RegistryValueKind NONE - powershell

Question

How can I set a none data type.[Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind]::None in Powershell 2.0?
Powershell 2.0 has types "Unknown, String, ExpandString, Binary, DWord, MultiString, QWord".
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Answer 1

Add-Type -TypeDefinition #"
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Security.Principal;
using Microsoft.Win32;
using Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles;
namespace AdvapiSolution
{
public class Advapi
{
public enum HKEY : uint
{
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT = 0x80000000,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER = 0x80000001,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = 0x80000002,
HKEY_USERS = 0x80000003,
HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA = 0x80000004,
HKEY_PERFORMANCE_TEXT = 0x80000050,
HKEY_PERFORMANCE_NLSTEXT = 0x80000060,
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG = 0x80000005
}
private enum VALUE_TYPE : uint
{
REG_NONE= 0,
REG_SZ = 1,
REG_EXPAND_SZ = 2,
REG_BINARY = 3,
REG_DWORD = 4,
REG_DWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN = 4,
REG_DWORD_BIG_ENDIAN = 5,
REG_LINK = 6,
REG_MULTI_SZ = 7,
REG_RESOURCE_LIST = 8,
REG_FULL_RESOURCE_DESCRIPTOR = 9,
REG_RESOURCE_REQUIREMENTS_LIST = 10,
REG_QWORD_LITTLE_ENDIAN = 11
}
[DllImport("advapi32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, BestFitMapping = false)]
private static extern int RegSetKeyValueW (
HKEY hkey,
string lpSubKey,
string lpValueName,
VALUE_TYPE type,
byte[] data,
uint dataLength);
public int set_key(HKEY hkey, string subkey, string valuename){
return RegSetKeyValueW(hkey, subkey, valuename, VALUE_TYPE.REG_NONE, null, 0);
}
}
}
"#
In my case data equals null and type is REG_NONE. You can change set_key as you like with object:
$Advapiobject = New-Object 'AdvapiSolution.Advapi'
$Advapiobject.set_key('HKEY_CURRENT_USER',$yoursubkey, $yourvaluename, 'REG_NONE')
Another way is using a static method set_key.
Change set_key to public static int set_key:
[AdvapiSolution.Advapi]::set_key('HKEY_CURRENT_USER',$yoursubkey, $yourvaluename, 'REG_NONE').
If it returns 0, it's okay. If the function fails, the return value is a nonzero error code defined in Winerror.h.
System Error Codes

Answer 2

(As implied in your question), [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind]::None (which translates to a REG_NONE registry value) requires at least .NET Framework 4, whereas Windows PowerShell v2 is built on .NET Framework 2. (Only Windows PowerShell v3 and above are built on .NET Framework 4 and above).
Unlike C#, PowerShell does not allow you to pass the numerical value of an enum-typed parameter if that value doesn't represent an officially defined member of that enumeration (at that time, in the underlying framework), so attempting to pass (-1), the value of [Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind]::None, does not work in Windows PowerShell v2 - neither with New-ItemProperty / Set-ItemProperty's -Type parameter, nor with .NET API calls ([Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::SetValue(...)).
Therefore, in Windows PowerShell v2, calling the Windows API via P/Invoke declarations implemented via Add-Type is probably your only option - see the RegSetKeyValue() WinAPI function (among others).
Building on your own helpful answer, here's a streamlined solution, which:
uses Add-Type's -MemberDefinition parameter to simplify creation of types that wrap P/Invoke calls.
Exposes a static [WinApiHelper.Registry]::SetNoneValue() method, which:
focuses only on creating REG_NONE values
also supports creating such values with byte data ([byte[]] arrays)
has no return value, but throws a Win32Exception should an error occur.
Add-Type -Namespace WinApiHelper -Name Registry -MemberDefinition #'
public enum HKEY : uint
{
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT = 0x80000000,
HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG = 0x80000005,
HKEY_CURRENT_USER = 0x80000001,
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = 0x80000002,
HKEY_USERS = 0x80000003
}
[DllImport("advapi32.dll")]
private static extern int RegSetKeyValue(
HKEY hkey,
string lpSubKey,
string lpValueName,
UInt32 type,
byte[] data,
UInt32 dataLength
);
public static void SetNoneValue(HKEY hkey, string subkey, string valuename, byte[] bytes)
{
int rc = RegSetKeyValue(hkey, subkey, valuename, 0 /* REG_NONE */, bytes, (UInt32) (bytes == null ? 0 : bytes.Length));
if (rc != 0) {
// Access the error code in PowerShell with $Error[0].Exception.InnerException.NativeErrorCode
throw new System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception(rc);
}
}
// Overload that creates an empty value.
// Note: .NET 2 doesn't support optional parameters, so an explicit overload is required.
public static void SetNoneValue(HKEY hkey, string subkey, string valuename) {
SetNoneValue(hkey, subkey, valuename, null);
}
'#
Sample calls:
# Create an empty REG_NONE value named 'bar1' in key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\foo.
[WinApiHelper.Registry]::SetNoneValue('HKEY_CURRENT_USER', 'foo', 'bar1')
# Create a REG_NONE value named 'bar2' with a byte array.
[WinApiHelper.Registry]::SetNoneValue('HKEY_CURRENT_USER', 'foo', 'bar2', [byte[]] (42, 43))