Managing Registry with PowerShell

Managing Registry with PowerShell

Managing registry with PowerShell: Registry keys are items on Windows PowerShell drives, working with them is very similar to working with files and folders. Registry entries are properties of keys and, as such, cannot be directly browsed, we need to take a slightly different approach when working with them. PowerShell is a powerful scripting language that can be used to manage the Windows registry. You can create, modify, and delete registry keys and values using various cmdlets. Here is a brief overview of how to perform common registry management tasks with PowerShell.

Playing with Windows Registry is dangerous and sometimes may cause system damage. Only proceed if you know what you are doing. First try on test servers with proper registry backup.

Get list of available providers: 

PS C:\Temp> Get-PSDrive

Name           Used (GB)     Free (GB) Provider      Root                                                                                                                                                                                                                            CurrentLocation
----           ---------     --------- --------      ----                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ---------------
Alias                                  Alias
C                 126.24        112.22 FileSystem    C:\                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Temp
Cert                                   Certificate   \
D                  38.72        892.80 FileSystem    D:\
E                 196.21        735.31 FileSystem    E:\
Env                                    Environment
Function                               Function
HKCU                                   Registry      HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKLM                                   Registry      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Variable                               Variable
WSMan                                  WSMan

Listing All Subkeys of a Registry Key:

PS C:\>Get-ChildItem -Path HKCU:\ | Select-Object Name


Name
----
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\EUDC
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Keyboard Layout
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Network
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Printers
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\System
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Uninstall
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Volatile Environment

If you use Get-ChildItem -Path hkcu:\ , this will display Name and Property.

The following command will copy all Keys and properties in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion1

PS C:\> Copy-Item -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion' -Destination 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion1'

Creating Keys

Creating new keys in the registry is simpler than creating a new item in a file system. Because all registry keys are containers, you do not need to specify the item type; you simply supply an explicit path, such as:

PS C:\Temp> New-Item -Path HKCU:\NewItem_DeleteMe

    Hive: HKEY_CURRENT_USER

Name                           Property
----                           --------
NewItem_DeleteMe

Deleting Keys

Deleting items is essentially the same for all providers. The following commands will silently remove items:

Remove-Item -Path HKCU:\NewItem_DeleteMe\