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I am testing a way presented in this link^.

I created a Windows Form application quickly with one button and four labels. two labels are used to display Windows UUID and Machine UUID.

It turns out this call returns an empty string:

Dim readValue = My.Computer.Registry.GetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography", "MachineGUID", Nothing)


What I have tried:

here is my code snippet in VB.NET for your quick reference:
Imports System.Management
Imports Microsoft.Win32

Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Label2.Text = Get_WinGUID()
        Label4.Text = Get_PC_UUID()

    End Sub

    Public Function Get_WinGUID() As String
        Dim sRet As String = ""
        Try
            Dim readValue = My.Computer.Registry.GetValue("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography", "MachineGUID", Nothing)
            sRet = readValue
        Catch ex As Exception
            sRet = ""
        End Try

        Return sRet
    End Function

    Public Function Get_PC_UUID() As String
        Dim UUID As String = ""
        Try
            Dim searcher As New ManagementObjectSearcher("root\CIMV2", "SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystemProduct")

            For Each queryObj As ManagementObject In searcher.Get()
                UUID += queryObj("UUID")
            Next

        Catch err As ManagementException
        End Try
        Return UUID
    End Function

End Class
Posted
Updated 5-Oct-20 23:50pm
v3
Comments
Richard MacCutchan 5-Oct-20 15:51pm    
Look in your registry to see if that key and value is present.
Southmountain 5-Oct-20 17:15pm    
but I used registry editor to browse this item((MachineGUID)), there is a value there. it should not an empty string.

This is happening because your app is running on 64-bit Windows and you're trying to read a value from the 64-bit registry, but your app is running as a 32-bit app.

Double-click "My Project" in the Solution Explorer and click on the Compile tab. Under "Target CPU", you'll see AnyCPU with a "Prefer 32-bit" checkbox that is checked under it. Uncheck that box and recompile the app and run it.

That checkbox tells the runtime that if running on a 64-bit machine, run the app as a 32-bit app anyway.
 
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Comments
Southmountain 5-Oct-20 20:53pm    
you are right about my current settings. I built my app targeting x86 and still get empty string...
Dave Kreskowiak 5-Oct-20 23:24pm    
That's because x86 means "32-bit only" and you can't read the 64-bit registry from a 32-bit app.

The value you're trying to read only exists on the 64-bit side of the registry.
Southmountain 6-Oct-20 13:19pm    
thank you very much! I got it now...
As the previous solutions have already told you, this is because you are running a 32-bit process on a 64-bit OS. You are being bitten by the "registry redirector" - the keys visible in regedit won't match the keys visible to your code.

Registry Redirector - Win32 apps | Microsoft Docs[^]

If you can't change your application to run as a 64-bit application, you'll need to open the key with a specific RegistryView:
C#
using (var hklm = RegistryKey.OpenBaseKey(RegistryHive.LocalMachine, RegistryView.Registry64))
using (var key = hklm.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography"))
{
   // key now points to the 64-bit key
}
c# - OpenSubKey() returns null for a registry key that I can see in regedit.exe - Stack Overflow[^]
 
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Southmountain 6-Oct-20 13:18pm    
thank you very much! now I got it.
As Richard MacCutchan[^] already mentioned, this behavior is not necessarily an error!
Take a look at Registry.GetValue(String, String, Object) Method:

Retrieves the value associated with the specified name, in the specified registry key. If the name is not found in the specified key, returns a default value that you provide, or null if the specified key does not exist.

As you set the default value to "Nothing", you get back an empty string.
 
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Southmountain 5-Oct-20 17:15pm    
but I used registry editor to browse this item, there is a value there. it should not an empty string.

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