[TUT] Reading Registry

[Blubb1337]

I'm going to show you how to read registry.

The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains settings for low-level operating system components as well as the applications running on the platform: the kernel, device drivers, services, SAM, user interface and third party applications all make use of the Registry. The registry also provides a means to access counters for profiling system performance.

For instance, we are making a program for a game. We don't want the user to set his install directory, we want to get it with vb.net. Let's take a specific example. I want to do a modern warfare 2 trainer and I'm trying to get the install path.

Microsoft.Win32 has a built in feature to read registry.

First off all, to go into the registry, do the following:

Start > Run > "RegEdit"



Hit ok.

Welcome to the Registry

It looks like this:



We are going to work with "HKEY_LOCAL_Machine" because installed program paths and other information are stored here.

Abbreviated HKLM, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE stores settings that are specific to the local computer. On NT-based versions of Windows, HKLM contains four subkeys, SAM, SECURITY, SOFTWARE and SYSTEM, that are found within their respective files located in the %SystemRoot%\System32\config folder. A fifth subkey, HARDWARE, is volatile and is created dynamically, and as such is not stored in a file. Information about system hardware drivers and services are located under the SYSTEM subkey, while the SOFTWARE subkey contains software and Windows settings.

Let us try to find Modern Warfare 2 by using Control + F.



Yay we've successfully found it =D



Now you actually see something called "InstallPath" as value it has the install directory, for instance: "C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\call of duty modern warfare 2".

Let's go into VB.

Start a new project.



Hit ok.

Drag a button on the form.



Doubleclick on the button.

Now, to read the registry you have to use the following path.

Try
            Dim currhive As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine

            Dim branch As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey = currhive.OpenSubKey("Software\Activision\Modern Warfare 2", False)
            Dim value As String = CType(branch.GetValue("InstallPath"), String)
            branch.Close()
            MsgBox(value)
        Catch
            MsgBox(ErrorToString)
        End Try

It'll look like this:

Try

Catch
Msgbox(errortostring)
end try

This is used for error-catching. If an error appears, it will catch it and use a message box to visualize it. Else, if an error appears, the program will just close.

Dim branch As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey = currhive.OpenSubKey("Software\Activision\Modern Warfare 2", False)

This is pretty self-explaining.

,False = writeable

If you are into changing the value, set it to True.

Dim value As String = CType(branch.GetValue("InstallPath"), String)

To test it simply debug it by hitting "F5".

I do hope you did understand everything.

This tutorial is NOT leeched, just written it a second ago

Enjoy!

[MJLover]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing !!

[Invidus]

Great job!! I don't know WHY you'd want to read the registry though o.o

[NextGen1]

Looks Good, Added to Tuts

[Invidus]

Yesh good job. And btw, i'm catching up to your level nextgen

[NextGen1]

Spam will do that

J/K

[Invidus]

Hey not fair!! My activity's going down.
On-Topic: What's the point of reading registry?

[Blubb1337]

Well you can find out stuff like install directorys, serial keys, language, version AND SO ON. You can do very much in the registry. I did not work with the registry yet, just discovered this today and thought it might come in handy. As it is for my cod6 trainer.

Nextgen might tell you more about it =D

[NextGen1]

I wrote a article / tutorial about it a while back, there are tons of reasons to have the ability to edit/modify registry information,

Some values in registry can determine if a product is activated or not, So in your own application you can offer a Similar feature.

Also if you are creating a Activation Crack for older software, you can use registry hacks or modifications for that as well.

You can use the Registry to modify windows;

Force The Use Of Active Desktop :

Modify the Registry and Create a  DWORD value named "ForceActiveDesktopOn"  value = "1"

So if an application requires active desktop, you now force the user to turn on active desktop to use it, when the application closes you can set "ForceActiveDesktopOn" to "0" and it will no longer be "forced"

In creating a trouble shooting application you can use a high verbose message (anyone familiar with a cmd linux will understand the term better) But the following modification to the registry will allow you to receive verbose startup, shutdown, logon, and logoff status messages.

Find or create the  DWORD  , call it "verbosestatus" and set it to "1"( if it exists set it to "1")

Create a New DWORD , call it"DisableStatusMessages" (forces status messages to be disabled) set to "0". (if it exists , set it to "0")

I am not going to get into all of them or into great detail , but it is more then useful.

A few examples:

Change the Default Mail Client .
Clear Download Accelerator History 
Disable the Splash Screen on Adaptec DirectCD () 
Change the Maximum Number of AOL Buddies
Disable ICQ Auto Update
Disable the Norton Utilities Splash Screen
Configure Symantec Live Update to Use Passive FTP 
Disable the Norton AntiVirus Splash Screen 
Control Active Server Pages Browser Buffering 
Change the ICQ Email Tagline 
Change the Default Name and Company Information
Display Network Error Statistics 
Manage Network Bridge Feature
Manage the QoS Packet Queuing 
Enable the Network Adapter Onboard Processor
Load Balance Network Adapter
Disable Mapped Drive Reconnect Warning 
Manage the Reserved QoS Bandwidth
Specify the Schedule for Alerter Service
Specify Users to Receive Administrative Alerts
Remove the Hand Icon for Shared Resources
Change the IRP Stack Size 
Enable Random Adapter Responses
Manage the Domain Controller Cannot Be Reached Message 
Removing or Adding Items to Your Persistent Connections List
Define the Slow Link Time-Out 
Automatically Detect Slow Network Connections
Specifying a Preferred Netware Server
Increase Network Performance and Throughput
Control Network Browser Elections

The list is Huge, and even just one of these can be useful, infact a perfect example can be found in one of of the recent threads, The question was asked "How can i disable click sounds with web Browser", I answered with a Registry modification, Problem solved.

[Invidus]

Wow. Thats handy >.<
I'll just ask you next time