Working with Registry Properties - NoteProperty

PowerShell Help
1

Trying to find a version of Vmware software installed on a server. Using the following command to query the server’s registry I get the information needed. I just want two values, the name of the software and the version. This is contained in a noteproperty named property.

This is the command I am using

"","Wow6432Node" | ForEach-Object {Get-ChildItem HKLM:\SOFTWARE\$_\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ | ? {($_.GetValue("DisplayName")) -like "*VMware*"}}

This is a sample of the output:

    Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall


Name                           Property
----                           --------
{F32C4E7B-2BF8-4788-8408-824C6 AuthorizedCDFPrefix :
896E1BB}                       Comments            : Build
                               Contact             :
                               DisplayVersion      : 10.3.5.10430147
                               HelpLink            :
                               HelpTelephone       :
                               InstallDate         : 20190314
                               InstallLocation     : C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\
                               InstallSource       : C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\InstallerCache\
                               ModifyPath          : MsiExec.exe /I{F32C4E7B-2BF8-4788-8408-824C6896E1BB}
                               NoRepair            : 1
                               Publisher           : VMware, Inc.
                               Readme              :
                               Size                :
                               EstimatedSize       : 80288
                               UninstallString     : MsiExec.exe /I{F32C4E7B-2BF8-4788-8408-824C6896E1BB}
                               URLInfoAbout        :
                               URLUpdateInfo       :
                               VersionMajor        : 10
                               VersionMinor        : 3
                               WindowsInstaller    : 1
                               Version             : 167968773
                               Language            : 1033
                               DisplayName         : VMware Tools


    Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall


Name                           Property
----                           --------
{2E4FAF13-B720-4385-A23C-5C38D AuthorizedCDFPrefix :
742D6C6}                       Comments            :
                               Contact             :
                               DisplayVersion      : 6.5.0.234
                               HelpLink            :
                               HelpTelephone       :
                               InstallDate         : 20180927
                               InstallLocation     : E:\Tools\PowerCLI\
                               InstallSource       : C:\Users\sa00498\AppData\Local\Downloaded

                               Installations\vSpherePowerCLI\{49AEB26E-F52E-46C1-9345-6E463CAA115B}\
                               ModifyPath          : MsiExec.exe /I{2E4FAF13-B720-4385-A23C-5C38D742D6C6}
                               Publisher           : VMware, Inc.
                               Readme              :
                               Size                :
                               EstimatedSize       : 255892
                               UninstallString     : MsiExec.exe /I{2E4FAF13-B720-4385-A23C-5C38D742D6C6}
                               URLInfoAbout        : http://www.vmware.com
                               URLUpdateInfo       :
                               VersionMajor        : 6
                               VersionMinor        : 5
                               WindowsInstaller    : 1
                               Version             : 100990976
                               Language            : 1033
                               DisplayName         : VMware PowerCLI
                               sEstimatedSize2     : 181988

How do I get the DisplayName and DisplayVersion from that NoteProperty? I will need to do this against a list of servers, but first I have to figure this step out. Any help is appreciated. And if you could explain why your suggestion works that would be helpful too.
Thanks

2

I use this

 

Get-ChildItem HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall, HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall |
ForEach-Object { Get-ItemProperty $.pspath } |
Where-Object {$.Displayname -like ‘citrix’} |
Select-Object PSChildName, DisplayName, DisplayVersion,UninstallString, PSPath |
Sort-Object PSChildName, DisplayName, DisplayVersion,UninstallString, PSPath |Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion | Format-List

3

or this

 

Get-ChildItem HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall, HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall |
ForEach-Object { Get-ItemProperty $.pspath } |
Where-Object {$.Displayname -like ‘citrix’} |
Select-Object PSChildName, DisplayName, DisplayVersion,UninstallString, PSPath |
Sort-Object PSChildName, DisplayName, DisplayVersion,UninstallString, PSPath | Select-Object -expand DisplayName

4

You can go straight to get-itemproperty with a wildcard:

# estimated size in kb
$(get-itemproperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*
get-itemproperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\wow6432node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*) | 
  where displayname -like v* |
  select DisplayName, DisplayVersion, EstimatedSize, InstallLocation,
  @{n='PSPath';e={$_.PSPath -replace 'Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE','HKLM:'}} | 
  sort | ft


DisplayName                        DisplayVersion EstimatedSize InstallLocation PSPath
-----------                        -------------- ------------- --------------- ------
Vulkan Run Time Libraries 1.0.33.0 1.0.33.0                1700                 HKLM:\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\uninstall\VulkanRT...
Vulkan Run Time Libraries 1.0.33.0 1.0.33.0                1700                 HKLM:\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\uninstall\VulkanRT...
5

Thank you. Works like a charm!
Now I have to look at each line and figure out what is happening under the covers
Much appreciated

6

The simplest way is to pipe the result into Get-ItemProperty to translate the registry item into a more standard PowerShell object with easily-accessible properties. From there, you can use Select-Object -Property to trim down the properties to just the ones you’re interested in.

foreach ($item in "","Wow6432Node") {
    Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\$item\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\" |
        Get-ItemProperty |
        Where-Object DisplayName -like "*VMware*" |
        Select-Object -Property DisplayName, DisplayVersion
}
7 
'','Wow6432Node' |ForEach-Object {
    Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\$_\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\VMware* |
    Select-Object DisplayName,DisplayVersion
}

or

'','Wow6432Node' |ForEach-Object {
    Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\$_\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* |
    Where-Object -Property DisplayName -like '*VMware*' |
    Select-Object DisplayName,DisplayVersion
}

The Get-ItemProperty works better with the registry and get all of the properties of the give path in a readable format. Then you can use Select-Object to output the properties to the console.

pwshliquori