Combining Get-ChildItem and Get-ItemProperty
It can be tricky to get a list of values from the registry using PowerShell.
The secret is to combine two cmdlets, Get-ChildItem and Get-ItemProperty.
How to View Registry Values with PowerShell
- Part 1 – List the Windows Services
- Part 2 – List the ImagePath Values for the Services
- More Get-ItemProperty Examples
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Scenario: View the Registry Values
The problem with using Get-ChildItem to interrogate the registry is that you cannot view the values of a particular key.
The solution is to create an object with Get-ChildItem, and then use Get-ItemProperty to display the values.
To help understand the problem and its solution I recommend opening Regedit and navigating to ControlSet001\services.
Part 1 – List the Windows Services
My sole objective in Part 1 is to enumerate the services from information stored in the registry.
# PowerShell Script to list the services
Clear-Host
$Keys = Get-ChildItem HKLM:\System\ControlSet001\services
$Keys | Format-Table Name, ValueCount -AutoSize
Note 1: Observe the colon in the syntax. HKLM:\
The colon here mimics calling the physical drive C:\
Part 2 – List the ImagePath Values for the Services
This is the full script; using the combination of Get-ChildItem and Get-ItemProperty we can list the data for all the services in the registry held by the held by ImagePath value.
# PowerShell Script to find services and their image files
Clear-Host
$Keys = Get-ChildItem HKLM:\System\ControlSet001\services
$Items = $Keys | Foreach-Object {Get-ItemProperty $_.PsPath }
ForEach ($Item in $Items) {
"{0,-35} {1,-10} " -f $Item.PSChildName, $Item.ImagePath
}
Note 2: Observe the two uses of PowerShell’s ForEach.
Note 3: The formatting command, -f, helps to tabulate the output tidily.
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Remember Get-Member
As usual with PowerShell, if you pipe an object into Get-Member then you can research all the available methods and properties.
# Get-Member reveals more properties
Clear-Host
$Keys = Get-ChildItem HKLM:\System\ControlSet001\services
$Items = $Keys | Foreach-Object {Get-ItemProperty $_.PsPath }
$Items | Get-Member
Note 4: This was one way I discovered the ImagePath value; the other way was to examine this part of the registry with regedit.
Set-ItemProperty
If necessary, you can change registry values with Set-ItemProperty.
Here is an example using Set-ItemProperty to change the value of PaintDesktopVersion.
More Research on ItemProperty
ItemProperty is useful noun for interrogating the objects in the registry. The classic PowerShell verbs are get and set, this is how to list the family members:
Get-Command -Noun ItemProperty
Expected Results
Clear-ItemProperty
Copy-ItemProperty
Get-ItemProperty
Move-ItemProperty
New-ItemProperty
Remove-ItemProperty
Rename-ItemProperty
Set-ItemProperty
Summary of Combining Get-ChildItem and Get-ItemProperty
PowerShell can find it difficult to access values in the registry. My technique is to combine two cmdlets, Get-ChildItem and Get-ItemProperty.
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See more Microsoft PowerShell file tutorials:
• PowerShell Home • Add-Content • Get-Content • Set-Content • PowerShell -Filter • Test-Path
• PowerShell Get-ChildItem • Get-ChildItem -Include • Get-ChildItem -Exclude • Compare-Object
• PowerShell Registry • Get-Credential • PowerShell ItemProperty • PowerShell ItemPropery GCI
Please email me if you have a better example script. Also please report any factual mistakes, grammatical errors or broken links, I will be happy to correct the fault.
