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function Set-RegistryValueForAllUsers {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
This function uses Active Setup to create a "seeder" key which creates or modifies a user-based registry value
for all users on a computer. If the key path doesn't exist to the value, it will automatically create the key and add the value.
.EXAMPLE
PS> Set-RegistryValueForAllUsers -RegistryInstance @{'Name' = 'Setting'; 'Type' = 'String'; 'Value' = 'someval'; 'Path' = 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Something'}
This example would modify the string registry value 'Type' in the path 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Something' to 'someval'
for every user registry hive.
.PARAMETER RegistryInstance
A hash table containing key names of 'Name' designating the registry value name, 'Type' to designate the type
of registry value which can be 'String,Binary,Dword,ExpandString or MultiString', 'Value' which is the value itself of the
registry value and 'Path' designating the parent registry key the registry value is in.
#>
[CmdletBinding()]
param (
$activesetupName = "Active Setup Test",
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[hashtable[]]$RegistryInstance
)
try {
New-PSDrive -Name HKU -PSProvider Registry -Root Registry::HKEY_USERS | Out-Null
## Change the registry values for the currently logged on user. Each logged on user SID is under HKEY_USERS
$LoggedOnSids = (Get-ChildItem HKU: | where { $_.Name -match 'S-\d-\d+-(\d+-){1,14}\d+'}).PSChildName
Write-Verbose "Found $($LoggedOnSids.Count) logged on user SIDs"
foreach ($sid in $LoggedOnSids) {
Write-Verbose -Message "Loading the user registry hive for the logged on SID $sid"
foreach ($instance in $RegistryInstance) {
## Create the key path if it doesn't exist
if(!(Test-Path "HKU:\$sid\$($instance.Path | Split-Path -Parent)")){ ## need to add this check because there may be other properties in here and if you create this folder unneccessarily, it clears them out.
New-Item -Path "HKU:\$sid\$($instance.Path | Split-Path -Parent)" -Name ($instance.Path | Split-Path -Leaf) -Force | Out-Null
}
## Create (or modify) the value specified in the param
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKU:\$sid\$($instance.Path)" -Name $instance.Name -Value $instance.Value -Type $instance.Type -Force
}
}
## Create the Active Setup registry key so that the reg add cmd will get ran for each user
## logging into the machine.
## http://www.itninja.com/blog/view/an-active-setup-primer
Write-Verbose "Setting Active Setup registry value to apply to all other users"
foreach ($instance in $RegistryInstance) {
## Generate a unique value (usually a GUID) to use for Active Setup
$Guid = [guid]::NewGuid().Guid
$ActiveSetupRegParentPath = 'HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components'
## Create the GUID registry key under the Active Setup key
New-Item -Path $ActiveSetupRegParentPath -Name $Guid -Force | Out-Null
$ActiveSetupRegPath = "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\$Guid"
Write-Verbose "Using registry path '$ActiveSetupRegPath'"
## Convert the registry value type to one that reg.exe can understand. This will be the
## type of value that's created for the value we want to set for all users
switch ($instance.Type) {
'String' {
$RegValueType = 'REG_SZ'
}
'Dword' {
$RegValueType = 'REG_DWORD'
}
'Binary' {
$RegValueType = 'REG_BINARY'
}
'ExpandString' {
$RegValueType = 'REG_EXPAND_SZ'
}
'MultiString' {
$RegValueType = 'REG_MULTI_SZ'
}
default {
throw "Registry type '$($instance.Type)' not recognized"
}
}
## Build the registry value to use for Active Setup which is the command to create the registry value in all user hives
$ActiveSetupValue = "reg add `"{0}`" /v {1} /t {2} /d {3} /f" -f "HKCU\$($instance.Path)", $instance.Name, $RegValueType, $instance.Value
Write-Verbose -Message "Active setup value is '$ActiveSetupValue'"
## Create the necessary Active Setup registry values
Set-ItemProperty -Path $ActiveSetupRegPath -Name '(Default)' -Value "$ActiveSetupName" -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path $ActiveSetupRegPath -Name 'Version' -Value '1' -Force
Set-ItemProperty -Path $ActiveSetupRegPath -Name 'StubPath' -Value $ActiveSetupValue -Force
}
} catch {
Write-Warning -Message $_.Exception.Message
}
}
@andyval
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andyval commented Jun 17, 2021

I used this to Disable news and interests on the taskbar that Microsoft added in June 2021 Windows 10 Cummulative Updates.

e.g.

    Set-RegistryValueForAllUsers -ActiveSetupName "Disable news and interests on the taskbar 1" -RegistryInstance @{'Name' = 'ShellFeedsTaskbarViewMode'; 'Type' = 'Dword'; 'Value' = '2'; 'Path' = 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Feeds'}
    Set-RegistryValueForAllUsers -ActiveSetupName "Disable news and interests on the taskbar 2" -RegistryInstance @{'Name' = 'IsFeedsAvailable'; 'Type' = 'Dword'; 'Value' = '1'; 'Path' = 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Feeds'}
    Set-RegistryValueForAllUsers -ActiveSetupName "Disable news and interests on the taskbar 3" -RegistryInstance @{'Name' = 'HeadlinesOnboardingComplete'; 'Type' = 'Dword'; 'Value' = '1'; 'Path' = 'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Feeds'}

Let me know if it helped you by dropping a comment below.

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