Quickly navigating to certain parts of the Windows Registry are about to get a heck of a lot easier, as the registry editor has been given its very own address bar. That means you can not only copy and paste addresses straight into the editor, but you can copy them out, too, to let others know where you ended up.
If you have spent any time troubleshooting PCs over the past couple of decades, there’s a good chance that at least one time you’ve delved into the bowels of the Windows Registry, creating and editing values at the instruction of some long-ago forum post or answered question. While simpler than it looks, navigating through the editor can take time, which is something that this feature update should help avoid.
When implemented, you’ll be able to simply copy and paste in any address, instantly finding yourself jumped to that entry (thanks MSPowerUser).
The only downside is that the pool of users who can access the address bar is limited for now. In typical fashion with Windows 10, Microsoft has rolled the feature out to its Windows Insiders, but only those on the Fast Ring. When some bugs have been ironed out and the feature tested a little more, we’ll see the address bar appear in the Windows registries of Slow Ring Insiders, before eventually becoming available to the rest of us.
Microsoft hasn’t given us any kind of time frame for the update, but it will arrive alongside Windows 10 Build 14942. The current stable release is 10.0.14393.222, so there are a few more versions to go through until then.
Other updates coming alongside the registry address bar include an improved touchpad experience, better frame rates when the Game Bar is enabled, the ability to hide the app list on the start menu, and a number of performance improvements to the Windows Edge browser.