Hello, I went around searching for a setting through the registry and left a mess with dozens of open keys and sub keys. Is there a key within the registry I can delete that will restore all keys to there original collapsed/closed state?
The state of a key being open or collapsed doesn't effect the registry itself, only how it is viewed in regedit. I don't believe there is any way to directly close all keys. What you can do is exit regedit and reopen it. Regedit will then open with the same key displayed in the right column as before with only the keys expanded that are necessary to show this.
I didn't know that upon closing the Registry Editor all keys collapse except the last highlighted entry. I was attempting to collapse each entry one at a time thank you for letting me know.
Highlight each HKEY parent key and press the left arrow key til it's collapsed.
If you go to the top of regedit and right click on Computer, there is a Collapse selection Click it to collapse all.
With the cursor focus in the left pane, simply press the left arrow key. Kind of stupid that the right click menu doesn't include 'Collapse All'.
I find it amusing that Micro$oft doesn't make it easier to navigate within the registry. Even the 'Find' feature is lame; you have to click 'Edit' to select 'Find next' for any search string, since the dialog box closes every time it's clicked.
Using CCleaner and cleaning: Applications - Windows - Regedit - will reset it to the original state.
Ztruker had the best answer by far:
How Can I Collapse/Close All Registry Keys? - Windows 10 blog
It does not collapse the keys, it will just hide them, when you continue browsing, they will be still open.
I see. so the right arrow key is better then?