DOCUMENT:Q237789 24-OCT-2000 [winnt] TITLE :INFO: Windows 2000 Registry Entries Are Not Expanded PRODUCT :Microsoft Windows NT PROD/VER:WINDOWS: OPER/SYS: KEYWORDS:kbOSWin2000 kbDSupport ====================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information in this article applies to: - Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server - Microsoft Windows 2000 Server - Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY ======= Before Windows 2000, most in-process applications were placed in the registry with a complete, hard-coded path. In Windows 2000, many of the earlier, absolute, hard-coded paths have been replaced with the appropriate %environment% variable. MORE INFORMATION ================ In-process applications are applications that are registered as handlers for a particular file extension (for example, Filename.wri is started by Wordpad, Filename.doc is started by Microsoft Word, and so on). For instance, in the registry under HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current version/App paths, the entry for Wordpad, which was C:\Program Files\Windows NT\Accessories\Wordpad.exe, has become %Program Files%\Windows NT\Accessories\Wordpad.exe. When an application calls the RegQueryValueEx function to retrieve a string, it should check to see whether lpType==REG_EXPAND_SZ, which means that the application should call the ExpandEnvironmentStrings function, just in case the string returned really does need to be expanded. These registry values have been REG_EXPAND_SZ for quite some time, but applications expected that these strings were already expanded for them. There are several applications that try to call WinExec with the parameter (%Program Files%\Windows NT\Accessories\Wordpad.exe, and so on) with incorrect results. Additional query words: ====================================================================== Keywords : kbOSWin2000 kbDSupport Technology : kbwin2000AdvServ kbwin2000AdvServSearch kbwin2000Serv kbwin2000ServSearch kbwin2000Search kbwin2000ProSearch kbwin2000Pro kbWinAdvServSearch Version : WINDOWS: Issue type : kbinfo ============================================================================= THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY. Copyright Microsoft Corporation 2000.