Accessing The Registry From SQL Server

Introduction

I was looking for a function that would return a country list. I found a list of countries within the Registry at SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionTelephonyCountry List.

By using this list, my task was reduced to reading the Registry. Unfortunately, I could not find any functions documented for accessing this information from the Registry. When I was looking for information, I found a German site that provided the syntax of the Registry functions. I decided to produce this short article in order to share what I have learned.

Reading the Registry

Syntax

EXECUTE master..xp_regread 'hKey','Key Value','String Value',@outvar OUTPUT

Parameters

hKey

Identifies a currently open key or any of the following predefined reserved handle values:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKEY_USERS

The enumerated values are associated with the key identified by hKey.

Key Value: Key value that you want to read

String Value: String value that you want to read

outvar: varchar variable in which output will be stored.

Example:

DECLARE @datapath varchar(255)
EXEC master..xp_regread
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
'SOFTWAREMicrosoftMSSQLServerMSSQLServerCurrentVersion',
'RegisteredOwner',
@datapath OUTPUT
PRINT @datapath

Writing to the Registry

Syntax

EXECUTE master..xp_regwrite 'hKey','Key Name','String Value','Data type',
                            'Value to write'

Parameters

hKey: Identifies a currently open key or any of the following predefined reserved handle values:

• Key Name: Key name that you want to read
• String Value: String Value that you want to read

Data Type:

• REG_SZ: A null-terminated string. It will be a Unicode or ANSI string, depending on whether you use the Unicode or ANSI functions.
• REG_BINARY: Binary data in any form.
• REG_DWORD: A 32-bit number.

Example:

EXEC master..xp_regwrite
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
'SOFTWAREMicrosoftMSSQLServerMSSQLServerCurrentVersion',
'RegisteredOwner',
'REG_SZ',
'DINESH'

Deleting a Registry String

Syntax

EXECUTE master..xp_regdeletevalue 'hKey','Key Name','String Value'

Parameters

hKey: Identifies a currently open key or any of the following predefined reserved handle values:

• Key Name: Key name that you want to delete
• String Value: String Value that you want to delete

Example:

EXEC master..xp_regdeletevalue
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
'SOFTWAREMicrosoftMSSQLServerMSSQLServerCurrentVersion',
'RegisteredOwner',

Deleting a Registry Key

Syntax

EXECUTE master..xp_regdeletekey 'hKey','Key Name'

Parameters

• hKey: Identifies a currently open key or any of the following predefined reserved handle values:
• Key Value: Key value which you want to delete

Example:

EXEC master..xp_regdeletevalue
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
'SOFTWAREMicrosoftMSSQLServerMSSQLServerCurrentVersion'

Reading All the Registry Keys Under the Given Registry Key

Syntax

EXECUTE master..xp_regenumkeys 'hKey','Key Name'

Parameters

hKey: Identifies a currently open key or any of the following predefined reserved handle values:

• Key Name: Key name which you want to read

Example:

EXEC master..xp_regenumkeys
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
'SOFTWAREMicrosoftMSSQLServerProviders'

Output will be:

Reading All the Registry Values Under the Given Registry Key

Syntax

EXECUTE master..xp_regenumvalues 'hKey','Key Name'

Parameters

hKey: Identifies a currently open key or any of the following predefined reserved handle values:

• Key Name: Key name which you want to read

Example:

EXEC master..xp_regenumvalues
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
'SOFTWAREMicrosoftMSSQLServerMSSQLServerParameters'

Output will be

Implementation

Now it’s time to use the above information. Let’s try to get the country list from the Registry. The following script can be used to do this:

DECLARE @trenutniRed int
DECLARE @outputvar nvarchar(255)
DECLARE @countryKey nvarchar(150)
DECLARE @MasterKey nvarchar(150)
Set @MasterKey = 'SOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionTelephonyCountry List'
Create table #CID ( i int)
Create table #CNAME ( CountryName nvarchar(255))

insert into #CID EXEC master..xp_regenumkeys
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
@MasterKey

DECLARE SysKursor INSENSITIVE SCROLL CURSOR
FOR SELECT i FROM #CID
FOR READ ONLY
OPEN SysKursor
FETCH NEXT FROM SysKursor INTO @trenutniRed

WHILE @@Fetch_Status = 0
BEGIN
Set @countryKey = @MasterKey + RTRIM(LTRIM(CAST( @trenutniRed as nvarchar(15))))

EXEC master..xp_regread
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE',
@countryKey,
'Name',
@outputvar OUTPUT

Insert into #CNAME Values ( @outputvar)
FETCH NEXT FROM SysKursor INTO @trenutniRed

END

CLOSE SysKursor
DEALLOCATE SysKursor

Select * from #CNAME

drop table #CID
drop table #CNAME

Drawbacks

It is highly important to note that these functions are not documented by Microsoft — This means that they can change without any notice.