Differences Between the Windows 95 and Windows NT Registries

Because of certain system variances and differing design goals in Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows NT, some features of the Windows NT Registry are not supported by Windows 95. The Windows 95 Registry is compatible with the Window NT Registry, but it has a completely different implementation.

The Windows 95 Registry differs from the Windows NT Registry in the following ways:

• The Windows 95 Registry has no security attributes and is therefore not secure.
• The Windows 95 Registry does not replace CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT, WIN.INI, or SYSTEM.INI files or Program Manager groups, although it does replace some information from these files through Plug and Play support. Older programs can still use the old-style configuration and initialization files.
• The Windows 95 Registry does not support the mapping of INI file functions (or the INI files themselves) into the Registry.
• The Windows 95 Registry layout is different from the Windows NT Registry layout.