Need to compare registry before and after an install and end up with a merge-able regfile

December 5, 2008 11:41 AM

I need to scan an XP registry BEFORE an installation, then rescan the registry AFTER the installation, and end up with a merge-able reg file that I can then apply to multiple computers via AD or startup script.

Finding a program that simply compares before or after (like regshot), or exporting a text file before and after and comparing then via, say, Windiff, is easy. But with the results being in the many thousands, I need a way to end up not with a text list but an actual regfile that contains said changes.

If I may call upon a rather out-of-favor Mefi-ism, Administrators! Hope me!

posted by John Kenneth Fisher to computers & internet (7 answers total)

If you can already get a registry diff file, I'd look at writing a script that converts your CSV or XML to a REG one via regex or whatnot. Should be fairly straightforward, if you're capturing all the data.
posted by Jairus at 11:53 AM on December 5, 2008

You can use WinDiff from the Support Tools.
posted by JaredSeth at 11:53 AM on December 5, 2008

You can use WinDiff from the Support Tools

I mentioned that in my question, actually. The problem is that WinDiff, unless I'm missing a function i'd love for you to tell me about, will happily show me the differences, but doesn't give me any kind of output option to end up with a merge-able regfile.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 12:01 PM on December 5, 2008

Some scripting software does this one I know of is called Wise.

There is also some old software I used to use called Picture Taker Enterprise Edition that allows you to do exactly what you are talking about.
posted by zephyr_words at 12:39 PM on December 5, 2008

Ah, missed that part. I haven't tried it since we're a Novell shop and I just use the ZENworks Snapshot tool, but I have heard good things about RegSnap. It's not free but relatively cheap.
posted by JaredSeth at 12:40 PM on December 5, 2008

It looks like RegSnap does EXACTLY what i needed, even in its free form.

As always, this place comes through. Thanks :-D
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 2:12 PM on December 5, 2008

Guess I'll need to add that one to my toolkit too, JKF. Never know when I might just need the registry changes.
posted by JaredSeth at 10:15 AM on December 8, 2008