Writing and Deleting Registry Data

An application can use either the RegSetValue or RegSetValueEx function to associate a value and its data with a key. RegSetValue works only with strings (values having the REG_SZ type). RegSetValueEx, however, can write values with any type of data. Either of these functions can create a key and its value at the same time. For a list of the value types supported by RegSetValueEx, see Registry Value Types.

To delete a value from a key, an application can use the RegDeleteValue function. To delete a key, it can use the RegDeleteKey function. A deleted key is not removed until the last handle to it has been closed. Subkeys and values cannot be created under a deleted key.

Security attributes can also be assigned to registry keys. For more information on this, refer to Security Attributes for Registry Keys.