PsExec - registry current user

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version

   Hi ..
First of all .. love your tools, use a lot of them in various scripts.
I often run into cases where I want to change some registry entries on a users PC, and I'd prefer to do it via psexec so I can script it. However, since the psexec session works under MY user account or the SYSTEM account, when I import a registry file with keys pointing to 'current user', this will not import to the currently logged on user.
Is there any solution to this ?
I have tried looking at psloggedon to find the currently logged on user, but if I want to do anything with it, I will need the SID code of the user, not the username since the HKEY_USERS subkeys are SIDs and not usernames.
ANY help would be much appreciated !
Allan

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version
axewater Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 19 September 2005 Location: Netherlands Online Status: Offline Posts: 6	Quote Reply Topic: PsExec - registry current user Posted: 19 September 2005 at 10:06am
	Hi .. First of all .. love your tools, use a lot of them in various scripts. I often run into cases where I want to change some registry entries on a users PC, and I'd prefer to do it via psexec so I can script it. However, since the psexec session works under MY user account or the SYSTEM account, when I import a registry file with keys pointing to 'current user', this will not import to the currently logged on user. Is there any solution to this ? I have tried looking at psloggedon to find the currently logged on user, but if I want to do anything with it, I will need the SID code of the user, not the username since the HKEY_USERS subkeys are SIDs and not usernames. ANY help would be much appreciated ! Allan

axewater Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 19 September 2005 Location: Netherlands Online Status: Offline Posts: 6	Quote Reply Posted: 26 September 2005 at 3:49am
	Doesn't anybody have an idea for this one ?

axewater Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 19 September 2005 Location: Netherlands Online Status: Offline Posts: 6	Quote Reply Posted: 03 November 2005 at 9:08am
	please ... I'm still looking for an answer to this one ... anyone ?

scatter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 06 November 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1	Quote Reply Posted: 06 November 2005 at 4:41am
	Well, i had the same problem and solved it by running a batch-fil from [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] which imported the registry file with keys pointing to 'current user', for every user that logged into the computer. After a couple of weeks I removed the entry from 'Run'. Not a very nice solution, but it worked.

axewater Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 19 September 2005 Location: Netherlands Online Status: Offline Posts: 6	Quote Reply Posted: 07 November 2005 at 3:10am
	Ah yes ... that would do the job ... However .. the scripts I write are to solve problems on workstations here, I would run a script that changes some settings or installs some software. This would be instead of : remote control to the users pc, close all apps, log out user, log in myself, apply fixes / install software, log out, log user back in ... now I just call a script with the click of a button, and the problem is fixed in a few seconds... If I use your method, there is still a logout / log back in involved ... nevertheless, I will use it since it seems the only option.

gyokuran Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 04 November 2005 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 30	Quote Reply Posted: 07 November 2005 at 4:08am
	You could search the Active Directory for the user and retrieve his SID. The user's property in the AD is "objectSID".

jwray239 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 07 November 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5	Quote Reply Posted: 07 November 2005 at 5:22pm
	Just as a follow-up and FYI You can't access the HKCU remotely. Edited by jwray239

Madmekanic Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 07 November 2005 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 1	Quote Reply Posted: 07 November 2005 at 8:20pm
	Well I'd tell you what I did but the results weren't what I had intended good thing I backed up be for I made the attempt. Best of luck
	Mad say You. Whom might you be to Judge

Jherad Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 09 November 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Quote Reply Posted: 09 November 2005 at 9:51am
	If you are pretty handy at scripting, you could use psloggedon to return the current logged on user, then psgetsid to convert the userid to a SID... THEN pipe the results to a reg file to copy to the machine for psexec...

Jherad Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 09 November 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Quote Reply Posted: 09 November 2005 at 10:07am
	If you're using batch, something like... ... for /f "tokens=3" %%i in ('psloggedon -l \\remotecomputer ^\|findstr /C:":"') do set myuser=%%i for /f "tokens=*" %%i in ('psgetsid \\remotecomputer %myuser% ^\|findstr /C:"-"') do set mysid=%%i echo REGEDIT4 >myregfile.reg echo.>>myregfile.reg echo [HKEY_USERS\%mysid%\test]>>myregfile.reg echo "test"="test">>myregfile.reg echo.>>myregfile.reg copy myregfile.reg \\remotecomputer\c$ psexec \\remotecomputer regedit -s c:\myregfile.reg ... Or something like that. I haven't tried it, but it looks right(ish). Test first