Chapter 9: Scripting Registry Changes

Overview

Think of what life would be like for an IT professional without any sort of automation. To change settings, you'd have to get up from your desk, take the 10-minute elevator ride to the 12th floor, and find the user's computer in the maze of cubicles. And at the end of this maze, you don't get cheese; you get a user who's angry that you're interrupting his or her game of Spider. Life is better when you don't have to deal face-to-face with real users (wink).

Scripting is a more efficient way to deploy and change settings. Notice that I didn't use the word manage, which better applies to policies than scripting. If you need to manage settings, see Chapter 6, "Using Registry-Based Policy." Scripting is useful on many levels. You can write a script that changes some group of settings and then test it in the lab before deploying. And if you need to update the script, you can easily regression-test it to see how your changes affect the results. Simply put, I like scripting registry changes because scripts are repeatable without the potential for human error each time I use them to change settings. You can also deploy scripts without visiting desktops. You can use your software management infrastructure or some dodgier methodology if you don't have an infrastructure to deploy scripts without having to interrupt users' work.

This chapter describes five of my favorite scripting methods. The first is INF files. I like the simplicity of INF files and the fact that there's no registry setting they can't edit, so I describe them first. The second is REG files, which are easy to make by exporting settings from Registry Editor (Regedit). I also describe how to use Console Registry Tool for Windows (Reg.exe) to edit the registry from the MS-DOS command prompt, which is a terrific tool for changing settings from batch files. Also, I describe how to write scripts that change settings. Microsoft Windows XP comes with Windows Script Host, and this chapter shows you how to write scripts using the JScript and VBScript languages. Finally, I describe how to build a Windows Installer package file to deploy settings. This technique is great because you can deploy those settings through Active Directory and Group Policy. Because I cover so many different techniques, the first section, "Choosing a Technique," helps you choose the scripting method that's best for you.