There are multiple branches with “ControlSet” in their names under HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\SYSTEM
.
What are the fundamental differences between the way Windows uses these 3 keys?
HKLM\System\ControlSet001
HKLM\System\ControlSet002
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet
Best Answer
Microsoft say it best in KB100010
Going back to Windows (I think 95), you could set any driver/hardware component to work only in a certain setting mode, which was user selectable at start up.
By default, you have
\ControlSet001 - Last boot
\ControlSet002 - Known good settings
\CurrentControlSet - Current boot
Edit --
It looks like this was only taken out recently, I have personally never used it since 95, however, I found a good site that can show you it from Windows XP.
From system properties:
And from device manager: