Common Registry

[donsor]

Is the registry of a particular software unique to that software or is it unique to the application of the software? For example: I have two PCs (PC#1 and #2) wherein I loaded the MS Flight Simulator X to two dedicated harddrives, one per PC. If for instance the HD in PC#1 with the FSX malfunctions, can I remove that HD and use the HD from PC#2 (with the FSX) and make it work? Normally there is a registry issue but will that apply in this case?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by donsor Is the registry of a particular software unique to that software or is it unique to the application of the software?

The Registry is part of Windows.

Registry entries or keys are put into the Registry by the software you've installed. You're asking about the keys, right?

Originally Posted by donsor For example: I have two PCs (PC#1 and #2) wherein I loaded the MS Flight Simulator X to two dedicated harddrives, one per PC. If for instance the HD in PC#1 with the FSX malfunctions, can I remove that HD and use the HD from PC#2 (with the FSX) and make it work? Normally there is a registry issue but will that apply in this case?

Are you saying you only installed FSX onto those hard drives? Nothing else?

It may work...it may not. If the hard drives are identical it might work. I've never tried to do anything like this though.

Cricket

[EzyStvy]

Are the machines using IDENTICAL hardware and use the exact same drivers?

[donsor]

Maybe I should read up on what "registry" is all about. I just thought that when I loaded up the flight simulator game, it created a "registry keys" in the system drive. In this case I loaded FSX in drive "G" but my system drive is drive "C". So I suppose the registry for that program is in drive "C". If I remove drive "G", does the "registry" for the game disappear from drive "C". If it does then that answeres my question. I have FSX installed in two different PCs using the same set of discs. Are the registry characteristics iunique in each PC? If they are, that also anwers my question. But if they are the same, then there should'nt be a problem unless of course that the drives have to be identical and there maybe compatability issue.

The only program installed in the subject drives of either PC was the FSX. There were a few other files and/or folders which were collected but no other programs per se.

[kev7555]

The keys for the operating system are unique to the hardware in that PC (when running XP). If you remove an OS drive from one machine and install it as the boot drive in another XP machine, it will fail.


As far as the keys installed for any game or software program in particular, I am not certain as to whether it is transferrable to another machine. Either way, it won't cause any harm to swap the drive to another machine (as long as it is not the drive with the OS on it). If it doesn't work all you have to do is swap them back and you should be OK.

-Kev

[donsor]

Did some inquiry into the operation of the Window Registry and concluded that my concept is not worth the hassle. Apparently, the application of the registry has changed with the advent of XP. From what I gathered with the information from MS, whe a program is loaded or installed, WinXP establishes some sort of a recognition parameter which go beyond hard drives. Perhaps that's the reason why one has to uninstall and reinstall instead of simply copying the program from one hard drive to another within the same PC.

[kev7555]

Yeah, that is kind of what I was saying. It doesn't go beyond your hard drive, it simply means that data contained within your drive relates itself to the hardware contained within each computer in which XP is installed. A person with more background in computer science can probably explain it better then I can, but that is the basic premise.


-K

[donsor]

Got the picture.

Thanks