(3) Current User and Local Machine Registries
Each Windows User Account has its own private Windows registry.
This is called the Current User registry.
There is also a system-wide Windows registry. This is called the Local Machine registry.
There are total of 4 potential registries where an ActiveX DLL may be registered:
- 32-bit Current User Registry
- 32-bit Local Machine Registry
- 64-bit Current User Registry
- 64-bit Local Machine Registry
Doing the ActiveX registration As Administrator will register to a Local Machine registry.
If an app is a Windows Service or Classic ASP, then make sure to register to the Local Machine registry.
If an app might be run under many different Windows user accounts, make sure to register to the Local Machine registry.
If an app is only run under a single Windows User Account (i.e. the currently logged-in user account), then it's OK to register to the Current User registry (i.e. register without administrative privileges).