Regedit Same Address Different Keys

tracit99 said:

Hello @das10

Your link pointed me in the right direction to solve this "issue". I learned something new today. I had no idea that there are two different executables for Regedit (regedit.exe) one is 32 bit (C:\Windows\System32) and one is 64 bit (C:\Windows\SysWOW64). The Regedit on the left is the 64 bit version and the regedit on the right is the 32 bit version. This issue has shown me that sometimes all keys present in the Registry are not shown. What one sees depends on which version of the Registry (32 bit or 64 bit) one is using.

I suspected that that was the reason. By the way, the one in C:\Windows\System32 is 64 bit, the one in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 is 32 bit. The name is misleading, I know...

lx07 said:

... and opening 32bit regedit seems odd. I don't know how even to do that.

One way to do that is to go to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 folder. Everything you see here is 32 bit. This folder is in fact the 32 bit installation folder of Windows. In this folder, search for regedit.exe (not regedit32) and open it. Task Manager will confirm you that it is the 32 bit version.

In case it wasn't caught, SysWOW64 is Windows on Windows, runs 32-bit programs. C:\Program Files is present on both 32-bit and 64-bit installations but the 64-bit version also has C:\Program Files (x86) for 32-bit programs. Just shows the accommodations made for using available programs. Basically put, 16-bit programs are not supported after Win7 and sometimes limited then.

From Wikipedia:
In computing on Microsoft platforms, WoW64 is a subsystem of the Windows operating system capable of running 32-bit applications that is included in all 64-bit versions of Windows—including Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, IA-64 and x64 versions of Windows Server 2003, as well as 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

There is no issue, really. Please, open regedit 64bit, as usual. Both under HKLM and HKCU there is a Wow6432Node key. 32 bit keys are here.
Simply put, regedit 64 sees ALL, regedit 32 bit can see only keys from 32 bit. It's normal.

I've heard it said that SysWOW64 could be considered much the same the same principal as running a virtual machine on top of Windows.

To make it simple, all this 32 bit stuff is there for retrocompatibility reasons. 32 bit programs that are not aware of the existence of 64 bit, write their stuff in the Wow6432Node keys and subkeys, because Windows redirects them to this location in registry.

HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node (64 bit) corresponds to:
HKLM\Software (32 bit)

There are other Wow6432Node in registry, under HKCU\Software, and in other places. This "node" is basically the 32 bit registry inside the native 64 bit registry. In analog way, C:\Windows\SysWOW64 is Windows 32 bit inside native Windows 64 bit.

Obviously, regedit 32 bit cannot see everything that is 64 bit related. What is in (for example)
HKCU\Software\Wow6432Node\WinRAR is seen by WinRAR 32 bit as HKCU\Software\WinRAR.

Edit: @LMiller7, sorry, I was writing my response and saw that you just anticipated me.