NAME¶
hivexregedit - Merge and export Registry changes from regedit-format files.
SYNOPSIS¶
hivexregedit --merge [--prefix prefix] [--encoding enc] \
hivefile [regfile]
hivexregedit --export [--prefix prefix] hivefile key > regfile
DESCRIPTION¶
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.
ENCODING¶
"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
Win::Hivex::Regedit(3).
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.
SHELL QUOTING¶
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.
CurrentControlSet etc.¶
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.
EXAMPLE¶
$ 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
OPTIONS¶
- --help
- Display help.
- --debug
- Enable debugging in the hivex library. This is useful for diagnosing bugs
and also malformed hive files.
- --merge
-
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".
- --export
-
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.
- --prefix prefix
- 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.
- --encoding UTF-16LE|ASCII
- 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 Win::Hivex::Regedit(3).
The default is to use UTF-16LE, which should work with recent versions of
Windows.
- --unsafe-printable-strings
- 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
Win::Hivex::Regedit(3)).
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.
SEE ALSO¶
virt-win-reg(1),
Win::Hivex::Regedit(3),
Win::Hivex(3),
hivexsh(1),
dos2unix(1),
unix2dos(1),
iconv(1),
<
http://libguestfs.org/>.
AUTHOR¶
Richard W.M. Jones <
http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/>
COPYRIGHT¶
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.