Select Registry Key

The Select registry key provides the number of the system's CurrentControlSet. The CurrentControlSet contains important configuration for the Windows operating system, and several different Control Sets may be available within a system's registry.

In general, ControlSet001 will be the most recent Control Set that has been booted under, whereas ControlSet002 functions as a backup of a known-good state for the Control Set.

Analysis Value

🖥️System Enumeration

Operating System Availability

Major Version	Support	Major Version	Support
Windows 11	✅	Server 2019	✅
Windows 10	✅	Server 2016	✅
Windows 8	✅	Server 2012	✅
Windows 7	✅	Server 2008	✅
Windows Vista	✅	Server 2003	✅
Windows XP	✅

Artifact Location(s)

🔌 Offline System

• File: %SystemRoot%\System32\config\SYSTEM

• Key: SYSTEM\Select

🔋 Live System

Artifact Parsers

• RegistryExplorer (Eric Zimmerman)

Artifact Interpretation

Within the Select key, the value named Current identifies the CurrentControlSet by an integer. If the value is 1 for instance, that means that the CurrentControlSet on a live system will point to ControlSet001.

Example

In the following example, the Select value's data is 1, indicating that the CurrentControlSet is ControlSet001.

PS> Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\Select" -Name *

Current       : 1
Default       : 1
Failed        : 0
LastKnownGood : 1

This example was produced on Windows 10, Version 10.0.19044 Build 19044