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AnswerRegistry - how to test the type of a value

  • Wednesday, November 04, 2009 7:34 PMSmatchimo Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
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    How can you see the type of a value to see if it's a REG_DWORD, REG_SZ, etc?

    "Get-ItemProperty KEY VALUE" only seems to show: PSPath, PSParentPath, PSChildName, PSDrive, PSProvider, and the actual value.

    I see how you can specify the type when doing New-ItemProperty using the -propertyType flag, but I'm not seeing any way to actually check the itemType of an existing registry key/value.

    (Preferably without resorting to using .NET/WMI)

    Thanks!
     

Answers

  • Thursday, November 05, 2009 9:59 PMLincoln AtkinsonMSFTUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
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    Yea seems odd this isn't built in a little better.  Using .NET registry APIs is one way, or invoke reg.exe as Marco suggests. Below is basic version of a function to do the work in powershell with minimal .NET APIs.  Relies on the fact that registry types line up pretty close with .NET types.  It can't detect difference btw REG_SZ and REG_MULTI_SZ unfortunately...

    function Get-RegValType([String] $path, [String] $valName)
    {
       switch ((gp $path -Name $valName).$valName.gettype().Name)
       {
          "String"{"REG_SZ"; break;}
          "Int32" {"REG_DWORD"; break;}
          "Int64" {"REG_QWORD"; break;}
          "String[]" {"REG_MULTI_SZ"; break;}
          "Byte[]" {"REG_BINARY"}
          default {throw "Unknown type"}
        }
     }

    -Lincoln
     

All Replies

  • Thursday, November 05, 2009 2:07 AMMarco ShawMVP, ModeratorUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
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    That's a good question...  I'm not sure if PowerShell can do this, however it is a good extension that could be added.

    reg.exe can be used to query the registry and will return the type.

    In the meantime, I'll also ask around.
     
  • Thursday, November 05, 2009 9:59 PMLincoln AtkinsonMSFTUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     Answer
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    Yea seems odd this isn't built in a little better.  Using .NET registry APIs is one way, or invoke reg.exe as Marco suggests. Below is basic version of a function to do the work in powershell with minimal .NET APIs.  Relies on the fact that registry types line up pretty close with .NET types.  It can't detect difference btw REG_SZ and REG_MULTI_SZ unfortunately...

    function Get-RegValType([String] $path, [String] $valName)
    {
       switch ((gp $path -Name $valName).$valName.gettype().Name)
       {
          "String"{"REG_SZ"; break;}
          "Int32" {"REG_DWORD"; break;}
          "Int64" {"REG_QWORD"; break;}
          "String[]" {"REG_MULTI_SZ"; break;}
          "Byte[]" {"REG_BINARY"}
          default {throw "Unknown type"}
        }
     }

    -Lincoln
     
  • Monday, November 09, 2009 2:50 PMShay LeviMVPUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
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    With this you can query local or remote machine registry:

    $reg = [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey]::OpenRemoteBaseKey("localmachine",$ENV:COMPUTERNAME)
    $reg.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DataAccess").GetValueKind("FullInstallVer")
    $reg.close()

    Possible values are:

    Unknown
    String
    ExpandString
    Binary
    DWord
    MultiString
    QWord

    Shay Levy [MVP]
    http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/ScriptFanatic
    PowerShell Toolbar