You might not see it immediately if you’ve used the registry recently and left various hives orkeysopen.

Press theHomekey to see HKCR listed at the very top of the left pane.

Learnhow to add, change, and delete registry keys and valuesfor an introduction.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry hive

HKCR Export Prompt.

For example, when you open a file calleddraft.rtf, WordPad might open it.

Instead, seeHow to Change File Associations in Windowsfor instructions on doing this from within your normal Windows interface.

If something goes wrong, you might alwaysrestore the Windows Registryto a working state with the backup.

export registry file box for HKCR in Windows 11

HKCR Export Prompt.

It’s as easy as opening the REG file.

This is in contrast to some hives that have information that applies only to the currently signed-in user.

Even though that’s the case, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT can still be browsed by any and all users.