Open registry directly to a given key?

Question

I need to open a registry key such as the following in regedit.

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Foo\Bar

Is there a tool which will navigate to the key for me, without my having to navigate the folders myself one by one?

Answer 1

This cannot be done using regedit.exe itself or any of its command line parameters.

However, Microsoft offers regjump.exe, a small utility (previously from SysInternals) that can be used to open the registry editor to a specified key.

Once you install this you can open to specified key like so:

regjump HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows

or even using abbreviations:

regjump HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows

Available abbreviations are:

HKCR - HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKCU - HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKLM - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKU - HKEY_USERS
HKCC - HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG

Answer 2

You can do this by creating a simple VBScript on your desktop, without installing any additional software.

The script simply sets the "last used" key in the registry, before then opening it.

Open Notepad, stick this into it and save it as FooBar.vbs for example:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.RegWrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit\Lastkey","HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Foo\Bar","REG_SZ"
WshShell.Run "regedit", 1,True
Set WshShell = Nothing

In the properties for the .vbs file you can tell it not to pop up a black box as it is running the script, to make it a little tidier.

If you wanted to be fancy, you could save the .vbs script somewhere else and create a shortcut on your desktop to it. You would then be able to change the icon and may it look pretty (if you really wanted to).

EDIT - If you wanted to be asked what key you wanted to open each time, here is what you would use instead:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Dim JumpToKey
JumpToKey=Inputbox("Which registry key would you like to open?")
WshShell.RegWrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Regedit\Lastkey",JumpToKey,"REG_SZ"
WshShell.Run "regedit", 1,True
Set WshShell = Nothing

Answer 3

One thing you might consider doing if you use Regjump is to set up an environment variable, for example REGJUMP=C:\path\to\regjump.exe. Then you can use Regjump from the 'Start Search' box in, say, the Windows Vista Start Menu:

[You may need to browse to the location of regjump.exe and set regjump.exe to have 'Run this program as an administrator' Privilege Level on the Properties->Compatibility tab. This will ensure that Regjump operates correctly on computers running with User Account Control].

Answer 4

With Autohotkey plus regjump, you can define a keyboard shortcut to jump to a key path on the clipboard. Example:

^!+k::
  Run path\regjump.exe %clipboard%
  return

Note that for Win7 you'll need to set "Run this as an administrator" in the Compatibilty properties of regjump.exe

Answer 5

In reg edit you have the ability to book mark paths.

From the top menu choose 'Favourites' > Add favourite

Ak

Answer 6

There is no way of doing this with the standard Registry Editor on it's own.

However, Microsoft/Sysinternals have a tool called Regjump that does exactly what you need - launching to the correct place in registry editor.

Answer 7

Nircmd too can do it.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html

 Open the desired Registry key/value in RegEdit
 nircmd.exe regedit "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion" "CommonFilesDir"

 Open the Registry key that you copied to the clipboard in RegEdit
 nircmd regedit "~$clipboard$"

RegScanner is a GUI to search the registry, with option to jump to selected key.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/regscanner.html