In this article, we will discuss the solution of how to compress the bloated registry hives in Windows server 2022.
What is a Registry Hive?
A registry hive in a windows server or Microsoft Windows is a collection of logical registry keys, subkeys, and values. When an operating system starts, at that time all supportive log files are loaded into the memory. Each time a new user logs on to a windows server, a new hive is created for this specified user with a separate user profile which is known as ‘user_profile hive’.
You can find the all Registry hives inside the windows Registry Editor in your windows server that is HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, HKEY_CURRENT_USER, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, HKEY_USERS, and HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG. Using registry hive, you can create new or update the existing registry keys, subkeys, and values that increase your system performance, security, and read-only access permissions.
Why Registry Hives Are Bloated?
Registry hive Bloated means your system’s registry is filled with unnecessary and obsolete data that abnormally increase the size of the registry hive. The bloated registry hives slow down the system performance and also interrupts normal operation or crashes the program. There are several causes to create the bloated registry hives in your system for example, due to malware such as spyware and Trojan horses, useless emails, installation of website’s malicious programs, etc.
In this guide, our main focus is to find the remedy or solution for this problem and how we can overcome or compress the bloated registry hives on our system. When we compress the bloated registry hives, it takes the registry hive back to its normal state.
Steps to compress the bloated registry hives in Windows Server
You can compress the bloated registry hives in Windows Server 2022 by using third-party software. By following the below-mentioned steps, we can easily compress the bloated registry hives in Windows Server 2022:
Step 1: Start Boot your PC
Boot your windows server using a WinPE (Windows Preinstalled Environment) disk.
Step 2: Access Registry Editor
Open the Run window while booted in the Windows PE and type the ‘regedit’ in the search bar and hit ‘Enter’.
It loads the bloated registry hive under the HKLM(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).
Step 3: Load the Bloated hive
You can use the ‘Load hive’ option that is available in the File menu. Load the registry hive and assign a suitable name to it such as bloated. The name of the bloated hive is represented under the address: HKLMbloated
Step 4: Export the loaded registry hive
Once the bloated registry hive is loaded, export the ‘Registry hive’ file with some unique name that you can easily identify on your system.
For example, %windir%system32configcompressedregistryhive
The ‘windir’ is used for the Windows directory.
Step 5: Unload bloated hive from regedit
In this step, unload the bloated registry hive from the regedit (Registry Editor) using the ‘Unload hive’ option from the File menu and select the bloated registry key that you have created during loading the registry hive.
While unloading the bloated hive, you may get an error of ‘Access Denied’. To resolve this problem, close the registry editor and again launch it.
Step 6: Boot with Compressed hives
Rename the registry hives and then boot with the compressed hive.
c:windowssystem32configren software software.old
c:windowssystem32configren compressedregitryhive software
Using the DIR command, we can easily view the old and new registry hive sizes.
Conclusion
In this guide, we have discussed how to compress the bloated registry hives in Windows server 2022. Compressing the registry hive improves your system performance and security. There are more other solutions available to remove this issue. However, most users preferred this method. I hope this solution will be useful for you. Thanks!
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