Where Are Windows Registry Files Stored?
The real files behind the Windows registry: what lives in System32\config, where NTUSER.DAT sits, and why Run keys split across two of them.
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The registry is not some hidden system structure. It is a set of files on disk: the machine-wide hives sit in C:\Windows\System32\config as files with no extension, and every account has its own NTUSER.DAT in its profile folder, which loads as HKEY_CURRENT_USER when you sign in.
Because they are ordinary files, you can export any branch as a .reg backup before editing, copy them for offline work, or load a hive from another disk in regedit. Knowing which file backs which key explains why a setting follows your account and a machine-wide setting does not.
Where Windows stores this, by platform
C:\Windows\System32\config\
Files here back the machine hives: Software is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE, System is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM, plus Sam, Security and Default. Your personal settings are in %USERPROFILE%\NTUSER.DAT (HKEY_CURRENT_USER) and %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Usrclass.dat (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes). In regedit, Ctrl+L focuses the address bar, where a pasted path jumps straight to a key.
Frequently asked questions
where are the registry files stored in windows 10 and 11
Machine-wide hives are in C:\Windows\System32\config, in extensionless files such as Software and System. Your personal hive is C:\Users\[Username]\NTUSER.DAT, which becomes HKEY_CURRENT_USER when you sign in, and Usrclass.dat beside it covers file associations.
why are run keys in two different places
Startup entries for every user sit under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, inside the Software hive file. Entries for the signed-in user sit under the same path in HKEY_CURRENT_USER, which is just NTUSER.DAT, so they travel with the profile.
how to back up the registry before editing
In regedit, right-click the key you plan to change and choose Export, or export the whole hive from the File menu. Microsoft's own guidance is to export the keys you intend to edit, or the whole registry, first. Double-clicking the saved .reg file puts it back.
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