Read and Write to the Windows registry in-process from Node.js. Easily set application file associations and other goodies & such. You can also enable your application to run processes as an Administrator.

This library interacts with natvive Windows apis. Ensure you have Visual Studio 2013 or newer build tools. Using Visual Studio is not required. Then install the package:

npm install windows-registry-node

To create a file association you can call the fileAssociation.associateExeForFile api which will make windows assign a default program for an arbitrary file extension:

var utils = require('windows-registry');
utils.associateExeForFile('myTestHandler', 'A test handler for unit tests', 'C:\\path\\to\\icon', 'C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe %1', '.zzz');

This library implements only a few of the basic registry commands, which allow you to do basic CRUD operations for keys to the registry.

Registry keys can be opened by either opening a predefined registry key defined in the windef module:

var Key = require('windows-registry').Key;
var key = new Key(windef.HKEY.HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, '.txt', windef.KEY_ACCESS.KEY_ALL_ACCESS);

Or you can open a sub key from an already opened key:

var key = new Key(windef.HKEY.HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, '', windef.KEY_ACCESS.KEY_ALL_ACCESS);
var key2 = key.openSubKey('.txt', windef.KEY_ACCESS.KEY_ALL_ACCESS);

And don't forget to close your key when you're done, otherwise, you'll leak native resources:

key.close();

Creating a key just requires that you have a Key object by either using the predefined keys within the windef.HKEY or opening a subkey from an existing key.

// predefined key
var key = registry.openKeyFromPredefined(windef.HKEY.HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, '.txt', windef.KEY_ACCESS.KEY_ALL_ACCESS);
var createdKey = key.createSubKey('\test_key_name', windef.KEY_ACCESS.KEY_ALL_ACCESS);

To delete a key just call the Key.deleteKey() function.

createdKey.deleteKey();

To write a value, you'll again need a Key object and just need to call the registry.setValueForKeyObject function:

var key = new Key(windef.HKEY.HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, '.txt', windef.KEY_ACCESS.KEY_ALL_ACCESS);
key.setValue('test_value_name', windef.REG_VALUE_TYPE.REG_SZ, 'test_value');

To get a value from a key, just call Key.getValue:

var value = key.getValue('test_value_name');

The return value depends on the type of the key (REG_SZ for example will give you a string).

To launch a process as an Administrator, you can call the uac.elevate api, which will launch a process as an Administrator causing the UAC (User Account Control) elevation prompt to appear if required. This is similar to the Windows Explorer command "Run as administrator". Pass in FILEPATH to the process you want to elevate. Pass in anyPARAMETERS to run with the process. Since this is an asychronous call, pass in a callback to handle user's selection.

uac.elevate('C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe', 'index.js', function (err, result){console.log('callback');});

Make your way over to the tests section to see how the module can be used.