Where Regedit Stores Settings and Last Key Location

The Windows Registry Editor (regedit.exe) saves its user-specific state, including window dimensions, layout positions, and the last viewed registry key, within the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive. Whenever you close Regedit, Windows writes your current session details to this location so your workspace is restored the next time you launch the utility.

The Registry Path for Regedit Settings

All interface settings, search preferences, and session states for Regedit are located in the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit

Because these settings reside under HKEY_CURRENT_USER, each user account on a Windows system maintains its own separate configuration.

Key Values and What They Store

Inside the Regedit key, Windows manages several specific values:

• LastKey (REG_SZ): Contains the full path of the last registry key highlighted before the program was closed. On the next launch, Regedit reads this string and automatically expands the tree view to that exact key.
• View (REG_BINARY): Stores the window size, screen coordinates, column widths, and the position of the splitter bar dividing the navigation tree from the values pane.
• FindFlags (REG_DWORD): Remembers your search options (such as “Match whole string only”, “Keys”, “Values”, or “Data”) from the last search query.

Favorites Location

If you use the Favorites menu to bookmark frequently accessed paths, Regedit saves them in a dedicated subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit\Favorites

Each favorite entry is saved as a string value (REG_SZ), where the value name is the label you assigned and the value data is the target registry path.

How to Reset Regedit Interface Settings

To reset Regedit so that it opens at the root level (“Computer”) instead of your previous location:

1. Close the Registry Editor.
2. Open a Command Prompt or PowerShell window.
3. Run the following command to clear the last viewed key: reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit" /v LastKey /t REG_SZ /d "" /f

To reset the window layout and all interface preferences to factory defaults, delete the entire HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit key. Windows will automatically recreate it with default values the next time you open the Registry Editor.