RegistryValueChangeEvent - powershell.one

The RegistryValueChangeEvent class represents changes to a single value of a specific key. For more information about using the WMI registry event classes, see Modifying the System Registry. For code examples, see WMI Tasks: Registry.

Methods

RegistryValueChangeEvent has no methods.

Properties

RegistryValueChangeEvent returns 3 properties:

'Hive','KeyPath','ValueName'

Unless explicitly marked as writeable, all properties are read-only. Read all properties for all instances:

Get-CimInstance -ClassName RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default -Property *

Most WMI classes return one or more instances.

When Get-CimInstance returns no result, then apparently no instances of class RegistryValueChangeEvent exist. This is normal behavior.

Either the class is not implemented on your system (may be deprecated or due to missing drivers, i.e. CIM_VideoControllerResolution), or there are simply no physical representations of this class currently available (i.e. Win32_TapeDrive).

Hive

STRING

Name of the hive that contains the key (or keys) that is changed. For example, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Changes to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and HKEY_CURRENT_USER hives are not supported by RegistryEvent or classes derived from it, such as RegistryValueChangeEvent.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default | Select-Object -Property Hive

KeyPath

STRING

Path to the registry key. For example, “SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WBEM\Scripting”.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default | Select-Object -Property KeyPath

ValueName

STRING

Name of the value in the registry key. For example, in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WBEM\Scripting you can detect changes in the value Default Namespace.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default | Select-Object -Property ValueName

Examples

List all instances of RegistryValueChangeEvent

Get-CimInstance -ClassName RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default

Learn more about Get-CimInstance and the deprecated Get-WmiObject.

View all properties

Get-CimInstance -ClassName RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default -Property *

View key properties only

Get-CimInstance -ClassName RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default -KeyOnly

Selecting Properties

To select only some properties, pipe the results to Select-Object -Property a,b,c with a comma-separated list of the properties you require. Wildcards are permitted.

Get-CimInstance always returns all properties but only retrieves the ones that you specify. All other properties are empty but still present. That’s why you need to pipe the results into Select-Object if you want to limit the visible properties, i.e. for reporting.

Selecting Properties

The code below lists all available properties. Remove the ones you do not need:

$properties = 'Hive',
              'KeyPath',
              'ValueName'
Get-CimInstance -ClassName RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default | Select-Object -Property $properties

Limiting Network Bandwidth

If you work remotely, it makes sense to limit network bandwidth by filtering the properties on the server side, too:

Get-CimInstance -Class RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default -Property $property | 
Select-Object -Property $property

Selecting Instances

To select some instances, use Get-CimInstance and a WMI Query. The wildcard character in WMI Queries is % (and not “*”).

The parameter -Filter runs a simple query.

Listing all instances where the property Caption starts with “A”

Get-CimInstance -Class RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default -Filter 'Caption LIKE "a%"' 

Using a WQL Query

The parameter -Query uses a query similar to SQL and combines the parameters -Filter and -Property. This returns all instances where the property Caption starts with “A”, and returns the properties specified:

Get-CimInstance -Query "SELECT ValueName, KeyPath, Hive FROM RegistryValueChangeEvent WHERE Caption LIKE 'a%'" -Namespace root/default

Any property you did not specify is still present but empty. You might need to use Select-Object to remove all unwanted properties:
Get-CimInstance -Query "SELECT ValueName, KeyPath, Hive FROM RegistryValueChangeEvent WHERE Caption LIKE 'a%'" -Namespace root/default | Select-Object -Property ValueName, KeyPath, Hive

Accessing Remote Computers

To access remote systems, you need to have proper permissions. User the parameter -ComputerName to access one or more remote systems.

Authenticating as Current User

# one or more computer names or IP addresses:
$list = 'server1', 'server2'

# authenticate with your current identity:
$result = Get-CimInstance -ClassName RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default -ComputerName $list 
$result

Authenticating as Different User

Use a CIMSession object to authenticate with a new identity:

# one or more computer names or IP addresses:
$list = 'server1', 'server2'

# authenticate with a different identity:
$cred = Get-Credential -Message 'Authenticate to retrieve WMI information:'
$session = New-CimSession -ComputerName $list -Credential $cred

$result = Get-CimInstance RegistryValueChangeEvent -Namespace root/default -CimSession $session

# remove the session after use (if you do not plan to re-use it later)
Remove-CimSession -CimSession $session

$result

Learn more about accessing remote computers.

Requirements

To use RegistryValueChangeEvent, the following requirements apply:

PowerShell

Get-CimInstance was introduced with PowerShell Version 3.0, which in turn was introduced on clients with Windows 8 and on servers with Windows Server 2012.

If necessary, update Windows PowerShell to Windows PowerShell 5.1, or install PowerShell 7 side-by-side.

Operating System

RegistryValueChangeEvent was introduced on clients with Windows Vista and on servers with Windows Server 2008.

Namespace

RegistryValueChangeEvent lives in the Namespace Root/default. This is not the default namespace. Use parameter -Namespace root/default with all CIM cmdlets..

Implementation

RegistryValueChangeEvent is implemented in StdProv.dll and defined in RegEvent.mof. Both files are located in the folder C:\Windows\system32\wbem:

explorer $env:windir\system32\wbem
notepad $env:windir\system32\wbem\RegEvent.mof

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