1001 Secrets for Windows NT Registry
(Publisher: 29th Street Press)
Author(s): Tim Daniels
ISBN: 1882419685
Publication Date: 12/01/97

Previous Table of Contents Next


I-212 Do you need to reinstall Windows NT, but you’ve lost your CD Key? This registry entry stores the value.

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion
Value Name: ProductID
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value: <machine dependent>

Ignore the first five numbers. The next ten are your CD Key. Ignore the last five numbers, too.

I-213 If you don’t want your users to have access to Task Manager for security reasons, change these entries:

Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies\System
Value Name: DisableTaskMgr
Data Type: REG_BINARY
Value: 01 hexadecimal

The default value is 00 hexadecimal, which enables the Task Manager. Changing this value to 01 hex disables Task Manager, and you should see a message that your administrator has disabled the Task Manager.

I-214 Do you need to have all your 16-bit applications run in separate virtual DOS machines? This registry lets you specify this setup as the default for running 16-bit applications.

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: System\CurrentControlSet\Control\WOW
Value Name: DefaultSeperateVDM
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value: YES

Reboot for this change to take effect.

I-215 Problem: you want to open a command prompt and switch to a directory that is nested deep within your directory structure without typing a long chdir pathname. These registry keys allow you to start a command prompt in the folder or drive of your choice by simply right-clicking over the folder in which you want to open a command prompt.

Hive: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
Key: Directory\Shell\DosHere
Value Name: <No Name>
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value: Command Prompt Here

This value is the text that appears on the popup menu when you right-click a directory.

I-216 Hive: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
Key: Directory\Shell\DosHere\Command
Value Name: <No Name>
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value: (system directory)\System32\cmd.exe /k cd “%1”

This value is the command that is executed when you select the “Command Prompt Here” item you set for the popup menu in the entry above.

I-217 Hive: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
Key: Drive\Shell\DosHere
Value Name: <No Name>
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value: Command Prompt Here

This value sets the text that appears on the popup menu when you right-click a drive.

I-218 Hive: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
Key: Drive\Shell\DosHere\Command
Value Name: <No Name>
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value: (system directory)\System32|cmd.exe /k cd “%1”

This value sets the command that is executed when you select the “Command Prompt Here” item you set for the popup menu in the entry above.

I-219 Does your system support Auto Powerdown? Do you want to enable it on NT? This registry entry does the trick.

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Value Name: PowerDownAfterShutDown
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value: 1

Reboot for this change to take effect.

I-220 If your system takes too long to shut down, you may want to adjust the next three registry entries.

Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Control Panel\Desktop
Value Name: HungAppTimeout
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Value: time in milliseconds

This value governs how long the system waits after you try to close an application before displaying the Wait, End Task, and Close dialog box.

I-221 Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Key: Control Panel\Desktop
Value Name: WaitToKillAppTimeout
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Value: time in milliseconds

This value governs how long the system waits after the Log Off or Shutdown command was given to an application before it displays the Wait, End Task, and Close dialog box.


Previous Table of Contents Next