windows - How to migrate registry entries with PowerShell with Get-Item : Set-Item and ExportTo-CliXml -

i trying export selective registry entries, preferences , configurations various software applications, , them import them on new machine.

get-childitem registry::hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\14.0\onenote -recurse | export-clixml -depth 3 -path onenote.xml 

and reverse process on machine @ different time using

import-clixml -path onenote.xml | set-item 

this doesn't seem work it's not obvious why. conceptually feels though should work.

ideally next step able keys, filter them , store them in 1 file , restore them cleanly on machine.

this can done regedit, i'm curious how done powershell.

rather creating keys if don't exist , setting values import-clixml command creates values under default property names in keys correspond paths of key. example:

on destination machine, target key such as:

hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\14.0\onenote\opennotebooks 

will contain default item has value:

"hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\14.0\onenote\opennotebooks"  

rather expected properties source key.

for context, @ basic level, wish may accomplished by:

reg export hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\office\14.0\onenote onenote.reg  

to create registry file containing keys values, then.

reg import onenote.reg  

on target machine load them. easy simple "dump , restore" operation, less flexible if 1 wishes process keys using logic first.

there's couple of reasons why won't work expected.

firstly in set-item documentation notes section states:

in registry drives, hklm: , hkcu:, set-item changes data in (default) value of registry key. create , change names of registry keys, use new-item , rename-item. change names , data in registry values, use new-itemproperty, set-itemproperty, , rename-itemproperty.

so right off mark we're destined not working you'd intuitively think.

secondly if @ output import-clixml -path onenote.xml, there's no registry value type information provided e.g. dword, qword etc, therefore tool using input won't know how construct key's values because there's no type hinting.

you're better off sticking old reg.exe tool. it's proven , predictable in behaviour. it's not hard parse .reg file if need tweak values along way.