Scripting HKCU Changes

Posted on April 15, 2009 Updated on February 25, 2013

In a corporate environment, distributing software can frequently be tricky.  One thing that can cause the most headaches is when there are registry changes that need to be made within the HKCU hive of any or even every user.  For example,  Apple designed QuickTime to allow every user to decide whether or not to enable automatic updates.  So this value is set in HKCU\Software\Apple Computer, Inc.\QuickTime\LocalUserPreferences\.  But in a controlled environment, you really don’t want the users doing their own thing.  So the package needs to be designed in such a way that edits the aforementioned registry key.

With SMS/SCCM, one could always build a script to make the change and configure the Program to run every time a user logs on.  I used to do it this way, but grew tired of constantly needing to monitor that the advertisement is successful and there are not alot of failures…so I became my own thinktank to figure out a new process.  What I realized is that I could use the existing WinXP registry tool (reg.exe) to make all the changes I need.

The process kind of looks like this: once there is no user logged into Windows, I run a script that

1. Parses HKLM for every user profile
2. Loads the discovered user’s registry hive
3. Makes the HKCU change
4. Unloads the user’s registry hive
5. Moves onto the next profile

This even modifies the Default User’s profile so that anyone who logs onto the computer for the first time will already have this setting!  Rinse.  Repeat.  Done.

NOTE: If you’re looking for a sample script to delete a registry key or value, see https://t3chn1ck.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/vbscript-to-delete-hkcu-values-or-keys/

'==========================================================================
' Author: Nick Moseley, https://t3chn1ck.wordpress.com
' Comments: This script will parse all User profiles on the computer, load their  HKCU hive, 
'    then set the appropriate registry keys. 
' History: 
'    1.0 (04/07/2009) - Initial script 
'    1.1 (06/03/2009) - Added example for setting dword values based on MyITForum question
'    1.2 (06/05/2009) - Added additional comments to identify the section where to define the values to be set
'    1.3 (09/23/2010) - Corrected comment typos
'==========================================================================
Option Explicit
Const ForAppending = 8
Const HKLM = &H80000002
 
' ************************************************ 
' Configure the following values to define the HKCU keys to be set 
' ************************************************ 
Const sStringUserKey = "\Software\SampleKey"
Const sStringUserKeyValueName = "SampleValueName"
Const sStringUserKeyValue = "SampleValue" 
Const sDwordUserKey = "\Software\SampleKey"
Const sDwordUserKeyValueName = "SampleValueName"
Const sDwordUserKeyValue = "SampleValue"
' ************************************************
Dim oReg, oFSO, oFile, oUserSubkey, aUserProfiles, oShell
Dim sProfileLCase, sRegExe, sRegLoad, sRegUnload, sHiveName, sSubPath, sProfile, sValueName, sKeyPathUserProfiles, sValue, ReturnVal
Set oReg = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\default:StdRegProv")
Set oShell = CreateObject ("WScript.Shell") 
Set oFSO = CreateObject ("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

' Begin configuration of existing user profiles
sValueName = "ProfileImagePath"
sKeyPathUserProfiles = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList"
sRegExe = "C:\Windows\system32\reg.exe"
oReg.EnumKey HKLM, sKeyPathUserProfiles, aUserProfiles
For Each oUserSubkey In aUserProfiles
    sSubPath = sKeyPathUserProfiles & "\" & oUserSubkey
    oReg.GetExpandedStringValue HKLM,sSubPath,sValueName,sValue
 
    sProfile = Split(sValue, "\")
    sProfileLCase = LCase(sProfile(2))
 
    If sProfileLCase = "system32" Then
     ' Do nothing
    ElseIf sProfileLCase = "localservice" Then
     ' Do nothing
    ElseIf sProfileLCase = "networkservice" Then
     ' Do nothing
    ElseIf sProfileLCase = "serviceprofiles" Then
     ' Do nothing
    Else
     sHiveName = "TempHive_" & sProfileLCase
   
     ' Load user's profile hive into a temp location
     sRegLoad = " LOAD HKLM\" & sHiveName & " """ & sValue & "\ntuser.dat"""
     oShell.Run sRegExe & sRegLoad, 0, True
   
     ' Call subroutine to change registry key
     SetConfigUserHive (sHiveName)
   
     ' Unload user's profile hive
     sRegUnload = " UNLOAD HKLM\" & sHiveName
     oShell.Run sRegExe & sRegUnload, 0, True
    End If 
Next

' Default User Profile
sHiveName = "TempHive_DefaultUser"
sRegLoad = " LOAD HKLM\" & sHiveName & " ""C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\ntuser.dat"""
oShell.Run sRegExe & sRegLoad, 0, True
SetConfigUserHive (sHiveName)
sRegUnload = " UNLOAD HKLM\" & sHiveName
oShell.Run sRegExe & sRegUnload, 0, True
WScript.Quit ()
Sub SetConfigUserHive (sTempHive)
Dim sTempHiveStringKeyPath, sTempHiveDwordKeyPath

' Path of registry keys
sTempHiveStringKeyPath = sTempHive & sStringUserKey
sTempHiveDwordKeyPath = sTempHive & sDwordUserKey

' Create String registry key if the value doesn't already exist
If oReg.GetStringValue(HKLM, sTempHiveStringKeyPath & "\", sStringUserKeyValueName) <> 0 Then
    ReturnVal = oReg.CreateKey(HKLM, sTempHiveStringKeyPath)
End If
' Create Dword registry key if the value doesn't already exist
If oReg.GetDwordValue(HKLM, sTempHiveDwordKeyPath & "\", sDwordUserKeyValueName) <> 0 Then
    ReturnVal = oReg.CreateKey(HKLM, sTempHiveDwordKeyPath)
End If
  
' Create String value
ReturnVal = oReg.SetStringValue(HKLM, sTempHiveStringKeyPath & "\", sStringUserKeyValueName, sStringUserKeyValue)

' Create Dword value
ReturnVal = oReg.SetDwordValue(HKLM, sTempHiveDwordKeyPath & "\", sDwordUserKeyValueName, sDwordUserKeyValue)
End Sub