ID: q102978
The information in this article applies to:
This is the third of five articles on the User Preferences entries; for the other entries, see "User Preferences Entries, Part 1," and "User Preferences Entries, Part 2," "User Preferences Entries, Part 4," and "User Preferences Entries, Part 5".
The information presented here is primarily for troubleshooting, showing the default entry values and explaining the meaning of important entries. There are no hidden values that you can set for user preferences. All of these values can be set using the icons in Control Panel or the tools in the Administrative Tools group, or other programs provided with Windows NT.
All Registry paths shown here are for HKEY_CURRENT_USER, to show how you can view entries for the currently logged on user. However, most of these entries also appear in HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT, where changing entries will change values for the default user profile.
The International subkey describes how to display dates, times, currency, and other items for a specific country, under the following Registry path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International
The following table summarizes entry values under this subkey. All data types are REG_SZ. To change any of these items, choose the International icon in Control Panel.
iCountry REG_SZ country
Specifies the country code. This number matches the country's international telephone code, except for Canada, which is 2.
iCurrDigits REG_SZ number
Specifies the number of digits to put after the decimal separator in currency.
iCurrency REG_SZ number
Specifies a positive currency format, where 0 = $2, 1 = 2$, 2 = $ 2, and 3
= 2 $. iDate REG_SZ number
Specifies a numerical date format for compatibility with Windows 2.x, where 0 = 12/31/90, 1 = 31/12/90, and 2 = 90/12/31.
iDigits REG_SZ number
Specifies the number of digits to display after the decimal separator in numbers.
iLZero REG_SZ 0 or 1
Specifies whether to put leading zeros in decimal numbers, where 0 = .7 and 1 = 0.7.
iMeasure REG_SZ 0 or 1
Specifies the measurement system as metric or English, where 0 = metric and 1 = English.
iNegCurr REG_SZ number
Specifies a negative number format, where:
0 = ($1) 4 = (1$) 8 = -1 $ 12 = $ -1.1
1 = -$1 5 = -1$ 9 = -$ 1 13 = 1.1- $
2 = $-1 6 = 1-$ 10 = 1 $- 14 = ($ 1.1)
3 = $1- 7 = 1$- 11 = $ 1- 15 = (1.1 $)
iTime REG_SZ number
Specifies whether to format time using a 12-hour or 24-hour clock, where 0 = 1:00 (12-hour clock) and 1 = 13:00 (24-hour clock).
iTLZero REG_SZ number
The U.S. English default is 0. The actual time separator is specified by
Specifies whether to put leading zeros in time, where 0 = 9:15 and 1 = 09:15.
Locale REG_SZ number
Specifies the current user's locale ID for the local language preferences, based on values defined in CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\Language.
s1159 REG_SZ string
Specifies the time marker to use in time strings before noon in the 12-hour time format.
s2359 REG_SZ string
Specifies the time marker to use in time strings after noon in the 12-hour format or that follows all times in the 24-hour format. The U.S. English default is PM.
sCountry REG_SZ string
The U.S. English default is United States.
sCurrency REG_SZ string
Specifies the currency symbol you want to use.
sDate REG_SZ string
Specifies the symbol separating numbers for the short date.
sDecimal REG_SZ string
Specifies the punctuation used to separate the fractional part of a decimal number from the whole number part.
sLanguage REG_SZ string
Specifies the language you want to work in. Windows applications that provide language specific tasks, such as sorting or spell checking, use this entry. The U.S. English default is enu. Values for the locales supported for the first version of Windows NT are the following:
csy = Czech frc = French (Canadian)
dan = Danish frs = French (Swiss)
deu = German hun = Hungarian
des = German (Swiss) isl = Icelandic
dea = German (Austrian) ita = Italian
ell = Greek its = Italian (Swiss)
ena = English (Australia) nlb = Dutch (Belgian)
enc = English (canada) nld = Dutch
eng = English (U.K.) non = Norwegian (Nynorsk)
eni = English (Irish) nor = Norwegian (Bokmal)
enu = English (U.S.) plk = Polish
enz = English (New Zeal.) ptb = Portuguese (Brazilian)
esm = Spanish (Mexican) ptg = Portuguese
esn = Modern Spanish rus = Russian
esp = Castilian Spanish sky = Slovak
fin = Finnish svc = Swedish
fra = French trk = Turkish
frb = French (Belgian)
sList = Icelandic st REG_SZ string
ita = ItalianSpecifies the character used to separate items in a list. In U.S. English, the nld = Dutchmost common separator is a comma.
sLongDate = Norwegian ngDate REG_SZ format
ptg = Portuguese Specifies your choices for the long date formats,
including abbreviations for the sve = Swedish words and separators.
d = Day (1-31)
dd = Day (01-31)
ddd = Day (Mon-Sun)
dddd = Day (Monday-Sunday)
M = Month (1-12)
MM = Month (01-12)
MMM = Month (Jan-Dec)
MMMM = Month (January-December)
yy = Year (00-99)
yyyy = Year (1900-2040)
sShortDate REG_SZ format
Specifies a choice for the short date format, including abbreviations for the words and separators, according to the list described for sLongDate. Control Panel accepts only certain format combinations. Therefore, you should use Control Panel to change this setting.
sThousand REG_SZ string
Specifies the symbol used to separate thousands. For example, if the value is a comma, the number appears as 3,000.
sTime REG_SZ string
Specifies the character used to separate the hours, minutes, and seconds in time. For example, if the value is a colon, the time appears as 15:29:31.
The Keyboard entry contains user preferences as defined by choosing the Keyboard icon in Control Panel. Entries are found under this Registry path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard
InitialKeyboardIndicators REG_SZ Number
Specifies initial values for keys. 0 means that NUMLOCK is turned off after the user logs on; 2 means NUMLOCK is turned on after the user logs on. This value is set during log off or shutdown to preseve the state of the NUMLOCK key at that time.
KeyboardDelay REG_SZ 0 to 3
Establishes how much time elapses after you hold down a key before the key starts to repeat. The values 0 through 3 provide a linear scale from the smallest delay supported by the keyboard driver to the largest delay. Typically, 0 represents 250 milliseconds, and 3 represents 1 second, with a 20 percent accuracy.
KeyboardSpeed REG_SZ 0 to 31
Sets how much time elapses between repetitions of a character on the display when you hold down a keyboard key. The values 0 through 31 provide a linear scale from the slowed repeat rate supported by the keyboard driver to the fastest repeat rate. Typically, 0 represents 2 per second, and 31 represents 30 per second.
The Keyboard Layout key records the user's preferred layout, which is loaded and activated by the system when the user logs on. Entries are found under this Registry path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Keyboard Layout
Active REG_SZ KeyboardLayout
The Keyboard Layout\Substitutes key is empty by default. This subkey records a mapping between keyboard layout names. The system checks the user's Substitutes subkey when loading the keyboard driver, and if a substitute is specified, the corresponding layout name is substituted. For example, an entry such as the following under the Keyboard Layout\Substitutes subkey indicates that the user prefers the Dvorak U.S. English keyboard layout (00010409) to the standard U.S. English keyboard layout (00000409).
To change these entries, choose the Mouse icon from Control Panel.
DoubleClickSpeed REG_SZ milliseconds
Sets the maximum time between clicks of the mouse button that the system permits for one double-click. The lower the value for this entry, the less time you have to click twice to double-click.
MouseSpeed REG_SZ 0 or 1 or 2
Sets the relationship between mouse and cursor movement when the value of either MouseThreshold1 or MouseThreshold2 is exceeded. When this occurs, cursor movement accelerates according to the value of MouseSpeed.
Value Meaning
0 No acceleration
1 The cursor is moved twice the normal speed when mouse movement
exceeds the value of MouseThreshold1
2 The cursor is moved twice the normal speed when the mouse
movementexceeds the value of MouseThreshold1, or four times the
normal speed if mouse movement exceeds MouseThreshold2.
MouseThreshold1 REG_SZ pixels
MouseThreshold2 REG_SZ pixels
Default: MouseThreshold1=6
MouseThreshold2=10
SwapMouseButtons REG_SZ Boolean
Specifies whether to swap the right and left mouse buttons. If the value is 1, the buttons are swapped.
Multimedia and Sound Entries for Users Values related to user preferences for multimedia items in Control Panel are found in the following Registry path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel
Multimedia subkey Default value entries
MMCPL H=230
NumApps=20
W=442
X=88
Y=84
Sound Beep=yes
Sounds Enable=1
SystemAsterisk=chord.wav,Asterisk
SystemDefault=ding.wav,Default Beep
SystemExclamation=chord.wav,Exclamation
SystemExit=chord.wav,Windows Logoff
SystemHand=chord.wav,Critical Stop
SystemQuestion=chord.wav,Question
SystemStart=tada.wav.Windows Logon
Additional query words: prodnt winnt
Keywords : kbother
Version : 3.10
Platform : winntLast Reviewed: August 14, 1998