📢 PowerToys v0.69 adds a new Registry Preview utility to visualize and edit Windows Registry files

What's new and improved in Microsoft PowerToys v0.69?

PowerToys Registry Preview Utility

The Windows Registry is a database that stores configuration settings and options for the operating system and installed applications, and editing it can often be a daunting and risky task. However, with the Registry Preview utility, users can now safely and easily view and modify Registry files, making it an essential addition to any Windows power user's toolkit.

To start using Registry Preview, enable it in the PowerToys Settings, under the (Registry Preview section. Once enabled, select one or more .reg files in Windows File Explorer. Right-click on the selected file(s), choose to Show more options from the menu to expand your list of menu options, then select Preview to open Registry Preview.

A visual tree representation of the registry keys specified in the file can be found in the top-right corner of the Registry Preview window. Every time the file content within the program changes, this visual tree will immediately be updated.

The values of a particular registry key will appear in the bottom-right corner of the Registry Preview window when you select it in the visual tree.

To save any changes indicated in the loaded file to the Windows Registry, select Write to Registry. Before making any changes, the Windows Registry Editor will appear and request your approval. It will ask for permission to launch Windows Registry Editor before the User Account Control (UAC) prompt, a Windows security feature created to lessen the impact of malware, appears.

Other improvements in PowerToys v0.69

General

• New utility: Registry Preview. Thanks @randyrants!
• Fix issue causing folders to not be removed on uninstall.
• Support per-user scope installation.
  • Companies can control this using the new GPO.

Awake

• Quality-of-life improvements and introduced keeping system awake until expiration time and date. Thanks @dend!

Color Picker

• Fix issue sampling timing and grid issue causing Color Picker to sample the color of its own grid. Thanks @IHorvalds!

FancyZones

• Fix window cycling on multiple monitors issue.

File Locksmith

• Add context menu icon. Thanks @htcfreek!

Mouse Utils

• Mouse Jump - Simulate mouse input event on mouse jump in addition to cursor move.
• Mouse Jump - Improve performance of screenshot generation. Thanks @mikeclayton!

Paste as Plain Text

• Support Ctrl+V as activation shortcut. (This was a hotfix for 0.67)
• Repress modifier keys after plain paste. (This was a hotfix for 0.67) Thanks @UnderKoen!
• Set default shortcut to Ctrl+Win+Alt+V. (This was a hotfix for 0.67)
• Update icons. Thanks @niels9001!

PowerRename

• Show PowerRename in directory background context menu.
• Fix the crash on clicking Select/UnselectAll checkbox while showing only files to be renamed.
• Improve performance on populating Renamed items when many items are being renamed.

PowerToys Run

• Add setting to disable thumbnails generation for files. (This was a hotfix for 0.67)
• Calculator plugin - handle implied multiplication expressions. Thanks @jjavierdguezas!
• Fix Calculator plugin unit tests to respect decimal separator locale. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fix crashing caused by thumbnail image loading.
• Date & Time plugin - Add filename-compatible date & time format. Thanks @Picazsoo!
• Improved the error message shown on plugin loading error. Thanks @htcfreek!

Quick Accent

• Fix existing and add missing Hebrew and Pinyin characters. Thanks @stevenlele!

Registry Preview

• Added a new utility: Registry Preview.
• Thanks @htcfreek! for the help shipping this utility!
• Thanks @niels9001 for the help on the UI!

Video Conference Mute

• Add toolbar DPI scaling support.
• Fix selecting overlay image when Settings app is running elevated.
• Add push-to-talk (and push-to-reverse) feature. Thanks @pajawojciech!

Settings

• Fix Experiment bitmap icon rendering on theme change and bump CommunityToolkit.Labs.WinUI.SettingsControls package version. Thanks @niels9001!
• Video Conference Mute page improvements. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!
• Add warning that PowerToys Run might get no focus if "Use centralized keyboard hook" settings is enabled. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Fix ShortcutControl issues related to keyboard input focus, theme change and missing error badge when invalid key is pressed. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Add warning when Ctrl+V and Ctrl+Shift+V is used as an activation shortcut for Paste as Plain Text. Thanks @htcfreek!

Documentation

• Update CONTRIBUTING.md with information about localization issues. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Remove localization from URLs. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!
• Add dev docs for tools. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!

Development

• Ignore spellcheck for MouseJumpUI/MainForm.resx file. (This was a hotfix for 0.67)
• Optimize versionAndSignCheck.ps1 script. Thanks @snickler!
• Upgraded NetAnalyzers to 7.0.1. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Move all DLL imports in Settings project to NativeMethods.cs file.
• Fix FancyZones tools build issues. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Centralize Logger used in C# projects. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Add missing project references. Thanks @ACGNnsj!

How to download the latest version of Microsoft PowerToys

You can download the newest version of Microsoft PowerToys from the Microsoft Store or from the official repository on GitHub. If you already have the Microsoft PowerToys installed on your computer, you can manually update it by navigating to the Settings page.

You can also download Microsoft PowerToys version 0.69.0 by clicking either of the following official links:

• PowerToysSetup-0.69.0-arm64.exe
• PowerToysSetup-0.69.0-x64.exe

Please note that the links shared above to download the latest version of Microsoft PowerToys are official links hosted by Microsoft on the GitHub servers. It is still advisable to always scan with your antivirus software once you download something from the internet. Neither the author of this post nor the site will be responsible if something goes wrong.