Editing Multi-String Values in the Windows 95 Registry

In Windows 95, the native Registry Editor (REGEDIT.EXE) lacked the capability to edit multi-string values (REG_MULTI_SZ) as readable text lists, displaying them only as raw hexadecimal binary data. To properly view and modify these values, Microsoft relied on the Windows NT Registry Editor, REGEDT32.EXE, accessed remotely over a network connection, alongside alternative methods such as custom setup information (.INF) scripts or third-party registry utilities.

The Limitation of Windows 95 Regedit

Windows 95 shipped with a 16/32-bit hybrid tool named REGEDIT.EXE. While user-friendly for its time, its interface was limited to handling only three primary data types natively:

  • REG_SZ (Standard String)
  • REG_DWORD (32-bit integer)
  • REG_BINARY (Raw binary data)

Whenever REGEDIT.EXE encountered advanced NT-style registry types, such as REG_MULTI_SZ (multiple strings separated by null characters) or REG_EXPAND_SZ (strings with unexpanded environment variables), it defaulted to treating them as binary values. Editing a multi-string directly in Windows 95 required modifying individual hexadecimal pairs, which was prone to errors and corrupted string terminators.

The Microsoft Solution: REGEDT32.EXE via Remote Registry

Because Windows 95 could not run the 32-bit Windows NT editor locally due to architectural dependencies, Microsoft's official solution was to use REGEDT32.EXE from a computer running Windows NT 3.51 or Windows NT 4.0.

To accomplish this:

  1. Install the Remote Registry Service: The Windows 95 target machine required the installation of the Microsoft Remote Registry service (regserv.exe), available on the Windows 95 installation CD under the \Admin\Nettools\Remotreg directory.
  2. Enable User-Level Access Control: The Windows 95 machine had to be part of a Windows NT domain or Novell NetWare network with user-level access control enabled.
  3. Connect Remotely: From a Windows NT workstation, an administrator launched REGEDT32.EXE, chose Registry > Select Computer, and entered the name of the Windows 95 computer.

Inside REGEDT32.EXE, the administrator could double-click any REG_MULTI_SZ value to open the built-in Multi-String Editor, allowing each string entry to be modified on separate lines in plain text.

Alternative Workarounds

For environments without access to a networked Windows NT system, users utilized other methods to handle multi-string entries:

  • Setup Information (.INF) Files: Developers and power users could create .INF files using the AddReg directive. The 0x00010000 flag denoted a REG_MULTI_SZ entry, allowing strings to be installed or appended by right-clicking the file and selecting Install.
  • Third-Party Editors: Utility suites developed for Windows 95, such as Symantec’s Norton Utilities (which included the Norton Registry Editor), provided native support for advanced registry types without requiring network connectivity.

Microsoft eventually resolved this limitation in Windows 2000 and Windows XP by merging the features of both tools into an updated version of REGEDIT.EXE, which included built-in support for editing multi-string values locally.