Cannot read a registry value in Windows 8

Question

I have following C# code, which reads the UAC state from registry in Windows 7

object obj = Registry.LocalMachine.GetValue(@"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\EnableLUA", (long)1);

It works perfectly on Windows 7 with admin/not-admin accounts. It always returns the default value I provide it under Windows 8. The registry key is there. I can see its value with regedit. But the C# code does not read it. Can anybody tell why? It is a .net 4 application. The user account is unelevated admin.

What does "does not read it" mean? Any exception, unexpected result...? — ken2k, Mar 06 '13 at 10:54
Sounds like it's being blocked on purpose by the OS. Have you requested permission to access that part of the registry in your code? — James Snell, Mar 06 '13 at 11:14
This will help you. see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12298199/c-sharp-read-registry-windows-8 — Ravi Patel, Mar 06 '13 at 11:15
Always use manifest if you want to access classesroot or localmachine registry hive. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2818179/how-to-force-my-net-app-to-run-as-administrator-on-windows-7/2818776#2818776 — Ravi Patel, Mar 06 '13 at 11:17
"does not read" means it always returns the default value I give as a parameter. I have not requested permission to access the path. About employing manifest file: This program is supposed to check if there is need of a new version update over internet. If yes then another process is started. It replaces files in "Program Files" folder and it uses manifest file. Before starting this process I need to check if the running user is not administrator and if UAC is off. In this case the replacing files program will fail and this is why I read that registry value. — Ivan Milanov, Mar 08 '13 at 20:03
Why do you need to read that registry key? Why not just check whether the current process is running elevated? — Bill_Stewart, Mar 12 '13 at 15:41

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 05 '14 at 03:34

It returns the default value (on both Windows 7 and 8). Here's the code that reads the correct Registry value on both Windows 7 and 8, without running as administrator.

        object obj = Registry.GetValue( 
             @"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\", 
             "EnableLUA", 
             (long)1);

Note that we call GetValue method on Registry, not on Registry.LocalMachine, and we pass key and value name as two separate parameters.

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 25 '13 at 19:57

-1

You need to require administrative privileges at least to be able to access the registry by default. Windows 8 developers possibly thinks it's safer to keep it that way.

answered Aug 25 '13 at 19:57

Anon Ops

1

2

No you do not need admin rights to read the registry. If you did, how would anything work? Just imagine a world where a non-admin user could not read the registry. – David Heffernan Aug 25 '13 at 20:29
More and more is see stupid nonsense answers here on StackOverflow from users who have 1 point of reputation. They are like spammers here. – Elmue Jul 09 '15 at 16:21

Cannot read a registry value in Windows 8

2 Answers2