RegtoText

The Windows Registry Editor enables you to browse the system's registry, edit its content and manage permissions, with extra options to import and export keys. Registry entries as exported as REG files, which can be added to the registry or edited using a standard text editor, such as Notepad. However, the content inside registry keys might not be so easy to understand, as it might include hexadecimal or decimal sections. That is where RegToText comes in.

RegToText is a console application that can process any REG file and decipher portions of it that are difficult to read by humans. To put it another way, it translates hexadecimal and decimal values and generates a new version of the REG file that is completely readable.

RegToText uses a registry file (REG) as an argument, providing optional commands that enable the user to silence the operation (the translation task will be executed without user intervention), enter the location and the name of the output (if not specified, RegToText will save the resulting file in the current location, with a name identical to that of the input file), and specify the encoding mode of the resulting file, be it UTF8 or ASCII (by default, UTF8 is used).

If the output file exists in the user-defined location, RegToText prompts you to delete it. Then, it proceeds and reads the input REG file, looking for a valid registry header ('Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00' for Windows 2000 and later). If the file gets a green light, the translation begins, and RegToText starts writing 250-line chunks of data, and process subkey paths and key values.

RegToText displays the number of lines it wrote, alongside statistical information about the processed subpaths and key values, and the runtime.

RegToText can transform a REG file that might seem difficult to understand, generating a text version of it that enables you to interpret the data much easier. It comes in handy to developers and administrators, as well as IT support teams.