Reading the Windows Registry with Python: A Case Study Using WinReg
Table of Contents Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Background: What is the Windows Registry? Structure of the Windows Registry 3. The Problem with Sample Code: Lessons from PEP 514 4. Exploring the Registry: Exporting and Analysing Data Example: Analysing Exported Registry Files Example summary of my registry key statistics 5. Building a Better Registry Reader in Python Getting Keys and Values Traversing Subkeys via Recursion Printing Results Arguments with ArgParse Issues Found Final Tidy 6. Practical Example: Using the Script Command-line Examples Script Examples Example 1 Example 2 7. Key Takeaways Reading a Registry Value Writing to the Registry Deleting a Registry Key or Value 8. Try It Yourself 1. Introduction Curiosity often leads to some of the most interesting projects. After reading about PEP 514 in the Astral UV documentation, I discovered that Python installations on Windows are registered in the Windows Registry. Intrigued, I tried the sample code from PEP 514, only to find it lacking. This post documents my journey to build a more robust, flexible Python script for reading Windows Registry values. Hopefully this may be useful for someone. ...