I have Application settings stored under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MyCompany branch. Settings must be same for different users and that is the reason why settings are not under HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Registry values are only read during use of application.
Now, in Windows Vista and due to UAC you can't anymore use following code to read registry values:
RegistryKey myKey = Registry.LocalMachine.CreateSubKey
("SOFTWARE\\MyCompany\\MyAppName");
How can I read the values from LocalMachine branch in my code (C#)?
The problem is that you are trying to create a key not read it. You should be able to read values from HKLM just fine on Vista if you use the appropriate API.
RegistryKey myKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(
#"Software\MyCompany\MyAppName",
false);
Notice the false parameter in the above. This has the effect of opening the key in a read only mode. This is the default setting for OpenSubKey but I prefer to be explicit (mainly because I can't ever remember the default).
Related
This is not an issue running the app as Administrator, it is running as Administrator, it is somehow an issue with permissions on a certain registry Key
I think I have worked out it is actually a permissions issue on the ProfileList registry key
In my code, I can access this key and return a list of all Sub-keys (including ProfileList)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
C# will not, for some reason, see this key at all, even though it is listed as a sub-key when I access the parent key in C#
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
Does anyone please know a workaround . . .
We would like to change a PC's user to a standard user, but a program I created runs this PC reading and writing to the registry. Easiest solution would probably be to just use an ini file, but I would like to know if it is possible to still write to the registry when logged in as a standard user.
For starters would this still work (creating, reading and writing to a current user registry key)? And if not, is there a workaround?
code for reading:
Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey registryKey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey("zebra_labelprint");
int isBigLabel = int.Parse(registryKey.GetValue("biglabel", "0").ToString());
registryKey.Close();
writing:
Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey registryKey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey("zebra_labelprint");
registryKey.SetValue("biglabel", ""+value);
registryKey.Close();
I had asked about this in some other thread and got the link to access remote registry. But the problem I am now facing is I am not able to add any values in to registry. I was trying to add some values to an existing entry in a registry by using following code but not doing anything in remote registry:
RegistryKey rk;
rk = RegistryKey.OpenRemoteBaseKey(
RegistryHive.CurrentUser, ReadServerName());
regkey = rk.OpenSubKey(LeafRegistry.LeafRoot + "\\sim\\NewView\\");
regkey.SetValue("runsystem", SIMserver);
UPDATE
RegistryHive.LocalMachine will work here, I can open and do all operation, but then why for RegistryHive.CurrentUser ? What I am saying is in the above code I will get value for 'rk' but I cannot get value for regkey which will become null, I think for CurrentUser OpenSubKey is not working.
UPDATE
When I analyzed in depth, I saw for except this particular key, all other keys are accessible. I am wondering what is going on for this specific key, I checked permission also after right clicking, but couldn't see it?
You will almost certainly require permissions in most cases when you are attempting to change registry values on remote machines across a network. Also, in a lot of cases, even where you can amend the registry values they can be refreshed via Group Policies and reverted back.
It could be that there are certain parts of the registry that you are restricted from editing,
If you don't have administrator privelages then I think you will come unstuck.
This is not going to work. Suppose the user account your program is accessing remote machine under is not logged in on the remote machine. What should Windows do? Actually, documentation for RegConnectRegistry, which is what OpenRemoteBaseKey calls internally, does not even list HKEY_CURRENT_USER as a permissible argument.
work on C# window application.I want to write on registry.i know how to write on registry.I use bellow syntax to write on registry.
Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey key;
key = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.CurrentUser.cre.CreateSubKey("asb");
key.SetValue("asb", "Isabella");
key.Close();
But problem is i fail to write on specified location .i want to write on bellow location
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
On this location want to add string value="abc" and ValueData="efd"
If have any query plz ask.thanks in advance.
For HKCU:
string keyName = #"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run";
RegistryKey rk = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(keyName, true);
rk.SetValue("abc", "efd");
rk.Close();
For HKLM you need to do it with administrative privileges. That requires adding a manifest to your program to invoke the UAC prompt on Vista or Win7.
Writing to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE requires administrative privileges. And if you're running on Windows Vista or 7, it also requires process elevation, lest you run afoul of UAC (User Account Control).
The best thing is only to write to this registry key during installation (where you will have full administrative privileges). You should only read from it once your application is installed.
Save all regular settings under HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Use the Registry.CurrentUser field to do that. Or, better yet, abandon the registry altogether and save your application's settings in a config file. Visual Studio has built-in support for this, it's very simple to do from C#. The registry is no longer the recommended way of saving application state.
RegistryKey reg = Registry.LocalMachine.
OpenSubKey(#"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run", true);
// set value of "abc" to "efd"
reg.SetValue("abc", "efd", RegistryValueKind.DWord);
// get value of "abc"; return 0 if value not found
string value = (string)reg.GetValue("abc", "0");
I'm writing an application that needs to create a special user account hidden from login screens and the Control Panel users applet. By writing a DWORD value of 0 with the user name to the registry key below, I'm able to accomplish this goal:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
The problem is that under Windows 7 with UAC on, no matter what I try, I cannot programmatically write a value to the key above.
It is my understanding that writing to certain keys this is not allowed on Windows 7 with UAC on, unless you are running with Administrative privileges. I've added an application manifest requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false", I accept the UAC prompt when my program is run, my account is a member of Administrators, yet I am still unable to write to the above registry key.
What more do I need to do? How is it possible, in any application configuration, to write keys and values under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE?
Further information ... When my program runs, no errors are thrown and it seems to write values. My guess is that Windows is virtualizing the location to which I am writing. I need to write to the actual location, not a virtual one, if I am to hide this special user account.
Probably the program runs as 32-bit program on the 64-bit operation system? In the case I recommend you to search the values which you created under Wow6432Node subkey of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE.
You can read more about such kind of virtualization here. You can use KEY_WOW64_32KEY flag in some API to be able to work with full registry without virtualization.
Write Value to Registry
string user = Environment.UserDomainName + "\\" + Environment.UserName;
RegistrySecurity rs = new RegistrySecurity();
rs.AddAccessRule(new RegistryAccessRule(user,
RegistryRights.WriteKey | RegistryRights.ChangePermissions,
InheritanceFlags.None, PropagationFlags.None, AccessControlType.Deny));
RegistryKey rk = null;
try
{
rk = Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey("SOFTWARE\\TEST",
RegistryKeyPermissionCheck.Default, rs);
rk.SetValue("NAME", "IROSH);
rk.SetValue("FROM", "SRI LANKA");
}
This could have something to do with the redirection they added in Vista. I would be curious if you tried to read that registry value from your code, if you would get back the value you were expecting. You may also want to fire up RegMon to see if you can see where the redirection may be forcing you.
RegistryKey rk = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(#"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run",true);
rk.SetValue("Name", "Value");