Changing All Occurances of a Value in the Registry

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thomas M
  • Start date Start date
T

Thomas M

Windows XP



I know that this is a Win2000 group, but I couldn't find an English language
group for the XP registry, so I figured that this group would probably be
close enough. Please let me know if I need to post this question elsewhere.



I apologize if this is a little long-winded, but I'd like to give sufficient
background for my questions. I need to update a certain registry value on
about 35 machines. The setting that needs to be updated is for the Outlook
Network Security Logon setting. I need to set this to "2C000000", which is
the hex value for "None."



Normally, I would do a simple .REG file. However, it appears that this
problem is not so straight forward. The value that I need to change appears
in the following two places in the registry:



HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\<profile>\13dbb0c8aa05101a9bb000aa002fc45a

"00036601"=hex:2c,00,00,00




HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2123855993-1548109461-1004477477-1005\Software\Microsoft
\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging

Subsystem\Profiles\<profile>\13dbb0c8aa05101a9bb000aa002fc45a

"00036601"=hex:2c,00,00,00



where "<profile>" is the name of the Outlook profile, which is "MS Exchange
Settings" on all of our machines. So the Outlook profile will not be a
problem. In fact, since it's the same on all machines, I can update the
value in HKCU using a .REG file. The problem is with the second location
given above. As far as I can tell the
"S-1-5-21-2123855993-1548109461-1004477477-1005" is the SID for the local
user account on the machine, so that key name will be different on every
machine, and some machines may have multiple accounts, further complicating
the issue.



All of which leads to my question. Is it possible to do a search and
replace operation in the registry so that all occurrences of a given setting
can be updated, and if so, how do I do that?



--Tom
 
You can use your .reg file. When you modify a value under HKCU, it will also be changed under
HKU\<SID>

Machines with multiple users will need the .reg file merged multiple times -- once for each user
while that user is logged in.
 
Thanks for the reply. I thought that might be case, but I haven't done a
lot in terms of editing registry values that are specific to a user profile,
so I wanted to check. Fortunately, running the .REG file for each user will
not be a problem. The NOS on our network gives me the ability to create a
small application to run the .REG file, and that application in turn can be
assigned to each individual user. So, I guess it's not really any different
than other similar updates that I've done. Thanks for the help!

--Tom

Keith Miller said:
You can use your .reg file. When you modify a value under HKCU, it will also be changed under
HKU\<SID>

Machines with multiple users will need the .reg file merged multiple times -- once for each user
while that user is logged in.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]


Windows XP



I know that this is a Win2000 group, but I couldn't find an English language
group for the XP registry, so I figured that this group would probably be
close enough. Please let me know if I need to post this question elsewhere.



I apologize if this is a little long-winded, but I'd like to give sufficient
background for my questions. I need to update a certain registry value on
about 35 machines. The setting that needs to be updated is for the Outlook
Network Security Logon setting. I need to set this to "2C000000", which is
the hex value for "None."



Normally, I would do a simple .REG file. However, it appears that this
problem is not so straight forward. The value that I need to change appears
in the following two places in the registry:



HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\<profile>\13dbb0c8aa05101a9bb000aa002fc45a

"00036601"=hex:2c,00,00,00




HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2123855993-1548109461-1004477477-1005\Software\Microsoft
\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging

Subsystem\Profiles\<profile>\13dbb0c8aa05101a9bb000aa002fc45a

"00036601"=hex:2c,00,00,00



where "<profile>" is the name of the Outlook profile, which is "MS Exchange
Settings" on all of our machines. So the Outlook profile will not be a
problem. In fact, since it's the same on all machines, I can update the
value in HKCU using a .REG file. The problem is with the second location
given above. As far as I can tell the
"S-1-5-21-2123855993-1548109461-1004477477-1005" is the SID for the local
user account on the machine, so that key name will be different on every
machine, and some machines may have multiple accounts, further complicating
the issue.



All of which leads to my question. Is it possible to do a search and
replace operation in the registry so that all occurrences of a given setting
can be updated, and if so, how do I do that?



--Tom
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Your welcome

--

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]


Thomas M said:
Thanks for the reply. I thought that might be case, but I haven't done a
lot in terms of editing registry values that are specific to a user profile,
so I wanted to check. Fortunately, running the .REG file for each user will
not be a problem. The NOS on our network gives me the ability to create a
small application to run the .REG file, and that application in turn can be
assigned to each individual user. So, I guess it's not really any different
than other similar updates that I've done. Thanks for the help!

--Tom

Keith Miller said:
You can use your .reg file. When you modify a value under HKCU, it will also be changed under
HKU\<SID>

Machines with multiple users will need the .reg file merged multiple times -- once for each user
while that user is logged in.

--
Good Luck,

Keith
Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]


Windows XP



I know that this is a Win2000 group, but I couldn't find an English language
group for the XP registry, so I figured that this group would probably be
close enough. Please let me know if I need to post this question elsewhere.



I apologize if this is a little long-winded, but I'd like to give sufficient
background for my questions. I need to update a certain registry value on
about 35 machines. The setting that needs to be updated is for the Outlook
Network Security Logon setting. I need to set this to "2C000000", which is
the hex value for "None."



Normally, I would do a simple .REG file. However, it appears that this
problem is not so straight forward. The value that I need to change appears
in the following two places in the registry:



HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\<profile>\13dbb0c8aa05101a9bb000aa002fc45a

"00036601"=hex:2c,00,00,00




HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2123855993-1548109461-1004477477-1005\Software\Microsoft
\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging

Subsystem\Profiles\<profile>\13dbb0c8aa05101a9bb000aa002fc45a

"00036601"=hex:2c,00,00,00



where "<profile>" is the name of the Outlook profile, which is "MS Exchange
Settings" on all of our machines. So the Outlook profile will not be a
problem. In fact, since it's the same on all machines, I can update the
value in HKCU using a .REG file. The problem is with the second location
given above. As far as I can tell the
"S-1-5-21-2123855993-1548109461-1004477477-1005" is the SID for the local
user account on the machine, so that key name will be different on every
machine, and some machines may have multiple accounts, further complicating
the issue.



All of which leads to my question. Is it possible to do a search and
replace operation in the registry so that all occurrences of a given setting
can be updated, and if so, how do I do that?



--Tom
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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