lib-registry 3.0.1

a more pythonic way to access the windows registry as winreg

lib_registry

A more pythonic way to access the Windows registry as winreg.

Wraps Python's winreg module with a high-level Registry class providing connection caching, automatic type detection, recursive key operations, and a context manager. On non-Windows platforms, fake_winreg provides a simulated registry so tests and code run everywhere.

Features

• Pythonic Registry class with context manager support
• Automatic registry value type detection (str, int, bytes, list)
• Connection and key handle caching for performance
• Recursive key creation (parents=True) and deletion (delete_subkeys=True)
• Remote computer registry access
• SID enumeration and username resolution
• Save/load registry subtrees to/from files
• WOW64 32/64-bit registry view support
• Registry reflection control
• Cross-platform via fake_winreg on Linux/macOS
• CLI entry point with rich-click styling

Install

pip install lib_registry

Or with uv (recommended):

uv pip install lib_registry

For all installation methods (pipx, uvx, poetry, etc.), see INSTALL.md.

Python 3.9+ Baseline

• Targets Python 3.9 and newer
• Runtime dependencies: rich-click for CLI output, rtoml for TOML parsing, fake_winreg on non-Windows platforms
• CI covers CPython 3.9 through 3.14

Usage

As a library

import lib_registry

# Create a registry accessor
registry = lib_registry.Registry()

# Check if a key exists
registry.key_exist('HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion')

# Read a value
build = registry.get_value(
    'HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion',
    'CurrentBuild',
)

# Create a key and write values
registry.create_key('HKCU\\Software\\MyApp', parents=True)
registry.set_value('HKCU\\Software\\MyApp', 'Setting', 'value')
registry.set_value('HKCU\\Software\\MyApp', 'Count', 42)

# Iterate subkeys and values
for subkey in registry.subkeys('HKEY_USERS'):
    print(subkey)

for name, data, reg_type in registry.values('HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion'):
    print(f'{name} = {data}')

# Save and load registry subtrees
registry.save_key('HKCU\\Software\\MyApp', '/tmp/myapp_backup.json')
registry.load_key(lib_registry.winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER, 'Software\\MyAppCopy', '/tmp/myapp_backup.json')

# Clean up
registry.delete_key('HKCU\\Software\\MyApp', delete_subkeys=True)

# Use as context manager
with lib_registry.Registry('HKLM') as reg:
    info = reg.key_info('HKLM\\SOFTWARE')

Path separators

Both backslashes and forward slashes are accepted in registry paths:

# These are equivalent:
registry.key_exist('HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft')
registry.key_exist('HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft')

CLI Reference

All commands accept registry paths with either backslashes (\) or forward slashes (/). Hive names are case-insensitive (HKLM, hklm, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE all work). Run any command with -h for built-in help.

Global options

lib_registry [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]...

Option	Default	Description
--version		Print version and exit
--traceback/--no-traceback	on	Show full Python traceback on errors
-q, --quiet	off	Suppress non-error output
--json	off	Emit JSON output (for scripting)
--computer HOST		Connect to remote computer registry
-h, --help		Show help and exit

Also available as python -m lib_registry.

---

info -- package metadata

lib_registry info

Print resolved package metadata (name, version, homepage, author).

---

get -- read a value

lib_registry get [OPTIONS] KEY VALUE_NAME

Argument/Option	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path (e.g. HKLM/SOFTWARE/...)
VALUE_NAME	yes	Name of the value to read (omit for default)
--type	no	Also display the REG_* type alongside the data
--default	no	Read the unnamed default value

Examples:

lib_registry get "HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion" CurrentBuild
# Output: 19045

lib_registry get --type "HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion" CurrentBuild
# Output: REG_SZ: 19045

---

set -- write a value

lib_registry set [OPTIONS] KEY VALUE_NAME DATA

Argument/Option	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path
VALUE_NAME	yes	Name of the value to write
DATA	yes	Value data as string (converted based on --type)
--type TYPE	no	Registry type. One of: REG_SZ, REG_DWORD, REG_QWORD, REG_BINARY, REG_MULTI_SZ, REG_EXPAND_SZ, REG_NONE, etc. Without --type, data is always stored as REG_SZ (string). Use --type REG_DWORD explicitly for integers.
--default	no	Write the unnamed default value (VALUE_NAME ignored)

Type conversion rules:

--type	DATA is parsed as	Example
(omitted)	always string (REG_SZ)	42 -> REG_SZ, hello -> REG_SZ
REG_SZ	string	"hello world"
REG_DWORD	integer (32-bit)	42
REG_QWORD	integer (64-bit)	9999999999
REG_BINARY	UTF-8 encoded bytes	"raw data"
REG_MULTI_SZ	\0-delimited string list	"line1\0line2\0line3"
REG_NONE	None (empty)	(DATA ignored)

Examples:

lib_registry set HKCU/Software/MyApp Setting "hello world"
lib_registry set HKCU/Software/MyApp Count 42 --type REG_DWORD
lib_registry set HKCU/Software/MyApp Paths "C:\bin\0D:\tools" --type REG_MULTI_SZ

Silent on success (exit code 0).

---

delete-value -- remove a value

lib_registry delete-value KEY VALUE_NAME

Argument/Option	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path
VALUE_NAME	yes	Name of the value to delete
--force	no	Suppress error if value does not exist

Silent on success.

---

list -- list subkeys and values

lib_registry list [OPTIONS] KEY

Argument/Option	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path
--keys	no	Show subkeys only
--values	no	Show values only
--recursive, -r	no	Recurse into subkeys

Without flags, shows both subkeys and values. Output format:

[KEY] SubkeyName
[REG_SZ] ValueName = data
[REG_DWORD] Count = 42

Examples:

lib_registry list HKEY_USERS
lib_registry list --keys HKEY_USERS
lib_registry list --values "HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion"

---

exists -- check key existence

lib_registry exists KEY

Argument	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path

Produces no output. Exit code 0 if the key exists, 1 if it does not. Designed for shell scripting:

if lib_registry exists HKCU/Software/MyApp; then
    echo "Key exists"
fi

---

create-key -- create a registry key

lib_registry create-key [OPTIONS] KEY

Argument/Option	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path to create
--parents	no	Create intermediate parent keys if missing

Silent on success. Without --parents, fails if the parent key does not exist.

Examples:

lib_registry create-key HKCU/Software/MyApp
lib_registry create-key HKCU/Software/MyApp/Deep/Nested/Key --parents

---

delete-key -- delete a registry key

lib_registry delete-key [OPTIONS] KEY

Argument/Option	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path to delete
--recursive	no	Also delete all subkeys and their values recursively
--force	no	Suppress error if key does not exist

Silent on success. Without --recursive, fails if the key has subkeys.

Examples:

lib_registry delete-key HKCU/Software/MyApp
lib_registry delete-key HKCU/Software/MyApp --recursive

---

export -- save a key subtree to file

lib_registry export KEY FILE

Argument	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path to export
FILE	yes	Output file path (JSON format)

Saves the key and all its subkeys/values to a JSON file. Use import to restore.

lib_registry export HKCU/Software/MyApp backup.json

---

import -- load a key subtree from file

lib_registry import KEY SUB_KEY FILE

Argument	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Hive or parent key (e.g. HKCU)
SUB_KEY	yes	Subkey path under KEY where data will be loaded
FILE	yes	Input file path (JSON, as produced by export)

lib_registry import HKCU Software/MyAppCopy backup.json

---

search -- find values by pattern

lib_registry search [OPTIONS] KEY

Argument/Option	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path to search under (recursive)
--name PATTERN	no	Glob pattern to match value names (e.g. "Install*")
--data PATTERN	no	Glob pattern to match value data (e.g. "*Microsoft*")

Recursively walks all subkeys under KEY and prints matching values. At least one of --name or --data should be specified.

Output format:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion  [REG_SZ] CurrentBuild = 19045

Examples:

lib_registry search "HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion" --name "Current*"
lib_registry search HKLM/SOFTWARE --data "*Python*"

---

users -- list Windows users from registry

lib_registry users

No arguments. Enumerates SIDs from the ProfileList and resolves usernames. Output is a formatted table:

      Registry Users
+-----------------------+----------+
| SID                   | Username |
+-----------------------+----------+
| S-1-5-21-...-1000     | alice    |
| S-1-5-18              | SYSTEM   |
+-----------------------+----------+

---

tree -- visual key hierarchy

lib_registry tree [OPTIONS] KEY

Argument/Option	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path
--depth N	no	Maximum depth to display (default: 3)

Displays a Rich tree view of the key hierarchy. With --json, outputs a nested dict.

lib_registry tree HKEY_USERS --depth 2
lib_registry --json tree HKLM/SOFTWARE --depth 1

---

copy -- copy a key

lib_registry copy [OPTIONS] SRC_KEY DST_KEY

Argument/Option	Required	Description
SRC_KEY	yes	Source key path
DST_KEY	yes	Destination key path (created if needed)
--recursive	no	Also copy all subkeys recursively

Copies all values from SRC_KEY to DST_KEY. With --recursive, copies the entire subtree.

lib_registry copy HKCU/Software/MyApp HKCU/Software/MyAppBackup --recursive

---

rename -- rename a value

lib_registry rename KEY OLD_NAME NEW_NAME

Argument	Required	Description
KEY	yes	Registry key path
OLD_NAME	yes	Current value name
NEW_NAME	yes	New value name

Renames a registry value by copying its data and type to the new name, then deleting the old name. Atomic within a single key.

lib_registry rename HKCU/Software/MyApp OldSetting NewSetting

---

diff -- compare two keys

lib_registry diff KEY_A KEY_B

Argument	Required	Description
KEY_A	yes	First key path to compare
KEY_B	yes	Second key path to compare

Recursively compares values and subkeys between two registry key subtrees. Shows values only in A, only in B, and values that differ.

lib_registry diff HKCU/Software/MyApp HKCU/Software/MyAppBackup
lib_registry --json diff HKCU/Software/V1 HKCU/Software/V2

Output format:

  - HKCU\Software\MyApp  (only in KEY_A)
  + HKCU\Software\MyAppBackup  (only in KEY_B)
  ~ HKCU\Software\MyApp / Setting
    A: old_value
    B: new_value

---

Access constants

All winreg KEY_* access constants are re-exported for convenience:

from lib_registry import KEY_READ, KEY_WRITE, KEY_ALL_ACCESS, KEY_WOW64_64KEY

API Overview

Registry class methods

Method	Description
create_key()	Create a registry key (with parents and exist_ok options)
create_key_ex()	Create with explicit access mask
delete_key()	Delete a key (with delete_subkeys and missing_ok options)
delete_key_ex()	Delete with WOW64 view control
key_exist()	Check whether a key exists
key_info()	Get metadata (subkey count, value count, last modified)
number_of_subkeys()	Count subkeys
number_of_values()	Count values
has_subkeys()	Check if key has children
subkeys()	Iterate over subkey names
values()	Iterate over (name, data, type) tuples
get_value()	Read a value's data
get_value_ex()	Read a value's data and type
set_value()	Write a value (auto-detects type)
delete_value()	Delete a value
flush_key()	Force registry writes to disk
save_key()	Save key subtree to file
load_key()	Load key subtree from file
close_key()	Explicitly close a cached handle
sids()	Iterate over Windows Security Identifiers
username_from_sid()	Resolve username from SID
last_access_timestamp()	Last-modified as Unix timestamp
disable_reflection_key()	Disable WOW64 reflection
enable_reflection_key()	Re-enable WOW64 reflection
query_reflection_key()	Check reflection state
expand_environment_strings()	Expand %VAR% references (static method)

Exception hierarchy

RegistryError
  RegistryConnectionError
  RegistryKeyError
    RegistryKeyNotFoundError
    RegistryKeyExistsError
    RegistryKeyCreateError
    RegistryKeyDeleteError
  RegistryValueError
    RegistryValueNotFoundError
    RegistryValueDeleteError
    RegistryValueWriteError
  RegistryHKeyError
  RegistryNetworkConnectionError
  RegistryHandleInvalidError

Further Documentation

• Install Guide
• Development Handbook
• Contributor Guide
• Changelog
• Module Reference
• License