Reason of this project:

This is the next part of the previous tutorial. We'll learn here how to add, change, read, delete registry
keys and values using vb.net.
I included a sample that contains all those functionality.
Project details:
1- How to add a registry key/value
2- How to read a registry value
3- How to delete a key or a value
4- Changing a value or a key
5- Hints to use registry with VB.net
6- The registry reader (VB.net)

1- How to add a registry key/value

One thing that I think I forget to notice. A folder in the registry is name "key" and the elements in this
key are named "values".
There's a description of each value type in the 5th tutorial
Now we'll see how to add a key or a value.
Probably you have thought where we'll put it and whether it's a key or a value.
So we have 2 things to notice.
Visual Basic will automatically show you the hives (they are stored in).
You'll have only to choose the needed one.
To do that paste the following line.

My.Computer.Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey("TestKey")

This line will create a key in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive and will be named "testkey"
Now let's move on to see how to set a value.
For the value we'll need three things: Value path, Value name and value value. We can also precise
the value type if not Visual Basic will try to assign the value type depending on the object type.

My.Computer.Registry.SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\TestKey", "TestValue", "This is a test value.")

Tip: Type "," and Visual Basic will show a list of value types.

The sample:
The sample contain two part, one for creating keys and the other to create values.
To create a key just put the named of the key and it'll be created in the Current_User folder.
To assign a value, type the complete path, for example "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\mykey" and then the
value name then the value content and click add to create it.

2- How to read a registry value

The next thing is to read what we wrote!
This is so simple, just put the following line.
You'll need to have the Path and the name of the value.

Dim readValue As String

readValue = My.Computer.Registry.GetValue _
("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\TestKey", "TestValue", Nothing)
MsgBox("The value is " & readValue)

If you wish to do more complex things, like getting the keys in a hive and getting the values of keys...
Then you should see the registry viewer sample. (Download the source code to get it)

3- How to delete a registry key or value

We finish by deleting what we added.
To do this it's easy!
The following line will delete a key

My.Computer.Registry.CurrentUser.DeleteSubKey("TestKey")

To delete a value

my.Computer .Registry .CurrentUser.DeleteValue("Test value")

4- Changing a value or a key

Changing a value can be somewhat difficult.

Dim autoshell = My.Computer.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Software\Microsoft\Windows

NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon", True)
'' Set the value to 0
autoshell.SetValue("autorestartshell", 0)
autoshell.Close()
After opening a subkey (don't forget true! as it give you permission to delete), we can use the
autoshell in order to change any value in the following subkey.

5- Hints to use registry with VB.net

We can count the values in a hive

My.Computer.Registry.CurrentUser.ValueCount.ToString()

But also the keys

My.Computer.Registry.CurrentUser.SubKeyCount.ToString()

And check if a value exist

If My.Computer.Registry.GetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\MyKey", _
"TestValue", Nothing) Is Nothing Then
MsgBox("Value does not exist.")
Else
MsgBox("Value exist.")
End If

6- The registry reader (VB.net)

I have included an application with the source code. This one will resume all what we have done.
It's like the registry editor of Windows but still view only and can't edit values.