Argthtjtr

How to rename key in registry using C++?

I want rename key "MyappVersion1" to "MyappVersion2".

I don't see any function in MSDN about renaming keys in registry.

There is no function to rename on older versions of windows, you need to copy/delete on your own AFAIK.

If your app requires Vista or newer versions of Windows, you can use RegCopyTree() followed by RegDeleteTree().

if you need to support XP, could use SHCopyKey followed by RegDeleteKeyEx

Some more info on this old entry:

NTRenameKey() is an old API for renaming a registry key.

Also, Pavel has more information on the RegRenameKey() call mentioned in randomsock's answer, and (though this is a C++ question) provides this nice PInvoke signature for it.

[DllImport("advapi32")]

public static extern int RegRenameKey(

     SafeRegistryHandle hKey,

     [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string oldname,

     [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)] string newname);

I know this is an old entry, but in case anyone else comes looking, like me ...

In this MSDN page, someone found an undocumented RegRenameKey(hKey, keyName, newKeyName) available from Vista onwards.

Good day my fellow programmers,

Just in case you're trying to do it in C# (P/INVOKE), here is how I did it:

    public static readonly IntPtr HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = new IntPtr(unchecked((int)0x80000002));



    [Flags]

    public enum ACCESS_MASK : uint

    {

        DELETE = 0x00010000,

        READ_CONTROL = 0x00020000,

        WRITE_DAC = 0x00040000,

        WRITE_OWNER = 0x00080000,

        SYNCHRONIZE = 0x00100000,

        STANDARD_RIGHTS_REQUIRED = 0x000F0000,

        STANDARD_RIGHTS_READ = 0x00020000,

        STANDARD_RIGHTS_WRITE = 0x00020000,

        STANDARD_RIGHTS_EXECUTE = 0x00020000,

        STANDARD_RIGHTS_ALL = 0x001F0000,

        SPECIFIC_RIGHTS_ALL = 0x0000FFFF,

        ACCESS_SYSTEM_SECURITY = 0x01000000,

        MAXIMUM_ALLOWED = 0x02000000,

        GENERIC_READ = 0x80000000,

        GENERIC_WRITE = 0x40000000,

        GENERIC_EXECUTE = 0x20000000,

        GENERIC_ALL = 0x10000000

    }



    [Flags]

    public enum REGSAM : uint

    {

        DELETE = 0x00010000,

        READ_CONTROL = 0x00020000,

        WRITE_DAC = 0x00040000,

        WRITE_OWNER = 0x00080000,

        KEY_QUERY_VALUE = 0x0001,

        KEY_SET_VALUE = 0x0002,

        KEY_CREATE_SUB_KEY = 0x0004,

        KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS = 0x0008,

        KEY_NOTIFY = 0x0010,

        KEY_CREATE_LINK = 0x0020,

        KEY_WOW64_32KEY = 0x0200,

        KEY_WOW64_64KEY = 0x0100,

        KEY_WOW64_RES = 0x0300,

        KEY_READ = (ACCESS_MASK.STANDARD_RIGHTS_READ | KEY_QUERY_VALUE | KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS | KEY_NOTIFY) & (~ACCESS_MASK.SYNCHRONIZE),

        KEY_WRITE = (ACCESS_MASK.STANDARD_RIGHTS_WRITE | KEY_SET_VALUE | KEY_CREATE_SUB_KEY) & (~ACCESS_MASK.SYNCHRONIZE),

        KEY_EXECUTE = (KEY_READ) & (~ACCESS_MASK.SYNCHRONIZE),

        KEY_ALL_ACCESS = (ACCESS_MASK.STANDARD_RIGHTS_ALL | KEY_QUERY_VALUE | KEY_SET_VALUE | KEY_CREATE_SUB_KEY | KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS | KEY_NOTIFY | KEY_CREATE_LINK) & (~ACCESS_MASK.SYNCHRONIZE),

    }



    [DllImport("advapi32.dll", SetLastError = true)]

    static extern int RegCloseKey(

        IntPtr hKey);



    [DllImport("advapi32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]

    public static extern int RegOpenKeyEx(

        IntPtr hKey,

        string subKey,

        uint ulOptions,

        REGSAM samDesired,

        out IntPtr hkResult);



    [DllImport("ntdll.dll")]

    static extern int NtRenameKey(

        IntPtr KeyHandle,

        ref UNICODE_STRING NewName);



    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]

    private struct UNICODE_STRING

    {

        public ushort Length;

        public ushort MaximumLength;

        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]

        public string Buffer;



        public UNICODE_STRING(string value)

        {

            int len = value.Length;

            Length = (ushort) (2 * len);

            MaximumLength = (ushort) (2 * (len + 1));

            Buffer = value;

        }

    }



    public static bool RenameHklmKey(string key, string newName)

    {

        IntPtr keyHandle;

        UNICODE_STRING unicodeString = new UNICODE_STRING(newName);

        int result = RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, key, 0, REGSAM.KEY_ALL_ACCESS, out keyHandle);

        if (0 == result)

        {

            result = NtRenameKey(keyHandle, ref unicodeString);

            RegCloseKey(keyHandle);

        }



        return 0 == result;

    }

enums were taken from Vanara project
Hope it helps someone