Copyright: Copyright © 1998 Greg Eytcheson
Citation: Multi-Remote Registry Change v2.0


Contents

Multi-Remote Registry Change is the fastest and easiest way to change the registry on multiple remote computers running Windows NT.   It was designed for network administrators working with groups of systems requiring the same change(s) on many computers.

Features

System Requirements

Instructions

Contacting the Author

Ordering Information

Disclaimer


Instructions

General Instructions

The Main Window

Search Network

Edit Computer List

Logging

Change Single Key

Change Many Keys (Key Group)

Check for Key

Advanced Options

Lookup IP Addresses

REG File Operations

Apply from File

Create 'Call' Batch File

Shutdown Systems

Change User Rights

Contents


Overview

Multi-Remote Registry Change is the easiest way to change the registry on multiple remote computers running Windows NT.   It was designed for network administrators working with groups of systems requiring the same change(s) on many computers.

The unregistered version allows only 10 computers at a time in the Computer Names list.

Ordering Information

Contents


Features

· Zero client configuration required  (Windows 95 must have Remote Registry Service installed)

· Computer list can be updated manually or by browsing the network.

· A log to see what has been changed and what hasn't.

· '*' in the Key Path allows changes to multiple subkeys.

· The option to create the key or simply ignore it if it's not already there.

· Verify the existence of a key and/or value.

· Create and use Computer Name 'Groups"  (like user groups)

· Delete keys (including subkeys) or values.

· Create a simple TAB delimited file to apply many changes to many computers.  Includes a method for creating these files with ease.

· Quick Copy from a key on one computer to many others.

· Export keys, subkeys and values to .REG file format.

· Apply all changes from .REG files to many computers very quickly.

· Substitute a different root key and/or key path for keys and values in *.REG files.

· Shutdown groups of remote systems.

· Save logs of Operation Successes, Operation Failures and Failures to Connect and then reselect computers based on these logs.

· Change User Rights on Selected Computers (ex:  Change the System Time)

· Multi-Threaded - do many of these operations at once!

· Multi-Instance enabled - run the program many times each doing multiple threads

Contents


System Requirements

Microsoft® Windows NT® Version 3.51 or greater.

1 MB Hard Disk Space

User must be a member of the Administrators or Domain Admins group

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Contacting the Author

For technical support, to report a bug or make a suggestion, please send e-mail to:

eytch@pair.com

Any updates to the program will be available at ftp://ftp54.pair.com/pub/eytch/2.0updates

This program is distributed as SHAREWARE.  You may use it free of charge for a period of 30 days.  If you continue to use it after that period, you are required to register it. Educational institutions may request a 50-computer names license at no charge.

Registered users will receive free updates (by e-mail attachment) for a period of two years.

Contents


Register
Ordering Information

Registration Form

Name:	__________________________________

Company:	__________________________________

Address:	__________________________________

City:	__________________________________

State:	__________________________________

Postal/ZIP Code:	__________________________________

(Country):	__________________________________

Daytime Phone #	:__________________________________

FAX #:	__________________________________

Email:	__________________________________

Multi-Remote Registry Change v2.0

Registration number received via Internet e-mail:

$10 per Administrator 	_________

+ $1 per Computer in Computer Names List 	_________

Total	_________

(For example: your organization has 5 Administrators and 500 workstations.  The Registration fee is (5 * $10) + (500 * $1)  = $550.)

An Unlimited Worldwide Site License is available for $5000.

TOTAL ENCLOSED US 	 	US$	______

Method of Payment

_____ US Postal Money Order

_____ Check (US Funds drawn on US Bank)

_____ Purchase Order (Terms NET 15)

Please make remittance payable to Greg Eytcheson.

Prices and terms subject to change without notice.

Mail or FAX this form to:

Greg Eytcheson

608 S. 4th St.

Independence, KS  67301

USA

Fax (316)331-8295

Contents


Disclaimer

THE INFORMATION AND CODE PROVIDED IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

License

This program is distributed as SHAREWARE.  You may use it free of charge for a period of 30 days.  If you continue to use it after that period, you are required to register it. Educational institutions may request a 50-computer names license at no charge.

Registered users will receive free updates (by e-mail attachment) for a period of two years.

Contents


General Instructions

The general operation of the program is simple: Select computers from the list, select the operation, fill in the blanks and RUN!

Each registry entry consists of a hive, a key, and zero or more values.  Values are in the format "Value Name", "Value Type" and "Value".

This program can operate on the remote hives HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_USERS.  Since all other registry keys are subkeys of these two, you have complete control of the remote registry.   The other hives that show up in REGEDIT and REGEDT32 are located as shown:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER is the S-1-*  under HKEY_USERS

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet

Hardware Profiles\Current

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes

A "key" consists of the full path of the entry. For example, the location of the AutoAdminLogon setting is:

Hive: 	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Key:  	\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\WinLogon

Value Name:	 AutoAdminLogon

ValueType:  	REG_SZ

Value:  	1 (enable autologon) or 0 (disable autologon)

In this case, the key is: \Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\WinLogon

The Value Name is a text identifier for the value, or blank for <default>.

When using the Single Key or 'Apply from File' functions, an asterisk in the Key will be expanded to include all values represented by the asterisk.   For example, if you want to change the Screen Saver to sspipes.scr for every user, you would normally have to use regedt32 to manually click through the unique login identifiers (ex. S-1-5-21-47866669-18273647284-182742842194-1837) but with Multi-Remote Registry Change, you would enter:

Root Key:	HKEY_USERS

Key Path: 	\*\Control Panel\Desktop

Value Name:	SCRNSAVE.EXE

Value Type: 	REG_SZ

Value:	C:\WINNT\SSPIPES.SCR

Depending on the option, the value type is one of the following:

REG_SZ

REG_DWORD

REG_MULTI_SZ

REG_EXPAND_SZ

REG_BINARY

REG_NONE

*DELETE KEY*

*DELETE VALUE*

Values are entered as follows:

REG_SZ:	Enter the text directly in the Value box.

REG_DWORD:	Enter the number directly in the Value box.  Alternatively, to enter the value as hex, enter the hex value preceded by a '$'.   For example, to enter the value 0x4AD39F enter $4AD39F

REG_MULTI_SZ:	Enter the values separated by a semicolon.  For example Item1;Item2;Item Number 3;Item 4 is next;Item 5 ...

REG_EXPAND_SZ:	Enter the item directly in the Value box.

REG_BINARY:	Cannot be entered manually.  Use the Key Group function to copy from another computer already containing the value or enter the information into a text file in REGEDIT4 (*.REG) format and import the key using the Import From REG function.

REG_NONE:	Should not be used.

*DELETE_KEY*:	Enter the Hive and the Key.  The key entered and all subkeys will be deleted.

*DELETE_VALUE*:	Enter Hive, Key and Value Name to delete this value from the registry.

The Create Key/Ignore Entry option allows you to choose to create a value only if the key already exists. If you select Create Key, the Key and or Value will always be created.  If you select Ignore Entry, the Value will be entered only if the Key exists.

The first operation on any remote computer can take a second or two.  Future operations on the same computers (during the same session) will be much faster.

Instructions

Contents


Main Window
The Main Window

The main window contains the Computer Names list, entries for Change Single Key, Change Many Keys (Key Group), Advanced, Logging and the Status Area.

The Computer Names list is a persistent list of computers in your organization.  Computer Names can be edited manually with 'Edit-Edit Computer List' or added by searching the network 'Edit-Search Network'.

The format of the list is:

DOMAIN\ComputerName IP:IPADDRESS  Any additional Comments

Where, DOMAIN is optional (but must have the "\" if included) -- anything before the Computer Name is treated as a domain name and ignored. Anything after the first space is considered a comment.  When using the Lookup IP Addresses option on the Advanced menu, the IP Address will be entered after the first space and before any other comments.  The length limit on items in the computer names box is 255 characters.  The advantage to all of the comment options is the ability to right click and Group Select or Group Deselect items based on the text in the list.   You can expand the view to show more information by selecting Edit-Expand Window.

The Computer Names list will remember your selections from session to session, and has options to temporarily remember a set of selections and to save and restore selections from permanent groups.

The status area displays the status of all active operations.  You can save the status log to a file by selecting File-Save Log to File or clear the log with File-Clear Log.

See Also  Edit Computer List  Search Network

Instructions

Contents


Single Key
Change Single Key

The Single Key tab is used to change a single key on many computers.  Simply select the computers you want to change, complete each entry as shown in the General instructions above and click run.   To stop before the action completes, click the Stop button (it may take several seconds for the stop operation to complete.)

For example, to remove a service from selected computers you would enter:

Hive:  	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Key:	\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ServiceName

Value Name:	DeleteFlag

Value Type:	REG_SZ

Value:	1

(Also Select Ignore Entry)

Instructions

Contents


Change Many
Change Many Keys (Key Group)

The Key Group  tab is used to copy a key and all subkeys from a source computer to the selected computers. The key can be copied to the same location on the remote computer as on the source, or to any other location. If you select Delete Destination Key Before Copying, the program will delete any key at the destination before copying in the new one. NOTE: If you decide to stop the operation, be sure the click the button again after the operation ends before attempting to run another Key Group.

For example, to copy the Office 97 settings from computer COMPNAME to several others, you would enter:

Source Computer:	COMPNAME

Source Hive:	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Source Key:	\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\8.0

Destination Hive:	*SAME AS SOURCE*

Destination Key:	*SAME AS SOURCE*

If you wanted to place these settings in a different location (to back them up for example) you could use:

Source Computer:	COMPNAME

Source Hive:	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Source Key:	\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\8.0

Destination Hive:	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Destination Key:	\SOFTWARE\Backup\Microsoft\Office\8.0

A REGEDIT4 formatted file named LastGroupCopy.REG will automatically be saved in the same directory as the executable.  This is done so you can later apply it to any computers that may not have been available during the initial attempt.  See REG File Operations and Logging for more information on using REGEDIT4 files.

Instructions

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Check
Check for Key

The Check for Key window allows you to query the registry on remote computers to confirm the existence of a key or value.  Whether the key exists or not will be logged according to the options below.

Checking the 'Ignore Value' box will cause the program to confirm only that the Key exists or does not exist.  Unchecked, the program will report whether or not the key exists, the value exists and the value matches.

The logging check boxes are used in conjunction with the Logging Options in the main window. If you check 'Log if the Entry DOES exist (Success Log)' and the option to 'Log Operation Success' in the main window is not also active, the results will be discarded.

Instructions

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Log
Logging

The Logging tab of the main window offers the option to log or not log the status of each operation in a standard TAB delimited text file.  You can view or clear (delete) the log file with the option buttons for each log.

The 'On Failure to Connect' log will log any failure to connect to the indicated file. Failure to connect will usually only happen when the computer is not powered on.

The 'On Operation Failure' log is used to indicated a key or value could not be changed for some reason.  This could be because the computer is not powered on, or refused to accept your authority, or, in the case of changing user rights, the user you are trying to assign the rights to does not exist.

The 'On Operation Success' log keeps track of all operations that complete successfully.

The log files created with the logging tab can be used to reselect computers. Choose Edit-Select from Log File then choose the name of the log file. All computers in the log will be selected.

Instructions

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Shutdown
Shutdown Systems

Shutdown or abort shutdown on selected computers.  Options include: a) send a shutdown message; b) select the shutdown timeout; c)  choose to force applications to close; d) Force the computer to reboot after shutdown.

If you begin a shutdown and later change your mind, you have the option to abort a shutdown in progress.  This has no effect on a computer that is not shutting down.

Note:  The cancel button will stop the current operation only.  It will not issue an Abort Shutdown to a computer that has already accepted shutdown.  You must use the Abort button for this.

Instructions

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REGEDIT4
REG File Operations

One of the most powerful new features of Multi-Remote Registry Change is its ability to create and use standard REGEDIT4 formatted files.

With this you can:

1. Create a REGEDIT4 formatted file from the local computer or a remote computer. The file will include all keys, subkeys and values from the selected key of the source computer.

Instructions:  Type in the name of the source computer in the 'Source Computer' box.  Select the Root Key.  Enter the Key Path to examine.  For example: '\Software\Microsoft\Windows'.  Then select Edit - Create From Computer. (Depending on the size of the key, the window may appear to freeze for several seconds.)

2.  Apply changes from any REGEDIT4 formatted file - including those created with REGEDIT.EXE - to selected computers on the network.

Instructions: Choose File - Load from the menu.  This will load the selected file into the window.  You may edit it or make changes to the destination key (see below) before applying it to the selected computers.

3.  Make a change in destination root key and/or key path.  This will allow you to "copy" a key from one area of the registry to another.

Instructions:  To make the changes at the time the file is created, simply follow the instructions in step one, but before selecting "Create From Computer" check the Change Destination" box and enter the changes you would like made.

To change a file after it is loaded, in the 'Source Computer' area, select the Root Key and Key Path as they are currently displayed in the file. Check the "Change Destination" box and enter the changes.

For Example, you create an export file with REGEDIT.EXE exporting the key:

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Eytcheson]

and want to place it on remote computers as:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\SomethingElse]

You would select HKEY_USERS in the Source Root Key box, and enter \.DEFAULT\Software\Eytcheson in the Source Root Path. Then, check the "Change Destination" box, select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE in the Destination Root Key and enter \Software\SomethingElse in the Destination Path.

After you have made your selections, select Edit - Change Destination from the menu.

4.  Apply the changes from the window to all selected computers.

Instructions:  When the text in the right window is exactly what you want to insert into the registry of the remote computers, Select Apply - Apply to Selected Computers.

Instructions

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IP
Lookup IP Addresses

The Lookup IP Addresses menu option will query the DNS, WINS or the computer to attempt to find its IP Address.  The IP Address will be added to the Computer Names list.  The reason for this is simple: After the IP Address is added to the Computer Names list, you can use Group Select and Group Deselect to select all (or none) of the computers within a specific range.

Instructions

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User
Change User Rights

One of the most annoying things about Windows NT's default user rights, is that you cannot set the system time from a users login script.  Changing this was a manual process that took lots of time and clicking.  With Multi-Remote Registry Change you can quickly grant or revoke any of the user rights available in User Manager.

This feature is also handy in a classroom environment where you would like instructors to be able to remotely shutdown all of the computers in a computer lab at the end of the day.

For example, to grant ProfessorA the authority to shutdown all of the computers in Computer Lab 9 you would select all of the computers in Lab 9 from the Computer Names List then select Edit-Change User Rights and enter:

User Domain or PDC Name:	*AUTO*

User or Group Name:	ProfessorA

Right to Grant/Revoke:	Force shutdown from a remote system

Grant/Revoke:	Grant

And click Run.  Revoking the right is as simple as repeating the steps above but selecting Revoke instead of Grant in the Grant/Revoke box.

When entering the User Domain PDC Name, you can use the default *AUTO*, which will attempt to locate the user account by first searching the Primary Domain Controller (PDC) to which you are attached, then the PDC's in all trusted domains.

If you choose to enter the PDC name for the user, be sure to preface it with "\\". This will inform the program that you want it to only search the PDC entered.

The User or Group Name can be any valid User or Group Name on your domain or any trusted domain.

Instructions

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File
Apply from File

When you need to change several scattered keys on remote computers, instead of changing them one at a time, you can create a file containing the keys to be added or changed and use this file as a sort of script.  The script file must be plain text; TAB delimited with the following format:

Hive<TAB>Key Path<TAB>Value Name<TAB>Value Type<TAB>Value

(An example file called import.txt is included in the application installation directory)

For the Default value name -- No Name in the Registry - use a '@' symbol.

The script file accepts all Value Types as shown in the General Instructions, including *DELETE KEY* and *DELETE VALUE*.  It also accepts an asterisk in the Key Path as indicated in the General Instructions. Value Name and Value may be blank, but the TABs must be maintained. For example, to delete a key:

Hive<TAB>Key Path<TAB><TAB>*DELETE KEY*<TAB>

You can have as many entries in this file as you wish, but it will process a little faster if you keep like HIVE's together (ex: all HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE then all HKEY_USERS.)

Any line in the file that does not begin with "HKEY_" is considered a comment and will be ignored.

To make it simple to create these import files, the menu option Edit-Create 'Apply from File' will show a dialog where you may enter the keys into a file and know the format is correct.  The keys are entered exactly as you would enter them in the Single Key form.  After making the changes to the selections on the left, click Add to insert the line into the file. When you are done, assign the file a name in the box at the top and click save.

Instructions

Contents


Batch
Create 'Call' Batch File

Batch files provide an amazingly powerful way to administer remote Windows NT computers.

The solution provided here relies on two batch files.  One created by this program, the other created by you. The program will create a batch file with the following format:

CALLCOMP.CMD

_______________________________________

CALL %1 COMPUTER1 <OPTIONAL PARAMS>

CALL %1 COMPUTER2 <OPTIONAL PARAMS>

CALL %1 COMPUTER3 <OPTIONAL PARAMS>

CALL %1 COMPUTER4 <OPTIONAL PARAMS>

CALL %1 COMPUTER5 <OPTIONAL PARAMS>

...

_______________________________________

Used in conjunction with another batch file, you can easily create directories and copy files.  If you have the Windows NT Resource Kit, you can use its command line utilities to set file/directory rights and security as well as a host of other uses.

The second batch file can contain any valid Windows NT command line that is capable of supporting remote computers.  An example of a batch file to copy files from your computer to another is:

CPYFILES.CMD

________________________________________

MD \\%1\C$\NEWDIR

COPY C:\MYDIR\*.* \\%1\C$\NEWDIR

________________________________________

To activate these batch files, on a command line you would enter:

CALLCOMP CPYFILES.CMD

For each entry in CALLCOMP.CMD, CPYFILES.CMD would be called receiving its parameters from CALLCOMP.CMD.

Instructions

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Network
Search Network

The easiest way to add computers to your Computer Names list is to search the network.   This option will search the network for all computers and display them in a list similar to the Computer Names list.

To start the process, click the Find Computers button.  You can stop the search at any time by clicking Stop (it may take a few seconds to end the thread.)  If you are the administrator of a single domain that is connected to others, you may wish to limit the computers that show up in the list to those from your domain only.  You can do this by checking the 'Show Only Computers from the Domain:'  check box and entering your domain name in the box below it.  The program will still search all domains, but only those in your domain will be listed.

When the search is complete, select the computers to add from the list and click 'Add Selected'.

Instructions

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Computer List
Edit Computer List

You may wish to add computers manually instead of Searching the Network.  Manually editing the list is the only way to delete computer names and add comments.

Editing the Computer Names list is pretty straight forward.  To add an entry, press return at the end of a line and type the new computer name on the new line.  You may wish to include a domain name, but this is not required.  To delete an entry, select the entire entry and press the delete key.

The format of the Computer Names list is:

DOMAIN\COMPUTERNAME  IP:255.255.255.255 Comments

Where everything except the COMPUTERNAME is optional.  If you enter the domain, it must be entered at the beginning of the line and be followed by a back slash (\).  The must not be any spaces between the domain name, the back slash and the computer name.

The IP Address is in the format IP:255.255.255.255.  The IP Address will be automatically entered exactly one space after the end of the COMPUTERNAME if you choose Lookup IP Addresses from the menu.

You may enter any comments you wish after the COMPUTERNAME and IP entry.  Just make sure there is at least one space after the COMPUTERNAME, and one space after the IP entry (if used).  The maximum length of an entry in the Computer Names list is 255 characters.  The text in the comments will be used when you choose 'Select Group' or 'Deselect Group' from the Edit or Popup menu.  This makes it easy to associate otherwise non-related computers.  For example, you have nine computers in your accounting group.  They do not have any common naming element.  You could enter ACC as part of the comment, and then when you need to select them later, choose Edit-Group Select and enter ACC.

When you are done making changes, click the 'Save' button.  If you change your mind, click 'Cancel'.

Instructions

Contents


Computer
Computer Names Window

The Computer Names list is the heart of the program.   Every operation the program supports retrieves its list of computers from this list.  Once an operation has started, you can change the list and start a new operation you need not wait for the initial operation to complete.

The Computer Names list is manipulated by using the Edit menu or by using the Right-Click Context menu. The operations available from these menus are:

Edit Menu only:

Edit Computer List

Search Network

Context Menu only:

Add Single Entry

Both Menus:

Select All

Select None

Group Select

Group Deselect

Remember Selections

Restore Selections

Invert Selection

Select from Log File

Save Group

Restore from Saved Group

Expand/Restore Window


Select
Select All/Select None

Select or deselect all of the names in the Computer Names list


PG505
Add Single Entry

Inserts a single computer name in the Computer Names list


Group
Group Select/Group Deselect

Selects or Deselects computer names based on text in computer name entry. This can be the domain name, the computer name, the IP address or any of the comments.


PG515
Remember Selections/Restore Selections

Remember Selections quick saves the current selections.  Restore Selections restores selections saved with Remember Selections.  These available for the current session only, and will be reset if the list of Computer Names is changed.


Invert
Invert Selection

Inverts the selection list: selected computers are deselected, and non-selected computers are selected.


Log
Select from Log File

Selects computers names in the Computer Names list that are contained in the log file.  See Logging for more information.


Save
Save Group/Restore from Saved Group

Save Group will save the names of a group of otherwise unrelated computer names into a logical group. Restore from Saved Group selects the computers from the saved group.


Expand
Expand/Restore Window

Expands/Restores the size of the Computer Names list.  (Double clicking in the the area surrounding the Computer Names list does the same thing)


PG1000
Very Special Thanks to Carsten Giese

His invaluable suggestions and many weeks of testing helped to make this program what it is.

Thanks Carsten!