17
votes
Accepted
Where and how is the password stored for the account associated with a Windows service?
Passwords for Windows services are stored in the registry under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURITY\Policy\Secrets\_SC_<ServiceName>
When you configure a Windows service to run as a different account,...
- 55.9k
8
votes
Changing Desktop Solid Color Via Registry
the command line "reg add" works well. You can also import this registry:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; remove picture wallpaper
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"WallPaper"=""
; ...
- 81
8
votes
Force Windows 10 to load group policy from registry
Fiddling with registry keys is not healthy for group policies, instead, you should take a look at LGPO, this is a tool to export policy settings and import them. Then, Windows will create the ...
- 6,890
6
votes
Accepted
Should I go with TLS 1.1/TLS 1.2 instead of SSL v3?
Yes, you should disable SSLv3 in favour of TLSv1.1+. SSLv3 & TLS1.0 are considered vulnerable to the "Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption" man-in-the-middle attack, which may lead to ...
- 3,725
6
votes
Windows 10 1809 - Region/language registry keys
That is five settings.
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nls\Language!Default is set by Regional Control Panel, Administrative tab, Language for non-Unicode Programs.
HKLM\SYSTEM\...
- 36.8k
5
votes
Delete all subkeys in a registry key
Excerpted from Working with Registry Keys:
If you wanted to remove all items within HKCU:\CurrentVersion but not HKCU:\CurrentVersion itself, you could instead use:
#Requires -Version 3.0
Remove-...
5
votes
Is there a GPO or registry tweak to show taskbar buttons on taskbar where windows is open?
After running Process Monitor with registry filter I found out what registry value was changing when different settings were applied.
Location: HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\...
- 101
5
votes
How do I configure proxy settings for LOCAL SYSTEM?
The Same thing can be done much easier in this way-
& C:\windows\System32\bitsadmin.exe /Util /SetIEProxy LocalSystem Manual_proxy http://<proxyserver>:<proxy port> "<Any bypasses ...
5
votes
Accepted
DSC Syntax for Binary Registry Key
The format of the DSC MSFT_Registry Binary type ValueData is a string with contiguous pairs of byte values, with an optional leading "0x"
The trick is this bit of code from the resource in $env:...
- 1,643
4
votes
Does the DisablePagingExecutive registry change have any actual effect?
Just to add one additional use of this setting: it is needed by xperf stack walking.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/pigscanfly/archive/2009/08/06/stack-walking-in-xperf.aspx
Disable Paging Executive
In ...
- 281
4
votes
Changing Desktop Solid Color Via Registry
You can change the desktop background for a user in the registry.
First remove the wallpaper, if there is one:
reg add "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop" /v WallPaper /t REG_SZ /d " " /f
...
- 141
4
votes
Windows 10 path limit error
You must use a specific instruction in the manifest of your application.
<application xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
<windowsSettings>
<longPathAware xmlns="http://...
- 6,890
4
votes
Accepted
Can i update the windows registry entries for HKEY_CURRENT_USER values without elevated privileges?
The subkey HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\ Policies is special.
Please check the security on it, you will notice your username is read-only and the built-in administrator's group is read/write.
This is ...
- 17.1k
3
votes
Where and how is the password stored for the account associated with a Windows service?
While the actual encryption method may not be clear, accessing the data and requesting that the OS decrypt it on your behalf is a well-defined process - using PowerShell or the NirSoft LSASecretsView ...
- 1,364
3
votes
Can i get Source Path of Installed application?
Some installs will create a registry key 'InstallSource' with the uninstall information here:
HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*\
HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\...
- 695
3
votes
How to determine the date and time of most recent successful Windows Update run on Windows Server 2016?
Tested and this guy's find did work:
Get-WmiObject -Class win32_reliabilityRecords -filter "sourcename = 'Microsoft-
Windows-WindowsUpdateClient'" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
select @{LABEL = "...
- 369
3
votes
Should I go with TLS 1.1/TLS 1.2 instead of SSL v3?
Unless you have a specific reason for not doing so (i.e. you need to support legacy clients), it may be best to enable the highest possible version of TLS (i.e. TLSv1.2), and disable everything else (...
- 3,768
3
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to detect the Windows Update status via registry, to see if the system is "fully updated"?
The closest to the registry that I can find is the Windows Update log file. The only other way is to access it through the COM API.
I spoke with the manager at Microsoft in charge of Windows Update (...
- 1,239
3
votes
Is it possible to detect the Windows Update status via registry, to see if the system is "fully updated"?
Microsoft is now using the value UBR (Unified Build Revision) to identifiy the patch level. The value was first added in Windows 10
, but is now backported to Windows 7
and Windows 8.1 as well
So, ...
- 1,165
3
votes
Accepted
Power Plan setting doesn't match registry value
This is because the power scheme is being managed by Group Policy. Group Policy doesn't modify that registry key, it modifies the Group Policy registry key for that setting.
You need to look here:
...
- 111k
3
votes
Accepted
Converting Microsoft Security Essentials DateTime in registery to readable format
$data = Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Antimalware\Scan" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty LastScanRun
$time = [DateTime]::FromFileTime( (((((($data[7]*256 + $data[6])*256 + $data[...
- 2,195
3
votes
Microsoft Intune - How to modify Windows 10 registry settings?
Try:
Set-ItemProperty -Path Registry::"HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" -Name "AutoAdminLogon" -PropertyType "DWORD" -Value "0" -...
- 9,126
3
votes
Accepted
How does Windows set the %SystemRoot% variable?
It's set in the boot process. It's not set in the registry, because the OS boot process needs to know where to find the registry files (and other OS files) before it can read them from the registry.
...
- 36.2k
2
votes
Changing Desktop Solid Color Via Registry
The changes on the registry are not applied immediately.
A better alternative would be to use the windows function SetSysColors in C++.
See this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/19849675/3844137
- 54
2
votes
Changing Desktop Solid Color Via Registry
In Windows 10 1809, to set the wallpaper to Solid color: black (0 0 0)
:: BackgroundType: 0 -> Picture | 1 -> Solid color | 2 -> Slideshow
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\...
- 180
2
votes
command line REGEDIT command (edit) without a popup
If you are accessing locations in the registry that does not require admin privileges you can use __COMPAT_LAYER environment variable.Just execute this before using regedit:
set __COMPAT_LAYER=...
- 431
2
votes
How can I change owner of a Registry Key to which I don't have access?
You could use Helge Kleins excellent Set-ACL CLI tool: https://helgeklein.com/setacl/.
SetACL.exe -on "hkcr\AppID\{9CA88EE3-ACB7-47c8-AFC4-AB702511C276}" -ot reg -actn setowner -ownr "n:S-1-5-32-544"
...
- 1,313
2
votes
Apply local settings to Domain User
The simple answer is yes, local policies apply to all users on the machine. You should review the Microsoft Group Policy precedence carefully to understand how policies are applied.
With that said, ...
- 15.5k
2
votes
RegEdit Error "Cannot Find the File Specified" Accessing Key
I had a similar issue on my Windows 7 box. I eventually figured out that the key was a broken symbolic link. The built-in regedit tool does not seem to properly support these, and acts as described ...
- 131
2
votes
Accepted
How does the folder redirection policy actually work?
Folder redirection well documented at Technet
About registry keys precedence you can read:
The entries in this subkey can appear in both the Shell Folders subkey
and the User Shell Folders and ...
- 3,313
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible