XP Registry Question

[mwieder]

Hi - on the Microsoft website, it states that the values for the number of unread mail messages displayed at logon is stored in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail"
But, as far as I can see, the HKEY_CURRENT_USER is information for whoever is logged in and using the computer at any given time. Therefore:
a) before anyone logs in this key should be undefined
b) this would only hold the values for one user's mail anyway. A second users mail info could not be stored here.
Upon further registry investigation, I found that users unreadmail info is also stored in the "HKEY_USERS" branch following a very long string of carachters to get to "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail"
The last number of that long string dictates which users unreadmail # is retrieved (on my my machine 4 is me and 5 is my wife).
But this too, seems to have a problem - if only one of the users have logged in, the entire branch consisting of that long string of carachters does not exist for the other users, so presumably when no one has logged in, the branches don't exist for either user.
Does anyone know if this is correct, or perhaps is each user only able to view a portion of the registry and in reality all the keys are always there? Is there a way someone can view the registry before anyone logs in and see where the unreadmail info is stored? It must be stored somewhere since it is retrieved by the logonui at stratup to display the number of unread messages.

thanks!

 

[mwieder]

Yes, all my questions are related - I'm trying to write some code which will update the number of messages displayed on the logon screen to the number on my mail server at that time (meaningful) and not the number that was in my inbox last time I closed down (not so meaningful). I've got the code written, but I need to nail down which registry keys to be reading and writing to.
thanks!

 

[mwieder]

Perhaps I am not being clear. The number of unread email messages displayed on the logon screen seems to be retreived by Windows from the registry (that is part of the confusion I am having in the thread starter). I have written code that will update a registry key by going to the pop mail server and getting the number of messages currently on the server. The only step remaining is to nail down which key it is that I need to be updating. So, it is Windows who is using the registry entries, I am simply trying to update them with more useful figures.
help?
thanks!

 

[mwieder]

Does anybody have an answer for this? Where is the information for user 'hives' (branches visible in the registry under Users) stored before a user logs on to XP?
thanks!