Hardware Profiles
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
Description
The Hardware Profiles subkey stores the hardware profiles on your system.
A hardware profile consists of specified changes to the original hardware profile configured in the SOFTWARE and SYSTEM keys of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. To allow hardware profiles to be easily applied and removed, the original value in the SOFTWARE or SYSTEM key is not changed. Instead, the change is stored in a numbered subkey of the Hardware Profiles subkey.
You can use System in Control Panel to create a hardware profile. Also, the system creates new hardware profiles automatically when it encounters configurations that require one, such as when a portable computer is undocked or moved from one docking station to another.
Each hardware profile is stored in a Profile-number subkey of the Hardware Profiles subkey. The content of the numbered subkeys looks like a miniature version of the Software and System subkeys. It contains only those subkeys in the path to the entry that the hardware profile changes. When a hardware profile is applied, the values in the numbered subkeys override the corresponding values in Software and System.
The current hardware profile is stored in one of the numbered subkeys in the Hardware Profiles subkey, but it also appears in the Current subkey of Hardware Profiles and in the HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG subtree of the registry. Because the Current subkey and the HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG subtree merely store pointers to the content of the numbered Hardware Profiles subkey currently in use, you can view and edit the data in any of these three locations.
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Note
For information about the entries in a subkey of Hardware Profiles, see the description of that entry in the SOFTWARE or SYSTEM keys. For example, to find a description of the contents of Hardware Profiles\ Profile-number \Software\Fonts, see the description of HKLM\Software\Fonts.
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Tip
To create hardware profiles, use System in Control Panel. Click the Hardware tab, and then click the Hardware Profiles button.
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