Trouble Locating Registry Key from Process monitor for Visual Studio Express

IT Researcher 46

Hello everyone,

I have been using Process Monitor (Procmon) to track changes in the registry when I set up auto recovery and a few text editor settings in Visual Studio Express. However, I'm having trouble locating the specific registry key that is being modified. Despite seeing the activity in Procmon, I can't seem to find the exact registry key to verify or modify it manually.

The registry that is displayed in process monitor after making changes to the settings:

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f\General

Auto Recovery:

\REGISTRY\A{b976085c-821e-d0bc-7ef3-9609c4ccc30d}\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f\General\AutoRecover\AutoRecover Save Interval
\REGISTRY\A{b976085c-821e-d0bc-7ef3-9609c4ccc30d}\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f\General\AutoRecover\AutoRecover Keep Interval

Text editor>Basic>snippet behavior:

\REGISTRY\A{b976085c-821e-d0bc-7ef3-9609c4ccc30d}\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f\ApplicationPrivateSettings\TextEditor\VisualBasic\Specific\SnippetsBehavior

Text editor>C#>snippet behavior:

\REGISTRY\A{945d1672-c150-528f-a102-e67b94585dee}\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f\ApplicationPrivateSettings\TextEditor\CSharp\Specific\SnippetsBehavior

I am able to find "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f" , but not able to find the registry keys General , Auto recover, etc.

Hoping someone here could provide some insight or solutions.

Thanks in advance

Tianyu Sun-MSFT 32,146 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-06-05T03:06:32.32+00:00

Hi @IT Researcher ,

Just a little confused. 15.0_xxxxxxxx indicates that it should be Visual Studio 2017(VS 2017-15, VS 2019-16, VS 2022-17), but I remember that VS 2017 doesn’t include an Express version, instead, a Community version. Maybe, it’s "Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2017 for Windows Desktop".

Have you tried the suggestion shared by @RLWA32 ?

BTW, checking private registry hive needs sufficient rights.
Tianyu Sun-MSFT 32,146 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-06-11T09:16:52.42+00:00

Hi @IT Researcher ,

Have you found the specific Registry keys?

Please let us know if there is anything that we can help here.
Ali Muhammad Rajwani 0 Reputation points

2024-06-17T05:53:36.01+00:00
To locate the exact registry keys in HKCU based on the information from Process Monitor, follow these detailed steps:

Filter Process Monitor Logs:

Open Process Monitor.

Set filters to only include registry operations by Visual Studio Express:

Filter by Process Name for WDExpress.exe.

Filter by Operation for RegSetValue, RegCreateKey, and RegOpenKey.

Identify the Exact Registry Paths:

When you see entries like \REGISTRY\A{b976085c-821e-d0bc-7ef3-9609c4ccc30d}\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f\General\AutoRecover\AutoRecover Save Interval, understand that \REGISTRY\A{GUID}\ is a representation used by Process Monitor. These typically map to HKCU.

Navigate in Registry Editor:

Open regedit.

Navigate to the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f\General

You should find subkeys for AutoRecover and values for AutoRecover Save Interval and AutoRecover Keep Interval.

Example Paths to Check:

For Auto Recover Settings:

Navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f\General\AutoRecover

Look for AutoRecover Save Interval and AutoRecover Keep Interval.

For Text Editor Snippet Behavior Settings:

Navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f\ApplicationPrivateSettings\TextEditor\VisualBasic\Specific

Look for SnippetsBehavior.

Similarly, for C#:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\15.0_6c7fd93f\ApplicationPrivateSettings\TextEditor\CSharp\Specific

Look for SnippetsBehavior.

Use Regedit Search:

You can also use the search function in regedit to find specific keys:

In regedit, press Ctrl+F and enter the name of the value (e.g., AutoRecover Save Interval or SnippetsBehavior).

Ensure you check all occurrences to confirm their exact locations.

Verify with Process Monitor:

After manually setting the values in regedit, use Process Monitor again to see if it captures any additional or different keys being modified, ensuring you have the correct paths.

By following these steps, you should be able to manually locate and verify the registry keys that correspond to the settings you are modifying in Visual Studio Express. If you still encounter issues, consider exporting the relevant part of the registry and inspecting it with a text editor to ensure no keys are hidden or misrepresented in the regedit interface.
RLWA32 46,386 Reputation points

2024-06-17T11:15:13.38+00:00

...understand that \REGISTRY\A{GUID}\ is a representation used by Process Monitor. These typically map to HKCU.

@Ali Muhammad Rajwani, Actually these registry paths are created by the system for private hives loaded by the RegLoadAppKey function. These hives are not loaded under HKLM or HKU. I suggest you refer to the article linked to in my posted Answer.

Accepted answer

RLWA32 46,386 Reputation points

2024-06-04T07:23:39.5766667+00:00

The registry paths posted indicate that VS Express is using a private registry hive. It is only available to the application that loads it while that application is running.

In Visual Studio Community 2022 the file containing the private registry hive is named privateregistry.bin and is located in the user's profile under the AppData key. I don't use VS Express so I can't give you the specific location that it uses for the private registry.

Private registry usage is discussed in this blog article - Mysteries of the Registry

You can load the private registry file with regedit while VS is NOT RUNNING. Make sure to unload the file when you are through before exiting regedit.

For example,
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IT Researcher 46 Reputation points

2024-06-17T05:47:56.6566667+00:00

Thank you for the solution and apologies for the late response
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