File & Registry Virtualization in Windows 11/10

Registry Virtualization basically means that applications are prevented from writing to System Folders in Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista file system and ALSO to the ‘machine wide keys’ in the registry.  However, this does not prevent standard user accounts from installing or running applications. In Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista, the UAC utilizes the Registry Virtualization Feature, to redirect attempts to write to subkeys of When an application attempts to write to this hive, Windows instead, writes it, to a per-user location, This is done discreetly. No one gets to know that this is happening! This is, in short, Registry Virtualization, and it is a useful Security feature. Additional reads: