SetRegView

SetRegView

Sets the registry view used by RegRead, RegWrite, RegDelete and registry loops.

SetRegView RegView

Parameters

RegView

Specify 32 to view the registry as a 32-bit application would, or 64 to view the registry as a 64-bit application would.

Specify the word Default to restore normal behaviour.

General Remarks

This function is only useful on Windows 64-bit. It has no effect on Windows 32-bit.

On 64-bit systems, 32-bit applications run on a subsystem of Windows called WOW64. By default, the system redirects certain registry keys to prevent conflicts. For example, in a 32-bit script, HKLM\SOFTWARE\AutoHotkey is redirected to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\AutoHotkey. SetRegView allows the registry functions in a 32-bit script to access redirected keys in the 64-bit registry view and vice versa.

The built-in variable A_RegView contains the current setting. Every newly launched thread (such as a hotkey, custom menu item, or timed subroutine) starts off fresh with the default setting for this function. That default may be changed by using this function in the auto-execute section (top part of the script).

Related

RegRead, RegWrite, RegDelete, Loop Reg

Examples

Example 1 shows how to set a specific registry view, and how registry redirection affects the script.

; Access the registry as a 32-bit application would.
SetRegView 32
RegWrite "REG_SZ", "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Test.ahk", "Value", 123

; Access the registry as a 64-bit application would.
SetRegView 64
value := RegRead("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Test.ahk", "Value")
RegDelete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Test.ahk"

MsgBox "Read value '" value "' via Wow6432Node."

; Restore the registry view to the default, which
; depends on whether the script is 32-bit or 64-bit.
SetRegView "Default"
;...

Example 2 shows how to detect the type of EXE and operating system on which the script is running.

if (A_PtrSize = 8)
    script_is := "64-bit"
else ; if (A_PtrSize = 4)
    script_is := "32-bit"

if (A_Is64bitOS)
    OS_is := "64-bit"
else
    OS_is := "32-bit, which has only a single registry view"

MsgBox "This script is " script_is ", and the OS is " OS_is "."