Input Method Registry Values

Technically, any COM component that implements IInputMethod can be selected into the input panel. The IsSIPInputMethod subkey is a shortcut that presents a list of IMs to a user without loading and querying each object for the IInputMethod interface.

IMs are installed in the system as in-process COM servers by using standard COM registry keys. The HKEY_CLAS_ROOT\CLSID key contains subkeys representing COM components. The subkeys are textual representations of class identifiers (CLSID). The CLSID subkeys contain an InprocServer32 subkey with a default value. This value specifies the DLL path that implements the component. The CLSID subkeys also contain a IsSIPInputMethod subkey with a default value equal to the "1" string. The following table shows examples of IM registry values.

Key
Default value
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ CLSID\
{4a4a96d7-ae04-11d0-a4f8-00aa00a749b9}

"MS QWERTY IM"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ CLSID\
{4a4a96d7-ae04-11d0-a4f8-00aa00a749b9}\
InprocServer32


"\Windows\alphanum.dll"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ CLSID\
{4a4a96d7-ae04-11d0-a4f8-00aa00a749b9}\
IsSIPInputMethod


"1"