Searching the Registry for a key - JavaScript

Question

Hi All,

Is there a way to search the Registry for a specific key using Windows Scripting Host?

I'm using JavaScript (Jscript/VBScript?) to do so, and the msdn Library doesn't mention any such method: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2x3w20xf(v=VS.85).aspx

Thanks,

---

So here's an update to the problem:

The problem is a bit more complicated than a direct registry search. I have to look through the installed products on a windows box, to find a specific product entry that i want to delete. The registry path is defined as:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft...\Products.

Within the Products key, the installed products are listed, but their keys are defined as hash codes. Within the product keys are other keys with defined names and defined values. I want to be able to search on the latter keys and values. How can I do that, by-passing the unknown hash codes?

For example, I need to find a product with DisplayVersion key = 1.0.0. The path to that key is:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\Products\A949EBE4EED5FD113A0CB40EED7D0258\InstallProperties\DisplayVersion.

How can I either pick up, or avoid writing, the product key: A949EBE4EED5FD113A0CB40EED7D0258 ??

Answer 1

It is highly unlikely that you would be able to search the registry using javascript, as such an operation would be considered unsafe and insecure.

Answer 2

http://code.google.com/p/jslibs/

if you don't find it there, you have to implement it yourself

Answer 3

Assuming you're using JScript via the Windows Scripting Host (and not JavaScript from a browser) you can get the value of a specific key using the WScript.RegRead method:

// MyScript.js
var key = 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SessionInformation\\ProgramCount'
  , wsh = WScript.CreateObject('WScript.Shell')
  , val = wsh.RegRead(key);
WScript.Echo('You are currently running ' + val + ' programs.');

If you actually need to search for a key or value based on some conditions rather than a known registry key then you can to implement your own recursive search algorithm where registry values of type "REG_SZ" are leaf nodes.

As an exercise to get more familiar with JScript on the Windows Scripting Host, I've made a small interface to the registry that does exactly this. The example included in the project shows how to perform such a registry search in a WSF script:

<job id="FindDisplayVersions">
  <script language="jscript" src="../registry.js"/>
  <script language="jscript">
    // Search the registry and gather 20 DisplayVersion values.
    var reg = new Registry()
      , rootKey = 'SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Installer\\UserData\\S-1-5-18\\Products'
      , keyRegex = /Products\\(.*?)\\InstallProperties\\DisplayVersion$/
      , valRegex = /^1\./
      , maxResults = 20
      , uids = [];
    reg.find(rootKey, function(path, value) {
      var keyMatch = keyRegex.exec(path);
      if (keyMatch) {
        if (valRegex.exec(value)) {
          uids.push(keyMatch[1] + '\t=\t' + value);
          if (uids.length >= maxResults) { return false; } // Stop searching
        }
      }
      return true; // Keep searching.
    });
    WScript.Echo(uids.join("\n"));
  </script>
</job>

Note that, as @Robert Harvey points out, this could take a really long time if the root key is too deeply connected. Simple testing takes only a few seconds on the key I chose but your mileage may vary; of course, no warranty or fitness for a purpose, don't blame me if your computer blows up.