Is there a way to automatically add custom HKEY_CURRENT_USER reg keys for new users?

Question

Windows 7

I have a third-party software application that requires a custom key/value to be added under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\FOO\FOO2\FOO3\. This presents a problem for brand new users whoe share the same system since their default HKCU setup won't have this custom key. Is there an easy way to tell Windows to add a certain key to HKCU for all users?

I understand that HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE is intended for these types of "global" keys but the software app doesn't support that. It needs to find it under HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

Is a logon script the only option here?

Answer 1

If you want to do it for all new users in the future, and it’s the same value (data) for all,

• Create a dummy user (let’s call it bekim).
• Login as bekim,
  • insert the desired key/value(s) with Registry Editor (regedit) or red add,
  • and logout.
• As Administrator, with “Hide protected operating system files” unchecked, copy \users\bekim\NTUSER.DAT to \users\Default\NTUSER.DAT.  (You should probably backup the old version first.)