Registry value (Relevant only when the ‘Change Type’ is ‘Added Value’, ‘Removed Value’, or ‘Modified Value’)
• Value Data:
  The content of Registry value (Relevant only when the ‘Change Type’ is ‘Added Value’, ‘Removed Value’, or ‘Modified Value’).
  If the ‘Change Type’ is ‘Modified Value’ — this columns shows the original value (before the change) and the ‘Value Data Changed To’ column shows the value after the change.

• Value Type:
  Type of Registry value (REG_SZ, REG_DWORD, REG_BINARY, and so on…).
  If the ‘Change Type’ is ‘Modified Value’ — this columns shows the original value type (before the change) and the ‘Value Type Changed To’ column shows the value type after the change.

• Value Data Changed To:
  The content of Registry value after the change (Relevant only when the ‘Change Type’ is ‘Modified Value’).

• Value Type Changed To:
  The type of Registry value after the change (Relevant only when the ‘Change Type’ is ‘Modified Value’).

• Key Modified Time 1:
  The timestamp of the specified Registry key in the first snapshot.
• Key Modified Time 2:
  The timestamp of the specified Registry key in the second snapshot.

Generating .reg file

RegistryChangesView allows you to generate a .reg file that can be used to import with RegEdit tool of Windows.

There are 2 options to generate .reg file: (Both options work on selected items, you can press Ctrl+A to select all items)

• Export Selected Items To .Reg File (Ctrl+E): Exports into a .reg filename that you choose.
• Copy As .Reg File Format (Ctrl+R): Generates text in .reg file format into the clipboard.

The .reg file is generated according to the ‘Direction’ field in the Options window.

if the Direction is ‘Registry Data Source 1 => Registry Data Source 2’, the generated .reg file will make the changes from snapshot 1 to snapshot 2.
if the Direction is ‘Registry Data Source 2 => Registry Data Source 1’, the generated .reg file will make the changes from snapshot 2 to snapshot 1.

Quick Filter

If you want to see only Registry keys or values that contain specific strings, you can press Ctrl+Q (View -> Quick Filter),
and then in the quick filter text-box type the desired filter string.

Command-Line Options

Examples:

• Compare a saved Registry snapshot with current Registry, and export the result to regcomp1.reg:
  
  RegistryChangesView.exe /DataSourceDirection 1 /DataSourceType1 2 /DataSourceType2 1 /RegSnapshotPath1 «C:\temp\RegSnapshot20190622075426» /sreg «c:\regcomp1.reg»
• Compare 2 saved Registry snapshots and export the result to regcomp1.csv:
  
  RegistryChangesView.exe /DataSourceDirection 1 /DataSourceType1 2 /DataSourceType2 2 /RegSnapshotPath1 «C:\temp\RegSnapshot20190622075426» /RegSnapshotPath2 «C:\temp\RegSnapshot20190623022112» /scomma «c:\temp\regcomp1.csv»

Translating RegistryChangesView to other languages

In order to translate RegistryChangesView to other language, follow the instructions below:

1. Run RegistryChangesView with /savelangfile parameter:
   
   RegistryChangesView.exe /savelangfile
   
   A file named RegistryChangesView_lng.ini will be created in the folder of RegistryChangesView utility.
2. Open the created language file in Notepad or in any other text editor.
3. Translate all string entries to the desired language.
   Optionally, you can also add your name and/or a link to your Web site.
   (TranslatorName and TranslatorURL values) If you add this information, it’ll be
   used in the ‘About’ window.

4. After you finish the translation, Run RegistryChangesView, and all translated
   strings will be loaded from the language file.
   
   If you want to run RegistryChangesView without the translation, simply rename the language file, or move
   it to another folder.

License

This utility is released as freeware.
You are allowed to freely distribute this utility via floppy disk, CD-ROM,
Internet, or in any other way, as long as you don’t charge anything for this and you don’t
sell it or distribute it as a part of commercial product.
If you distribute this utility, you must include all files in
the distribution package, without any modification !

Disclaimer

The software is provided «AS IS» without any warranty, either expressed or implied,
including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness
for a particular purpose. The author will not be liable for any special, incidental,
consequential or indirect damages due to loss of data or any other reason.

Feedback

If you have any problem, suggestion, comment, or you found a bug in my utility,
you can send a message to nirsofer@yahoo.com

RegistryChangesView is also available in other languages. In order to change the language of
RegistryChangesView, download the appropriate language zip file, extract the ‘registrychangesview_lng.ini’,
and put it in the same folder that you Installed RegistryChangesView utility.

Если вам часто приходится иметь дело с REG-файлами или вообще с реестром, наверняка вы уже сталкивались с необходимостью сравнить два ключа реестра на предмет отличий. Поскольку файлы реестра являются текстовыми, проанализировать их можно с помощью любой программы или даже онлайн-сервиса для сравнения текстовых документов. Правда, у такого подхода есть один недостаток – большинство подобных приложений сравнивают файлы построчно, тогда как файлы реестра лучше сравнивать логически.

Поэтому использовать для сравнения файлов реестра лучше узкоспециализированные инструменты, например, бесплатную консольную утилиту Regdiff.

Эта небольшая портативная программка позволяет не только сравнивать, но также объединять кусты, разделы и REG-файлы, автоматически удаляя или добавляя ключи, параметры и значения с использованием специального режима.

Чтобы вам стало все понятно, приведем несколько примеров работы с этим инструментом.

Сравнение двух REG-файлов

У нас есть два экспортированных в REG-файлы ключа HKLM\SOFTWARE, в которых имеются неизвестные пока нам отличия. Давайте узнаем, чем именно отличаются эти оба файла.

Запускаем командную строку или PowerShell и переходим в расположение исполняемого файла утилиты. Туда же лучше скопировать и сравниваемые файлы, чтобы не заморачиваться лишний раз с полными путями.

Формируем и выполняем команду

./regdiff.exe software1.reg software2.reg

Утилита прочитает оба файла и выведет в консоль полный список изменений. Например, из данного скриншота видно, что в файле software2.reg утилита Regdiff обнаружила в общей сложности 28 отличий.

Картинка с сайта: www.white-windows.ru

Так, сообщение key missing in ‘software2.reg’: указывает, что во втором файле реестра отсутствует целый ключ. А вот так выглядит сообщение, указывающее на изменение значения параметра:

— in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Google/Uрdate

— value LastStartedAU (Type DWord)

—— 1659965206

—— 1659965808

Говоря простым языком, в указанном ключе реестра было изменено значение DWORD параметра LastStartedAU. В первом файле в качестве значения было задано число 1659965206, а во втором файле значение уже равняется 1659965808.

Сравнение раздела и REG-файла

Сравнивать можно не только файлы с файлами, но и ключи с файлами.

Тут всё так же просто, в приведенной выше команде нужно лишь заменить имя первого файла сравниваемым ключом реестра.

./regdiff.exe ключ_реестра REG-файл

Картинка с сайта: www.white-windows.ru

Файлы отличия и слияния

Еще одной полезной функцией утилиты является создание файлов различий и слияния.

Допустим, у вас есть два имеющих отличия файла, и вы хотите не просто их сравнить, но и экспортировать найденные отличия в отдельный файл.

Для этого в конец команды сравнения нужно добавить параметр /diff и указать имя создаваемого файла, вот так:

./regdiff.exe 1.reg 2.reg /diff differences.reg

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При этом будут действовать следующие правила:

• Если ключ отсутствует в файле 1, но имеется во втором файле, ключ будет добавлен.
• Если ключ отсутствует в файле 2, но имеется в файле 1, он будет удален.
• То же самое касается параметров и их значений.

Аналогичным образом можно создавать файлы слияний, то есть файлы, в которых содержимое обоих REG-файлов будет объединено в один файл.

Для этого в конец команды добавляется параметр /merge плюс имя объединенного файла:

./regdiff.exe 1.reg 2.reg /diff merged.reg

Картинка с сайта: www.white-windows.ru

Правила при этом будут действовать следующие:

• Вся информация из файла 2 включается в файл 1.
• Если ключ имеется в файле 1, но отсутствует в файле 2, ключ удаляется.
• То же самое касается параметров с их значениями.

И это еще не все возможности инструмента.

Утилитой Regdiff также поддерживается экспорт файлов реестра, в том числе в формате XML, сортировка их содержимого по алфавиту, удаление из файлов пустых ключей и запись данных из файлов в реестр.

Получить более подробную информацию об инструменте и его возможностях вы можете на сайте разработчика p-nand-q.com.