hivexregedit - Merge and export Registry changes from regedit-format files.
hivexregedit --merge [--prefix prefix] [--encoding enc] \
hivefile [regfile]
hivexregedit --export [--prefix prefix] hivefile key > regfile
Please note hivexregedit is a low-level tool for manipulating hive files directly. To merge or export registry changes to Windows virtual machines it's better to use virt-win-reg(1).
Given a local binary ("hive") file, there are two modes. --merge
imports (merges) changes from a regedit-format file into the hive. It
is similar to using the /s switch in Windows regedit.exe.
--export exports a Registry key (recursively) into the regedit format.
hivexregedit expects that regedit files have already been re-encoded
in the local encoding. Usually on Linux hosts, this means UTF-8 with
Unix-style line endings. Since Windows regedit files are often in
UTF-16LE with Windows-style line endings, you may need to re-encode the
whole file before or after processing.
To re-encode a file from Windows format to Linux (before processing it
with the --merge option), you would do something like this:
iconv -f utf-16le -t utf-8 < win.reg | dos2unix > linux.reg
To go in the opposite direction, after using --export and before
sending the file to a Windows user, do something like this:
unix2dos linux.reg | iconv -f utf-8 -t utf-16le > win.reg
For more information about encoding, see the Win::Hivex::Regedit(3) manpage.
If you are unsure about the current encoding, use the file(1) command. Recent versions of Windows regedit.exe produce a UTF-16LE file with Windows-style (CRLF) line endings, like this:
$ file software.reg software.reg: Little-endian UTF-16 Unicode text, with very long lines, with CRLF line terminators
This file would need conversion before you could --merge it.
Be careful when passing parameters containing \ (backslash) in the
shell. Usually you will have to use 'single quotes' or double
backslashes (but not both) to protect them from the shell.
Registry keys like CurrentControlSet don't really exist in the
Windows Registry at the level of the hive file, and therefore you
cannot modify these.
CurrentControlSet is usually an alias for ControlSet001. In
some circumstances it might refer to another control set. The way
to find out is to look at the HKLM\SYSTEM\Select key:
$ hivexregedit --export SYSTEM '\Select' [\Select] "Current"=dword:00000001 "Default"=dword:00000001 "Failed"=dword:00000000 "LastKnownGood"=dword:00000002
"Current" is the one which Windows will choose when it boots.
Similarly, other Current... keys in the path may need to
be replaced.
$ virt-cat WindowsGuest /Windows/System32/config/software > software.hive
$ hivexregedit --export \
--prefix 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE' \
software.hive '\Microsoft' > ms-keys.reg
$ hivexregedit --merge system.hive \
--prefix 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM' additions.reg
Display help.
Enable debugging in the hivex library. This is useful for diagnosing bugs and also malformed hive files.
hivexregedit --merge [--prefix prefix] [--encoding enc] \
hivefile [regfile]
Merge regfile (a regedit-format text file) into the hive
hivefile. If regfile is omitted, then the program reads from
standard input. (Also you can give multiple input files).
--prefix specifies the Windows Registry prefix. It is almost
always necessary to use this when dealing with real hive files.
--encoding specifies the encoding for unmarked strings in the
input. It defaults to UTF-16LE which should work for recent
versions of Windows. Another possibility is to use ASCII.
hivexregedit --export [--prefix prefix] hivefile key > regfile
key is a path within the hive hivefile. (The key should not
contain any prefix and should be quoted to defend backslashes from the
shell). The key is exported, recursively, to standard output in the
textual regedit format.
--prefix specifies the Windows Registry prefix. It is almost
always necessary to use this when dealing with real hive files.
Hive files and Windows Registry key names are indirectly related. For
example, inside the software hive, all keys are stored relative to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE. Thus
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft appears in the hive file as
\Microsoft.
The hive format itself does not store this prefix, so you have to supply it based on outside knowledge. (virt-win-reg(1), amongst other things, already knows about this).
Usually it is sufficient to pass the parameter
--prefix 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE' or similar when doing
merges and exports.
When merging (only), you may need to specify the encoding for strings to be used in the hive file. This is explained in detail in ENCODING STRINGS in the Win::Hivex::Regedit(3) manpage.
The default is to use UTF-16LE, which should work with recent versions of Windows.
When exporting (only), assume strings are UTF-16LE and print them as strings instead of hex sequences. Remove the final zero codepoint from strings if present.
This is unsafe and does not preserve the fidelity of strings in the original hive for various reasons:
Assumes the original encoding is UTF-16LE. ASCII strings and strings in other encodings will be corrupted by this transformation.
Assumes that everything which has type 1 or 2 is really a string and that everything else is not a string, but the type field in real hives is not reliable.
Loses information about whether a zero codepoint followed the string in the hive or not.
This all happens because the hive itself contains no information about how strings are encoded (see ENCODING STRINGS in the Win::Hivex::Regedit(3) manpage).
You should only use this option for quick hacking and debugging of the hive contents, and never use it if the output is going to be passed into another program or stored in another hive.
virt-win-reg(1), the Win::Hivex::Regedit(3) manpage, the Win::Hivex(3) manpage, hivexsh(1), dos2unix(1), unix2dos(1), iconv(1), http://libguestfs.org/.
Richard W.M. Jones http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/
Copyright (C) 2010 Red Hat Inc.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.