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Can any program write to any part of the Windows registry? Are there permissions and mechanisms to prevent that happening? If I have a program that writes a key-value to the registry, can I disallow any other program from modifying the key-value?

I am using Windows Mobile 6, but this can also be a general Windows question.

likejudo
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The Windows registry, at least on NT-based systems, supports access control just like most other objects (files, etc.). As such, you can set the appropriate ACLs on registry keys as well as values to restrict access.

I am pretty sure that this functionality is not present on Windows Mobile, but it is on Windows NT, XP, 2003, Vista, Win7 etc.

See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724878%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Lucky Luke
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  • +1. The 'regf' format of registry hives, used by the NT series, supports ACLs on keys (not individual values). The 'CREG' (Win9x), 'SHCC' (Win3.1) and 'EKIM' (WinCE) formats don't. I don't know about later Windows Mobile/Phone variants though. – bobince Apr 12 '12 at 13:52
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    I found this http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb416353.aspx One tier: "Signed applications execute with no further checks and run with privileged permissions on the device. They can call any API, modify any part of the file system and modify any part of the registry" Windows Mobile 6 does *not* support two tier. – likejudo Apr 12 '12 at 14:45