When we use registry editor to edit we will not be able to read keys which are longer than 255 characters. Hence this, problem can be easily tackled by using the command prompt version of the registry editor which does not have this restriction.
You can call it by opening the command prompt and then typing reg.exe with the required parameters.
For example to open all the keys within a node, you can use the query parameter.
Give the following command in the command prompt:
reg.exe query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE
This will list all the entries under this node. Note that this is similar to the GUI registry editor. When you expand a node all nodes within it are displayed. It also displays all the keys which are directly under the node of the query.
If you want to search for an entry within a node then run a similar command as shown below:
reg.exe query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE /v path
This will search for the key named path directly under the software node, and not the key under the nodes which are under the software node.
You can also use other parameters of the reg.exe like delete to delete required registry values.
For more help use the command ‘reg.exe/?’.