How to decode registry value using winreg

Question

I have this code

from winreg import *
aReg=ConnectRegistry(None, HKEY_CURRENT_USER)
aKey=OpenKey(aReg, 'Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent')
aKey=EnumValue(aKey, 0)
print(aKey[1])

And when I run it, it returns this b'\xb3\xec\xff\x00\x80\xe0\xff\x00Y\xd6\xff\x00)\xa4\xcc\x00\x00s\x99\x00\x00Ws\x00\x00:M\x00\x88\x17\x98\x00'

but in registry editor, it looks like this:

I want to ask, how to decode the first to second.
Thanks for any reply. :)

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered May 17 '17 at 15:58

2

If you want a particular value (rather than enumerating each value one at a time), you can use the QueryValueEx() function as follows:

from winreg import *

hreg = ConnectRegistry(None, HKEY_CURRENT_USER)
hkey = OpenKey(hreg, 'Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent')
accent_color_menu = QueryValueEx(hkey, 'AccentColorMenu')[0]
CloseKey(hkey)

print(accent_color_menu)

This would give you something like:

4292311040

answered May 17 '17 at 15:58

Martin Evans

45,791
17
81
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How I can convert it to hex? – Jakub Bláha May 17 '17 at 16:22
1

You mean as a string? `print(hex(accent_color_menu))` would do it. – Martin Evans May 17 '17 at 16:23
The value is probably not a simple RGB setting, it might be HSL format or possibly it points to a theme elsewhere in the registry. – Martin Evans May 17 '17 at 16:53
And can I somehow find that theme. I need color code for that color, which is used on live tiles, taskbar, start, action center. – Jakub Bláha May 17 '17 at 17:01
Try using the Windows "Choose your accent colour" dialog to select different colours and see how the value changes in the registry depending on the colour selected. Also do some internet searches for `AccentColorMenu`. – Martin Evans May 17 '17 at 17:51

Jakub Bláha · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-26T13:43:45.923

I wrote this, works :)

from winreg import *

def getAccentColor():  
    """
    Return the Windows 10 accent color used by the user in a HEX format
    """
    registry = ConnectRegistry(None,HKEY_CURRENT_USER)
    key = OpenKey(registry, r'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Accent')
    key_value = QueryValueEx(key,'AccentColorMenu')
    accent_int = key_value[0]
    accent = accent_int-4278190080
    accent = str(hex(accent)).split('x')[1]
    accent = accent[4:6]+accent[2:4]+accent[0:2]
    return '#'+accent

How to decode registry value using winreg

2 Answers2