Read/write to Windows registry using Java

Question

How is it possible to read/write to the Windows registry using Java?

Answer 1

I've done this before using jRegistryKey. It is an LGPL Java/JNI library that can do what you need. Here's an example of how I used it to enabled Registry editing through regedit and also the "Show Folder Options" option for myself in Windows via the registry.

import java.io.File;
import ca.beq.util.win32.registry.RegistryKey;
import ca.beq.util.win32.registry.RegistryValue;
import ca.beq.util.win32.registry.RootKey;
import ca.beq.util.win32.registry.ValueType;


public class FixStuff {

private static final String REGEDIT_KEY = "Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\System";
private static final String REGEDIT_VALUE = "DisableRegistryTools";
private static final String REGISTRY_LIBRARY_PATH = "\\lib\\jRegistryKey.dll";
private static final String FOLDER_OPTIONS_KEY = "Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Policies\\Explorer";
private static final String FOLDER_OPTIONS_VALUE = "NoFolderOptions";

public static void main(String[] args) {
    //Load JNI library
    RegistryKey.initialize( new File(".").getAbsolutePath()+REGISTRY_LIBRARY_PATH );

    enableRegistryEditing(true);        
    enableShowFolderOptions(true);
}

private static void enableShowFolderOptions(boolean enable) {
    RegistryKey key = new RegistryKey(RootKey.HKEY_CURRENT_USER,FOLDER_OPTIONS_KEY);
    RegistryKey key2 = new RegistryKey(RootKey.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,FOLDER_OPTIONS_KEY);
    RegistryValue value = new RegistryValue();
    value.setName(FOLDER_OPTIONS_VALUE);
    value.setType(ValueType.REG_DWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN);
    value.setData(enable?0:1);

    if(key.hasValue(FOLDER_OPTIONS_VALUE)) {
        key.setValue(value);
    }
    if(key2.hasValue(FOLDER_OPTIONS_VALUE)) {
        key2.setValue(value);
    }           
}

private static void enableRegistryEditing(boolean enable) {
    RegistryKey key = new RegistryKey(RootKey.HKEY_CURRENT_USER,REGEDIT_KEY);
    RegistryValue value = new RegistryValue();
    value.setName(REGEDIT_VALUE);
    value.setType(ValueType.REG_DWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN);
    value.setData(enable?0:1);

    if(key.hasValue(REGEDIT_VALUE)) {
        key.setValue(value);
    }
}

}