[Free] How to Delete Files from Registry in Windows 10

How to delete files from registry in Windows 10

What happens if I delete registry files?

The registry is an important database in Microsoft Windows, its role is to store system and application setting information. It is essential to the startup and operation of the Windows operating system. If the registry is damaged, Windows will start abnormally, and may even lead to the paralysis of the entire Windows system.

To sum up, as a normal Windows user, you should not make frequent changes to Windows registry files. But you can delete some invalid or useless files in the registry, such as deleting the registry files of uninstalled programs. Because these registry files have nothing to do with the Windows, it will not affect the operating system. Next, I will show you how to delete registry files in Windows 10 to free up space.

How to delete registry files in Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11

You can delete registry files from File Explorer and Registry Editor. If you want to delete the registry files of an uninstalled program to completely free up space, please refer to the following parts:

▶ Way 1. Delete registry files from File Explorer

Using File Explorer to delete registry files is relatively simple and suitable for users without a computer experience.

Step 1. Press “Windows + R” at the same time, type in “C:\Windows\System32\Config” and enter “Enter”.

Step 2. Here, you can navigate to these folders to find the files you need to delete.

Step 3. Right-click the target registry file. Then, click "Delete" in the menu that appears.

▶ Way 2. Delete registry files from Registry Editor

You can also delete registry files in Registry Edit, but you have to be careful with this method to avoid deleting the wrong file. 

Step 1. Type Registry Edit in the search bar and click it to open Registry Editor.

Step 2. On the left side of the window, you need to find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

Step 3. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, you need to navigate to SOFTWARE. All folders under the SOFTWARE directory are programs installed on the PC, and deleting these files has nothing to do with the system.

Step 4. Here, you can delete the registry file of the target program. Right-click it and choose Delete.

Step 5. Additionally, you must do the same for HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_USER to completely remove the software's registry files from your PC.

▶ Way 3. How to delete registry files using CMD

In addition, you can also delete registry files through Command Prompt. The Reg command allows us to delete registry keys and registry values from the command line. Please refer to the following steps:

Step 1. Press “Windows + R”, type in “cmd” and hit Enter to open it.

Step 2. Here, enter the following default commands:

reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\DeleteTestKey /v DeleteTestValue /f, you need to change the path and value according to your needs.

For example:
reg delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer /v CleanShutdown /f

How do I delete registry files to free up space safely and easily (free)?

To delete files from the registry to completely free up space, you need a professional junk file cleaner - AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup for Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and Server users.

Its Clean Junk Files feature supports deep PC cleaning. It can help you scan all junk files on your PC automatically, including system junk files and registry junk files. After scanning, it can integrate different types of junk files together, you can see the detailed information of each registry junk file from the results and choose whether to delete all of them. Besides, it's easier to use than any other software.

Please download this freeware to see how to delete files from registry in Windows 10, 8, and 7, as well as Windows 11.

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Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup. Click the "Clean Junk Files" tab.

Step 2. Click the "Scan Now" button to start the process of scanning junk files.

Step 3. After the scan process is finished. All system junk files (including recycle bin files, temporary files, log files, invalid shortcuts, and so on) and registry junk files (including DLL registry, system registry, and program registry) will be displayed.

You can also click the button behind to view the junk files details.

Step 4. And, you can click the button behind to locate the file.

By default, the program will select some junk files to clean up, for example, temporary files, log files, and so on. You can also manually check to select more or uncheck to deselect fewer listed junk files. Or, click "Select All" to select all junk files to clean up if you need to clean up all.

Step 5. After selecting junk files that are not needed anymore, you can click the "Clean Now"button to start the cleanup.

The process of the cleanup might take time, and the selected files will be cleaned up. After the process is finished, you will get a cleanup completed window displaying how many files you have cleaned and not yet cleaned.

Bottom line

This is the whole process of how to delete files from registry in Windows 10. As can be seen from several methods shared, AOMEI Partition Assistant for Cleanup is suitable for most users, as it can delete all registry junk files by type to save more space on your computer. If you haven't tried it yet, don't hesitate!