Selecting the Registry for Your Device

There are two registry options you can use to select the registry for your device: the RAM-based object-store-based registry and the hive-based registry. The registry type is invisible to applications, but it will change the persistence, boot sequence and speed, and memory usage on your device. As a result, choosing the correct registry will improve your device characteristics and behavior.

The RAM-based registry is the registry that has been available in Windows CE 1.0 and later. All registry data is stored in the object store, which is in RAM, so it persists on warm boots but not on cold boots. A mechanism for retrieving all registry information is available to the OEM to provide backup and restore ability on cold boot. However, it is an item-by-item process and can be very slow for a large registry. The RAM-based registry is efficient on devices that warm-boot often but inefficient on devices that often cold boot. It is best suited for single-user devices with battery-backed RAM or with a lack of persistent storage to use.

The hive-based registry is a new feature. All registry data is stored in files, also called hives, which can be located on any file system. This allows OEMs to easily persist the registry across cold boots without powering RAM. The hive-based registry also provides separate user hives so registry configurations can be customized differently for each user. A multi-user system will contain several user hives. A user's hive can be mounted on logon and unmounted on logoff. The hive-based registry is most efficient on devices that cold boot often but rarely or never warm boot. It is best suited for devices with persistent storage or multiple users.

See Also

Customizing the Registry | RAM-based Registry | Hive-based Registry

Last updated on Wednesday, April 13, 2005

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