Definition: A hive in the Windows Registry is the name given to a major section of the registry that contains registry keys, registry subkeys, and registry values. All keys that are considered hives begin with HKEY and are at the top of the hierarchy in the registry.
In Registry Editor, the hives are the set of registry keys that appear as folders on the left hand side of the screen when all other keys have been minimized.
Here is a list of the common registry hives in Windows:
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- HKEY_USERS
- HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
Also Known As: root key
Examples:
"I was digging through the registry looking for a specific value that I
needed to change but I couldn't find it. After taking a step back, I realized
that I was looking in the wrong registry hive... no wonder I couldn't find what
I was looking for!"
