Windows 7: Set "Copy Settings" programmatically from a batch file - windows

I'm constructing a batch file that will auto-configure Windows 7's regional settings for all users.
So far, I've successfully been able to set (mostly) all of the regional settings for the current user, but I need to be able to apply the same settings to all new users. You can do this via the GUI, by going into Region and Language > Administrative > Copy Settings and selecting both checkboxes. I would like to do this programmatically, though. Does anyone know of a registry key I can set or something that will do this?
Failing that, I'll settle for a way to programmatically open the Region and Language > Administrative > Copy Settings window. I've been able to successfully open the Region and Language > Administrative window with start rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL intl.cpl,,3, but I would like to eliminate one more step from the process, if possible.
Update
Sorry, I seem to have forgotten to mention how I'm applying these settings. I'm doing this by executing an exported .reg file, that contains the optimal settings, with regedit.exe /s "regional.reg"

How are you applying the settings now? Via the registry?
If you put the settings under HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT instead of (or in addition to) HKEY_CURRENT_USER, they should be used during profile creation.

Related

Registry location for cmd

I've been looking through the internet trying to find the location of the command prompt in the registry, as I want to see if there is a way to enlarge the text using the registry, and generally having a look through it's settings within the registry, however I can't find the location on the internet, or on my own looking through the registry, can anyone tell me the following:
Where is the command prompt in the registry?
Is there a way to edit a shortcut's properties within the command line?
Either of these may solve my quest to alter the text automatically, rather than have to set up the shortcut of a bat file every time I make one
Thanks!
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor
The Console key can have custom setting for different .exe files.

Windows Registry changes will not work

I´m trying to make some changes(Wallpaper/Themes) on a windows7 enviroment, until now, I copied some files in to a directory with admin rights, so the "hard" part is over.
Trying to change the registryKey with a batch or with a Powershell file will work, as an Admin and as a normal-user.
The bad thing is, if I try to make the changes as an Admin, then the changes will be just for the adminSession. And I want to make the changes for the normalUser and every new user(with not admin rights).
I found that with a batch file, I can make some changes to my normalUser account:
HKCU:\Software\Micorsoft....\Themes\ and change the value CurrentTheme to my own Windows theme.
If I check my registry, I notice that the CurrentTheme value was accepted, and after a reboot stay so.
But Windows shows me the default theme... ¬¬
I tried to change "everything" to set my Theme as default, but nothing works..
Is there a way to make it works? Why windows is refusing to take the changes in the registry and always show me the default Theme?
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
In the left pane, right click on Windows and click on New and Key. Type Personalization and press enter (if not already exists).
Create a New and String Value called ThemeFile and press Enter. Right click on ThemeFile and click on Modify. Type in the full path of the .theme file with file extension in "" (example: "C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\NewCustomTheme.theme") ; it will be default for new users.
Are the systems on a domain?
You should know that registry values stored within the Policies key and all the subkeys after that can be reset by domain group policy at any time. That is to say that if you make a change here and reboot or run gpupdate, you can expect the values to be erased.
If you really want to change the theme for all users, you should use Group Policy to apply the theme, as seen in this link. Group Policy Settings for Windows Personalization.. Look in the section under "Set a Specific Theme".
I've done this for clients a number of times. You can also set a specific theme as the default by logging on as the Default Profile and making changes. Keep in mind that this approach should be done when you build a system image to deploy to the environment.

programmatically open 'system properties'

How can I open the various windows in system properties from command line or using VBS or JS?
By this I mean windows such as User Profiles, environment variables, performance options, DEP, hardware profiles, windows update settings, remote desktop settings, etc I am using windows XP but it wont let me create a shortcut to these dialogs. Sysdm.cpl cant do it either it seems.
System properties is the window that opnes when you right click my computer and hit properties.
One way to open the edit environment variables of the windows through the command line would be to call the run.exe:
"C:\Windows\system32\rundll32.exe" sysdm.cpl,EditEnvironmentVariables
So there must be something similar for other windows.
You can also open a specific tab of the system properties window by using the control command and the tab number:
control sysdm.cpl,,3

How to setup MCR_CACHE_ROOT in Windows

I know this may be an easy question but How can I setup MCR_CACHE_ROOT in Windows? Can you provide me with the detailed steps. And where should I point the path to MCR_CACHE_ROOT to speed up my compiled application startup time?
For Windows 7, you set it as an environment variable as follows:
Click Start then right-click on Computer and choose Properties from the menu.
In the System window, click Advanced system settings in the left panel.
In the System properties dialog, select the Advanced tab and click the Environment variables button.
To add for all users, click New under the System variables window.
For Windows XP it's very similar and is described here.
Then you can enter MCR_CACHE_ROOT as the variable name, and the required path to variable value. Ok everything and it's done.
You can set the path wherever you like, but it's probably better to create a folder e.g. C:\MATLAB Cache and set it there.

How can I programmatically configure Windows cmd.exe settings?

I have a lot of different servers that I connect to. Each time I connect to a new machine I go through the several mouse clicks to setup basic options for cmd.exe, such as QuickEdit mode and expanding the screen display and buffers. This article describes what I do pretty well (with my own settings, of course): http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/commandpromptoptions.mspx?mfr=true
This is annoying. I would like to run a quick configureCmd.cmd script upon login that will update all of these settings automatically such that when I open the cmd.exe it is already configured without any additional work on my part. Running the script on login is easy, but I do not know where these settings are stored. I figured the Registry, but my experiments do not show any difference in HKLM | HKCU \Software\Microsoft\Command Processor.
Console Windows are not part of the command processor, so it follows that their settings are separate. Take a look at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Console.

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