=head1 WARNING
-You must I<not> use C<virt-win-reg> with the C<--merge> option on live
+You must I<not> use C<virt-win-reg> with the I<--merge> option on live
virtual machines. If you do this, you I<will> get irreversible disk
corruption in the VM. C<virt-win-reg> tries to stop you from doing
this, but doesn't catch all cases.
Modifying the Windows Registry is an inherently risky operation. The format
is deliberately obscure and undocumented, and Registry changes
-can leave the system unbootable. Therefore when using the C<--merge>
+can leave the system unbootable. Therefore when using the I<--merge>
option, make sure you have a reliable backup first.
=head1 DESCRIPTION
The first parameter is the libvirt guest name or the raw disk image of
a Windows guest.
-If C<--merge> is I<not> specified, then the chosen registry
+If I<--merge> is I<not> specified, then the chosen registry
key is displayed/exported (recursively). For example:
$ virt-win-reg Windows7 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft'
$ virt-win-reg Windows7 $cvkey ProductName
Windows 7 Enterprise
-With C<--merge>, you can merge a textual regedit file into
+With I<--merge>, you can merge a textual regedit file into
the Windows Registry:
$ virt-win-reg --merge Windows7 changes.reg
Registry of the virtual machine. If this flag is I<not> given then
virt-win-reg displays or exports Registry entries instead.
-Note that C<--merge> is I<unsafe> to use on live virtual machines, and
+Note that I<--merge> is I<unsafe> to use on live virtual machines, and
will result in disk corruption. However exporting (without this flag)
is always safe.
whole file before or after processing.
To reencode a file from Windows format to Linux (before processing it
-with the C<--merge> option), you would do something like this:
+with the I<--merge> option), you would do something like this:
iconv -f utf-16le -t utf-8 < win.reg | dos2unix > linux.reg
software.reg: Little-endian UTF-16 Unicode text, with very long lines,
with CRLF line terminators
-This file would need conversion before you could C<--merge> it.
+This file would need conversion before you could I<--merge> it.
=head1 CurrentControlSet etc.
Similarly, other C<Current...> keys in the path may need to
be replaced.
+=head1 WINDOWS TIPS
+
+Note that some of these tips modify the guest disk image. The guest
+I<must> be shut off, else you will get disk corruption.
+
+=head2 RUNNING A BATCH SCRIPT WHEN A USER LOGS IN
+
+Prepare a DOS batch script, VBScript or executable. Upload this using
+L<guestfish(1)>. For this example the script is called C<test.bat>
+and it is uploaded into C<C:\>:
+
+ guestfish -i -d WindowsGuest upload test.bat /test.bat
+
+Prepare a regedit file containing the registry change:
+
+ cat > test.reg <<'EOF'
+ [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]
+ "Test"="c:\\test.bat"
+ EOF
+
+In this example we use the key C<RunOnce> which means that the script
+will run precisely once when the first user logs in. If you want it
+to run every time a user logs in, replace C<RunOnce> with C<Run>.
+
+Now update the registry:
+
+ virt-win-reg --merge WindowsGuest test.reg
+
+=head2 INSTALLING A SERVICE
+
+This section assumes you are familiar with Windows services, and you
+either have a program which handles the Windows Service Control
+Protocol directly or you want to run any program using a service
+wrapper like SrvAny or the free RHSrvAny.
+
+First upload the program and optionally the service wrapper. In this
+case the test program is called C<test.exe> and we are using the
+RHSrvAny wrapper:
+
+ guestfish -i -d WindowsGuest <<EOF
+ upload rhsrvany.exe /rhsrvany.exe
+ upload test.exe /test.exe
+ EOF
+
+Prepare a regedit file containing the registry changes. In this
+example, the first registry change is needed for the service itself or
+the service wrapper (if used). The second registry change is only
+needed because I am using the RHSrvAny service wrapper.
+
+ cat > service.reg <<'EOF'
+ [HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\RHSrvAny]
+ "Type"=dword:00000010
+ "Start"=dword:00000002
+ "ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
+ "ImagePath"="c:\\rhsrvany.exe"
+ "DisplayName"="RHSrvAny"
+ "ObjectName"="NetworkService"
+
+ [HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\RHSrvAny\Parameters]
+ "CommandLine"="c:\\test.exe"
+ "PWD"="c:\\Temp"
+ EOF
+
+Notes:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+For use of C<ControlSet001> see the section above in this manual page.
+You may need to adjust this according to the control set that is in
+use by the guest.
+
+=item *
+
+C<"ObjectName"> controls the privileges that the service will have.
+An alternative is C<"ObjectName"="LocalSystem"> which would be the
+most privileged account.
+
+=item *
+
+For the meaning of the magic numbers, see this Microsoft KB article:
+L<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/103000>.
+
+=back
+
+Update the registry:
+
+ virt-win-reg --merge WindowsGuest service.reg
+
=head1 SHELL QUOTING
Be careful when passing parameters containing C<\> (backslash) in the
git.annexia.org / libguestfs.git / blobdiff