CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsregistrybatch-file
morechilli
morechilli

Reputation: 9817

How do I add a multiline REG_SZ string to the registry from the command line?

As part of a build setup on a windows machine I need to add a registry entry and I'd like to do it from a simple batch file.

The entry is for a third party app so the format is fixed.

The entry takes the form of a REG_SZ string but needs to contain newlines ie. 0xOA characters as separators.

I've hit a few problems.

First attempt used regedit to load a generated .reg file. This failed as it did not seem to like either either long strings or strings with newlines. I discovered that export works fine import fails. I was able to test export as the third party app adds similar entries directly through the win32 api.

Second attempt used the command REG ADD but I can't find anyway to add the newline characters everything I try just ends up with a literal string being added.

Upvotes: 8

Views: 21327

Answers (5)

AntonyMan
AntonyMan

Reputation: 51

For just (REG_SZ) String Value(s) it's simple.

1) Through Command Prompt:

> reg add /?
REG ADD KeyName [/v ValueName | /ve] [/t Type] [/s Separator] [/d Data] [/f]
. . .

REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control" /v WaitToKillServiceTimeout /t REG_SZ /d 5000
(i) Could be added also to a .cmd/.bat file.

2) Through .reg file:
In a .reg file add as the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="5000"

(i) Always leave empty line before next [KEY] in a .reg file.
To create a "REG_MULTI_SZ" or "REG_EXPAND_SZ" must mess with HEX...

Upvotes: 0

Tom A
Tom A

Reputation: 615

Another approach -- that is much easier to read and maintain -- is to use a PowerShell script. Run PowerShell as Admin.

# SetLegalNotice_AsAdmin.ps1

# Define multi-line legal notice registry entry

Push-Location

Set-Location -Path Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\

$contentCaption="Legal Notice"

$contentNotice= @"

This is a very long string that runs to many lines.

You are accessing a U.S. Government (USG) Information System (IS) that is provided for USG-authorized use only.

By using this IS (which includes any device attached to this IS), you consent to the following conditions:

-The USG routinely intercepts and monitors communications on this IS for purposes including, but not limited to, penetration testing, COMSEC monitoring, network operations and defense, personnel misconduct (PM), law enforcement (LE), and counterintelligence (CI) investigations.

etc...

"@

# Caption

New-ItemProperty -Path . -Name legalnoticetext -PropertyType MultiString -Value $contentCaption -Force

# Notice

New-ItemProperty -Path . -Name legalnoticetext -PropertyType MultiString -Value $contentNotice -Force

Pop-Location

enter image description here

Upvotes: 0

tloach
tloach

Reputation: 8040

You could create a VBScript(.vbs) file and just call it from a batch file, assuming you're doing other things in the batch other than this registry change. In vbscript you would be looking at something like:

set WSHShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")  
WSHShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOMEKEY", "value", "type"

You should be able to find the possible type values using Google.

Upvotes: 2

kbulgrien
kbulgrien

Reputation: 4518

You can import multiline REG_SZ strings containing carriage return (CR) and linefeed (LF) end-of-line (EOL) breaks into the registry using .reg files as long as you do not mind translating the text as UTF-16LE hexadecimal encoded data. To import a REG_SZ with this text:

1st Line
2nd Line

You might create a file called MULTILINETEXT.REG that contains this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment]
"MULTILINETEXT"=hex(1):31,00,73,00,74,00,20,00,4c,00,69,00,6e,00,65,00,0d,00,0a,00,\
32,00,6e,00,64,00,20,00,4c,00,69,00,6e,00,65,00,0d,00,0a,00,\
00,00

To encode ASCII into UTF-16LE, simply add a null byte following each ASCII code value. REG_SZ values must terminate with a null character (,00,00) in UTF-16LE notation.

Import the registry change in the batch file REG.EXE IMPORT MULTILINETEXT.REG.

The example uses the Environment key because it is convenient, not because it is particularly useful to add such data to environment variables. One may use RegEdit to verify that the imported REG_SZ data contains the CRLF characters.

Upvotes: 5

Factor Mystic
Factor Mystic

Reputation: 26780

If you're not constrained to a scripting language, you can do it in C# with

Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(@"software\classes\something", true).SetValue("some key", "sometext\nothertext", RegistryValueKind.String);

Upvotes: 3

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