Retrieve Information from Registry Key Using PowerShell

Question

I am using PowerShell to read information from the registry key.

Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice\" |% {$_.ProgId}

It's basically to find what is the default browser on the machine.

However, I am keep running into this error. I am new to PowerShell, so not sure what is going on.

Get-ItemProperty : Cannot find path 'C:\Users\user1\Documents\Files\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice\' because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Assoc ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Users\user1...ttp\UserChoice\:String) [Get-ItemProperty], ItemNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemPropertyCommand

Is there any other way to get a Data (ProgId)from the registry key?

Jower · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-29 19:14:26Z

5

In powershell version 5 you can use the following command to get the value of ProgId in that path in the registry.

Get-ItemPropertyValue -Path HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice -Name ProgId

The difference between the Get-ItemProperty and Get-ItemPropertyValue is that the latter only returns the value.

The path you were using was interpreted as a file location since the provider for the file system is the default. So when you want to use the registry you must use HKCU: for HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKLM: for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

If you are not on v5 yet, you can use:

(Get-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice).ProgId

edited Jul 29, 2015 at 19:14

answered Jul 29, 2015 at 16:04

Jower

5852 silver badges9 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Phylogenesis Over a year ago

Get-ItemPropertyValue only became available in PowerShell 5.0

Jower Over a year ago

You are right. Before that i would use. (Get-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice).ProgId

Phylogenesis · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-29 15:57:13Z

3

Your current command is referencing a file in the local filesystem. You need to use the provider for the HKEY_CURRENT_USER registry hive (HKCU:):

Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice\" |% {$_.ProgId}

answered Jul 29, 2015 at 15:57

Phylogenesis

7,90024 silver badges27 bronze badges

4 Comments

Imsa Over a year ago

How can I get the "Default" value? In this case, it's not set, but in another case I am working on has a 'Default' value. I replace "ProgId" with Default, but it didn't work.

Phylogenesis Over a year ago

... | % { $_."(default)" }.

Imsa Over a year ago

I replaced it, but it does not returns anything.

Phylogenesis Over a year ago

@MoA Works for me: Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Control Panel\Cursors" | % { $_."(default)" } returns Windows Aero.

Marco · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-30 12:42:16Z

Regarding the provider and the different notation, you can use one of the following notation:

Get-ItemProperty -Path Registry::"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice" -Name ProgId

OR

Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\UrlAssociations\http\UserChoice" -Name ProgId

using the full ROOT notation HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, you should specify the provider (Registry::) using the short notation HKLM, you can avoid and should be HKLM:\

Note: Those notations are called PSDrive in Powershell for the registry. 2 are defined by default:

Get-PSDrive -PSProvider Registry

Output:

HKCU Registry HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKLM Registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

you can define other PSdrive

New-PSDrive -PSProvider Registry -Name HKU -Root HKEY_USERS
Get-PSDrive -PSProvider Registry

HKCU Registry HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKLM Registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKU Registry HKEY_USERS

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Retrieve Information from Registry Key Using PowerShell

3 Answers 3

2 Comments

4 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

2 Comments

4 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related