Question

How do I add a new key in the registry of other users using c# (or c/c++ or other language)

here is the scenario:
Client PC: “Administrator” account(logged in)

“User A” and “User B” can login on the Client PC only through a domain “myDomain” (they have already logged on once and have their own folder in user of the Client PC)

so I will run this code to create a new key using administrator

Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey(@”SOFTWARE\myProgram\DefaultConfig”);

but the problem is, this key is only created for the “Administrator” account

I want to create this key for “User A” and “User B” too while still using “Administrator” account

both “User A” and “User B” does not appear in the HKEY_USERS

And is if there are more users in the same PC I want to add this registry key to them also is it possible to loop a code that adds a key for all users? Read and write loop?

Answer 1

Keys for all users are stored under the HKEY_USERS root key. Under this root key, there is a key for every user which has its SID as key name.

You’ll have to get the SID of the desired user, then access to this root key:

// Gets the SID of the desired user
NTAccount f = new NTAccount(userName);
SecurityIdentifier s = (SecurityIdentifier)f.Translate(typeof(SecurityIdentifier));
string sid = s.ToString();

// Now you can access to the HKEY_USERS root key
string path = @"SOFTWARE\Console\DefaultConfig";
Registry.Users.CreateSubKey(string.Format("{0}\\{1}", sid, path));

But honestly, I’m not sure it’s a very good idea. Couldn’t you use Registry.LocalMachine instead, which applies to all users?