How to read a value from the Windows registry
Given the key for some registry value (e.g. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\blah\blah\blah\foo) how can I:
- Safely determine that such a key exists.
- Programmatically (i.e. with code) get its value.
I have absolutely no intention of writing anything back to the registry (for the duration of my career if I can help it). So we can skip the lecture about every molecule in my body exploding at the speed of light if I write to the registry incorrectly.
Prefer answers in C++, but mostly just need to know what the special Windows API incantation to get at the value is.
Here is some pseudo-code to retrieve the following:
- If a registry key exists
- What the default value is for that registry key
- What a string value is
- What a DWORD value is
Example code:
Include the library dependency: Advapi32.lib
HKEY hKey;
LONG lRes = RegOpenKeyExW(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, L"SOFTWARE\\Perl", 0, KEY_READ, &hKey);
bool bExistsAndSuccess (lRes == ERROR_SUCCESS);
bool bDoesNotExistsSpecifically (lRes == ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND);
std::wstring strValueOfBinDir;
std::wstring strKeyDefaultValue;
GetStringRegKey(hKey, L"BinDir", strValueOfBinDir, L"bad");
GetStringRegKey(hKey, L"", strKeyDefaultValue, L"bad");
LONG GetDWORDRegKey(HKEY hKey, const std::wstring &strValueName, DWORD &nValue, DWORD nDefaultValue)
{
nValue = nDefaultValue;
DWORD dwBufferSize(sizeof(DWORD));
DWORD nResult(0);
LONG nError = ::RegQueryValueExW(hKey,
strValueName.c_str(),
0,
NULL,
reinterpret_cast<LPBYTE>(&nResult),
&dwBufferSize);
if (ERROR_SUCCESS == nError)
{
nValue = nResult;
}
return nError;
}
LONG GetBoolRegKey(HKEY hKey, const std::wstring &strValueName, bool &bValue, bool bDefaultValue)
{
DWORD nDefValue((bDefaultValue) ? 1 : 0);
DWORD nResult(nDefValue);
LONG nError = GetDWORDRegKey(hKey, strValueName.c_str(), nResult, nDefValue);
if (ERROR_SUCCESS == nError)
{
bValue = (nResult != 0) ? true : false;
}
return nError;
}
LONG GetStringRegKey(HKEY hKey, const std::wstring &strValueName, std::wstring &strValue, const std::wstring &strDefaultValue)
{
strValue = strDefaultValue;
WCHAR szBuffer[512];
DWORD dwBufferSize = sizeof(szBuffer);
ULONG nError;
nError = RegQueryValueExW(hKey, strValueName.c_str(), 0, NULL, (LPBYTE)szBuffer, &dwBufferSize);
if (ERROR_SUCCESS == nError)
{
strValue = szBuffer;
}
return nError;
}
const CString REG_SW_GROUP_I_WANT = _T("SOFTWARE\\My Corporation\\My Package\\Group I want");
const CString REG_KEY_I_WANT= _T("Key Name");
CRegKey regKey;
DWORD dwValue = 0;
if(ERROR_SUCCESS != regKey.Open(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, REG_SW_GROUP_I_WANT))
{
m_pobLogger->LogError(_T("CRegKey::Open failed in Method"));
regKey.Close();
goto Function_Exit;
}
if( ERROR_SUCCESS != regKey.QueryValue( dwValue, REG_KEY_I_WANT))
{
m_pobLogger->LogError(_T("CRegKey::QueryValue Failed in Method"));
regKey.Close();
goto Function_Exit;
}
// dwValue has the stuff now - use for further processing
Since Windows >=Vista/Server 2008, RegGetValue is available, which is a safer function than RegQueryValueEx. No need for RegOpenKeyEx, RegCloseKey or NUL termination checks of string values (REG_SZ, REG_MULTI_SZ, REG_EXPAND_SZ).
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <exception>
#include <windows.h>
/*! \brief Returns a value from HKLM as string.
\exception std::runtime_error Replace with your error handling.
*/
std::wstring GetStringValueFromHKLM(const std::wstring& regSubKey, const std::wstring& regValue)
{
size_t bufferSize = 0xFFF; // If too small, will be resized down below.
std::wstring valueBuf; // Contiguous buffer since C++11.
valueBuf.resize(bufferSize);
auto cbData = static_cast<DWORD>(bufferSize * sizeof(wchar_t));
auto rc = RegGetValueW(
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
regSubKey.c_str(),
regValue.c_str(),
RRF_RT_REG_SZ,
nullptr,
static_cast<void*>(valueBuf.data()),
&cbData
);
while (rc == ERROR_MORE_DATA)
{
// Get a buffer that is big enough.
cbData /= sizeof(wchar_t);
if (cbData > static_cast<DWORD>(bufferSize))
{
bufferSize = static_cast<size_t>(cbData);
}
else
{
bufferSize *= 2;
cbData = static_cast<DWORD>(bufferSize * sizeof(wchar_t));
}
valueBuf.resize(bufferSize);
rc = RegGetValueW(
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
regSubKey.c_str(),
regValue.c_str(),
RRF_RT_REG_SZ,
nullptr,
static_cast<void*>(valueBuf.data()),
&cbData
);
}
if (rc == ERROR_SUCCESS)
{
cbData /= sizeof(wchar_t);
valueBuf.resize(static_cast<size_t>(cbData - 1)); // remove end null character
return valueBuf;
}
else
{
throw std::runtime_error("Windows system error code: " + std::to_string(rc));
}
}
int main()
{
std::wstring regSubKey;
#ifdef _WIN64 // Manually switching between 32bit/64bit for the example. Use dwFlags instead.
regSubKey = L"SOFTWARE\\WOW6432Node\\Company Name\\Application Name\\";
#else
regSubKey = L"SOFTWARE\\Company Name\\Application Name\\";
#endif
std::wstring regValue(L"MyValue");
std::wstring valueFromRegistry;
try
{
valueFromRegistry = GetStringValueFromHKLM(regSubKey, regValue);
}
catch (std::exception& e)
{
std::cerr << e.what();
}
std::wcout << valueFromRegistry;
}
Its parameter dwFlags supports flags for type restriction, filling the value buffer with zeros on failure (RRF_ZEROONFAILURE) and 32/64bit registry access (RRF_SUBKEY_WOW6464KEY, RRF_SUBKEY_WOW6432KEY) for 64bit programs.
The pair RegOpenKey and RegQueryKeyEx will do the trick.
If you use MFC CRegKey class is even more easier solution.
RegQueryValueEx
This gives the value if it exists, and returns an error code ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND if the key doesn't exist.
(I can't tell if my link is working or not, but if you just google for "RegQueryValueEx" the first hit is the msdn documentation.)