Simple Utility to find the value of a specific key in Windows Registry

[questorfla]

I say SIMPLE because this is something I need to be able to email out to a bunch of people who are definitely not technologically inclined.  There is no way I would want them running regedit with a sheet of instructions on where to go.  But:
On the specified page for How to Know Which Updates to Run on the Microsoft Website this is all they offer:  Three different sites to go to depending on the value stored in a specific location of the entire value of a Specific Key.  
That is enough to make even ME swear off all Office Products!
This is the key they give.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

This is what it says about the procedure:

Each GUID uses the following format:
{BRMMmmmm-PPPP-LLLL-p000-D000000FF1CE}
In this format, <PPPP> represents the product ID.

To get the correct upgrade of all components:  This is what is needed to determine the version of OneDrive for Business installed on your system.  This next steps after this tell you where to go if you have "which version".  Three different sites depending on what you find in that registry key at that location.

I almost cannot believe this is posted on the Microsoft Help Page!

•If "PPPP" is 008C, the Click-to-Run version of Office is installed on the computer.
•If "PPPP" is 00BA and "LLLL" is a nonzero value, the OneDrive for Business client is installed as part of the Office 2013 suite.
•If "PPPP" is 00BA and "LLLL" is 0000, the stand-alone OneDrive for Business client is installed.


I KNOW I will get a faster solution here than I will on the MS site is why I am asking.  
Does anyone know of an easier way to do this as there is no way I can expe4ct the Users here to be able to follow this procedure.

[skwire]

Give me a few minutes...

[skwire]

@questorfla: Can you PM me a screenshot showing this key in RegEdit?  I just want to make sure of a few things...

[questorfla]

I wish i could but the path is as stated, the RESULTS are staggering!  It is a Hex list covering EVERY possible software on the system it looks like
On this one it was over a page full of >>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{092A84C-00A-4CA-9AC-F29D34DAC}  *Note.  I removed a few digits to make me feel a little more secure... not that it matters.  I have no idea what program this is showing unless i open further.
The whole Ordeal with Onedrive is far more trouble than it is worth.

[questorfla]

I figured SURELY the location would only show what they want you to see or need but No One (without further input) would have the slightest idea which to look for. WAY WAY down the list I find (I guess) that I am an "008C".  I actually found that by searching for the specific item " 008C" since I knew mine SHOULD be that.  PS:  Sorry You did say PM.  I missed that

[skwire]

Okay, so, what do you want this app to display?  Just the actual key?  So far, I have this using a mock reg key I added with RegEdit.

[questorfla]

It says "BRMMmmmm-PPPP-LLLL-p000-D000000FF1CE"  so that would be the              9 10 11 12  ?  the four P;s  in my case it was OO8C as you show
That is a NEAT tool!!

[skwire]

1) Can you post or PM me the actual string you have?
2) What do you want the app to do/display?

[4wd]

As an exercise in futility, (skwire's version will be much better), here's something in DOS, (XP+):

Code: Text [Select]

1. @echo off
2.  
3. if "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%"=="AMD64" goto X64
4.  
5. :X86
6. echo.X86 Architecture
7. echo.
8. for /f "usebackq delims={,} tokens=2" %%a in (`reg.exe query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall`) do (call :testOffice %%a)
9.  
10. goto :END
11.  
12. :X64
13. echo.X64 Architecture
14. echo.
15. for /f "usebackq delims={,} tokens=2" %%a in (`reg.exe query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall`) do (call :testOffice %%a)
16.  
17. goto :END
18.  
19.  
20. :testOffice
21. set temp=%1
22. set test=%temp:~24,12%
23. set office=D000000FF1CE
24. if %test%==%office% call :officeFound %temp%
25. goto :EOF
26.  
27. :officeFound
28. for /f "delims=- tokens=2,3" %%b in ("%~1") do (call :officeType %%b %%c)
29. goto :EOF
30.  
31. :officeType
32. set ctroff=008C
33. set onedr=00BA
34. if %1==%ctroff% echo.Click-to-Run MS Office
35. if %1==%onedr% call :oneDrive %2
36. goto :EOF
37.  
38. :oneDrive
39. set salone=0000
40. if %1==%salone% (
41.         echo.Stand-alone OneDrive MS Office
42. ) else (
43.         echo.Office 2013 version of MS Office
44. )
45. goto :EOF
46.  
47. :END

Fixed and tested with some fake reg keys - seems to work.

[Ath]

@questorfla: What is the actual goal, after you've determined that value from the registry? It's not mentioned up until now, IMHO.

I could guess that you're trying to install some update, but selecting the correct update from an ms webpage would be as much risk as sending them a bunch of instructions by e-mail. And why isn't this covered by Windows Updates (or WSUS) ?

[4wd]

^ What he said.

I guess if you want to ensure that all machines are always at the same update "level" you could push them manually but I would have thought there was an easier way.

[questorfla]

Yeah, me too.  That was why I was reading MS KB's.  I normally don't get much from them.
Onedrive (as a valid resource) is still in flux.  Most of it is rehashed SharePoint only worse.

They don't spell that out well.

I agree this is more an exercise is letting off some steam in the fast that this is exactly what the KB tells you to do.
A normal user is expected to open Regedit and go tooling around looking for a registry entry with NO idea how or what might happen if they "oops  hit that space bar" before they exit.
Regedit needing no "Save"
Skwire requested a pm of the details so I did not post further back here but the fact the MS has two complete different PM's to tell someone how to update their client for Onedrive, with neither of them excluding the use of the other.  And the one that tells you HOW to know if you need and Update as well as what to do if you need one is written such that I was ready to give up before I got through the 4th paragraph.
But ..I had to at least see if it was a private MS joke.
Apparently not.  The need to Know is Real IF you  have any intention of using Onedrive.  If not.  Then it isn't worth tie electrons it takes up in cyberspace.

Tanks 4wd.  I realize that without the KB numbers to see what I am speaking of it  doesn't make much sense.  I really thought I posted the actual links to the MS KB's  I meant to.  Right now I am deep into another weird problem with a Wi-Fi thing. 
Wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't related to MS as well!!

PS:  For Skwire;  If the post I sent also did not capture the links I can try again.
What you are offering is far  more than I expected, even if they know the contents of that key, the best I can do is tell them
"If Skwire's gadget says you are an "008C" they click HERE and make the HERE be the link to the right update.

By the way, the updates themselves are 3 pages long as it appears when you finaly find the right one, you also then have to tell MS what LANGUAGE you speak just to get the correct update.

[skwire]

PS:  For Skwire;  If the post I sent also did not capture the links I can try again.
What you are offering is far  more than I expected, even if they know the contents of that key, the best I can do is tell them
"If Skwire's gadget says you are an "008C" they click HERE and make the HERE be the link to the right update.

-questorfla (July 18, 2014, 06:17 PM)

Is the expectation that the users will perform their own updates?  Or, is the expectation that the users run this utility and report the value back to you and you will perform the updates?  The reason I ask is that the three links leading from the https://support.microsoft.com/kb/2936613 page are really next to useless.  If you don't trust them to be able to get a single registry value on their own, I can't see how you can expect them to perform this update on their own.

Again, I need you answer the following questions:

1) Can you post or PM me the actual string you have?  If possible, I'd love to see several examples from your users.
2) What do you want the app to do/display?

I'm happy to write this utility for you but, sometimes, it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff in your posts, so I need you to be as concise as possible in your answers.

[skwire]

I'm going to be out of town for the week so here is the utility as it stands.  If you want more functionality out of it, I need you to answer my questions in the post above.

http://skwire.dcmemb...eDriveKeyChecker.zip

[questorfla]

I am not sure how to make it any clearer so perhaps this is an exercise in futility.
By the time you get this one working , MS will have changed it again anyway. 
The whole month of July was nothing but one crash after another.
Not just ME saying that, the MS forums are FULL of PO'ed people.

At this point, i was more interested in your little tool for other things anyway.
If it can display various messages depending upon the values located at specific points in the registry I might be able to put it to better use later.

This specific update only affects the 40 people i have to deal with and I feel bad enough already that you went to all that trouble to create this for such a trivial (and Temporary) issue.
What I was going to do was have it display the link direct to the update that would be indicated by the values at that location.
My own values being 008C I would have made display the hyper link direct to the update needed for people with 008C and so on for the other two possibilities.
but to be honest, this whole thing is an exercise in futility, especially after all the crashes this month.
I  have been tellig people the BEST thing to do is completely UN install ALL  of the  MS Office suite (yep, there is a "Fix-it" download to do just that)
THEN go back and do a FULL installation to ensure they get the Latest of every part.

This might last a whole month before MS tears it up again.