Hi Steve,

Thank you for this. 
I know about the working of WOW64 and the redirection to the (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE) ..\Wow6432Node, that is explained on md.docs.
The HKEY_CURRENT_USER redirection is not well explained, and so it appears I’m not the only one (Google) who was confused about this behavior.
So, again, many thanks for your explanation!

Tony Kalf.

Van: Steve Dower
Verzonden: maandag 13 januari 2020 19:49
Aan: factoryx.code@gmail.com
Onderwerp: [issue39296] Windows register keys

Steve Dower <steve.dower@python.org> added the comment:

You should read the version number from the Version or SysVersion values, rather than from the tag.

Having -32 in the key name is a compatibility requirement. Without it, if you installed 32-bit and 64-bit versions for the current user (which is now the default), they would overwrite each other.

The Wow6432Node key is due to Windows, not Python. We don't decide the name or when it is used, and Windows determined that HKEY_CURRENT_USER is not subject to registry redirection. That's why you don't see it there.

Hope that helps clarify what's going on.

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