How can I create a registry value and path leading to it in one line using PowerShell?

Question

Creating a registry value, including the path up to it, and not erroring if the path already exists is easy using old-school reg.exe:

reg add HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\EdgeUI /f /v DisableHelpSticker /t reg_sz /d 1 

That's nice and concise. The shortest way I found to do it in pure PowerShell is two lines, or three if you don't want to repeat the path:

$regPath = 'HKCU:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\EdgeUI' New-Item $regPath -Force | Out-Null New-ItemProperty $regPath -Name DisableHelpSticker -Value 1 -Force | Out-Null 

Is there an easier way using pure PowerShell? And without adding a utility function.

Answer 1

You can pipe the creation line to the New-ItemProperty line as follows, but be aware that the -Force flag on New-Item will delete any pre-existing contents of the key:

New-Item 'HKCU:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\EdgeUI' -Force | New-ItemProperty -Name DisableHelpSticker -Value 1 -Force | Out-Null 

Answer 2

Another way of simplifying PS registry handling is calling the .Net function SetValue() directly:

[microsoft.win32.registry]::SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Test", "Test-String", "Testing") [microsoft.win32.registry]::SetValue("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Test", "Test-DW", 0xff)