How to read a registry value whose name is a file path using WshShell.RegRead

Question

I am writing some javascript to be executed by the Windows Scripting Host, and I need to be able to read the shared file counts from the registry for certain specific DLLs. The registry key and values look like this:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDlls]
"C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\ACME Corp\\AcmeUtil.dll"=dword:00000002
"C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\ACME Corp\\SuperEdit.ocx"=dword:00000001

I am attempting to use the WshShell.RegRead method to do this, but it doesn't seem to work. I think the problem is that this method only takes a single parameter which is the concatenated key path and value name for the value to be retrieved. Since the value name in this case is itself a path, the method thinks it is part of the key. Is there any way to get this method to recognize the value name for what it is?

Here is the code that demonstrates the problem:

var shell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell");
var keyPath = "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\SharedDlls\\";
var valName = "C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\ACME Corp\\AcmeUtil.dll";
WScript.Echo("count = " + shell.RegRead(keyPath + valName));

The error I am seeing is:

WshShell.RegRead: Invalid root in registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDlls\C:\Program Files\Common Files\ACME Corp\AcmeUtil.dll"

Answer 1

The problem is in the slash...
You can read it with WMI instead as described here:

Const HKEY_CURRENT_USER = &H80000001 
 Set oReg=GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\default:StdRegProv") 

 strKeyPath = "Software\ASoftware\ConfigList\MySettings" 
 strValueName = "xyz\abc" 
 oReg.GetStringValue HKEY_CURRENT_USER,strKeyPath,strValueName,strValue 
 wscript.echo strValue 

Also: Scripts to manage Registry