Working with the Registry from PowerShell¶
Sources:
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/samples/working-with-registry-entries?view=powershell-7.2
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/samples/working-with-registry-keys?view=powershell-7.2
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/samples/working-with-files-folders-and-registry-keys?view=powershell-7.2
Contents¶
Creating New Registry Entries¶
To add a new entry to the Registry, use New-ItemProperty with the path to the key, the entry name, and the value of the entry.
For this example, to add a new entry for $PSHOME (The Windows PowerShell variable $PSHome stores the path to the installation directory for Windows PowerShell), use the following command. Not that the command also returns information about the new entry:
New-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion -Name PowerShellPath -PropertyType String -Value $PSHome
Returns:
PSPath : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
PSParentPath : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
PSChildName : CurrentVersion
PSDrive : HKLM
PSProvider : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry
PowerShellPath : C:\Program Files\Windows PowerShell\v1.0
The PropertyType must be the name of a Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind enumeration member from the following table:
| PropertyType Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Binary | Binary data |
| DWord | A number that is a valid UInt32 |
| ExpandString | A string that can contain environment variables that are dynamically expanded |
| MultiString | A multiline string |
| String | Any string value |
| QWord | 8 bytes of binary data |
You can add a registry entry to multiple locations by specifying an array of values for the **Path** parameter.
New-ItemProperty -Name PowerShellPath -PropertyType String -Value $PSHome `
-Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion, HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
You can also overwrite a pre-existing registry entry value by adding the Force parameter to any New-ItemProperty command.
Renaming Registry Entries¶
To rename a specific Registry entry use the Rename-ItemProperty cmdlet:
# rename the **PowerShellPath** entry to "PSHome"
Rename-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion -Name PowerShellPath -NewName PSHome
# To display the renamed value, add the **PassThru** parameter to the command
Rename-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion -Name PowerShellPath -NewName PSHome -passthru
Deleting Registry Entries¶
To delete a key/entry from a specific path in the Registry use the Remove-ItemProperty cmdlet:
Remove-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion -Name PSHome
Remove-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion -Name PowerShellPath
Appendix: Links¶
- Development
- PowerShell
- Windows PowerShell
- PowerShell Code Snippets
- Windows
- Registry
Backlinks:
list from [[Working with the Registry from PowerShell]] AND -"Changelog"