RegDeleteTreeW function (winreg.h)
Deletes the subkeys and values of the specified key recursively.
Syntax
LSTATUS RegDeleteTreeW(
[in] HKEY hKey,
[in, optional] LPCWSTR lpSubKey
);
Parameters
[in] hKey
A handle to an open registry key. The key must have been opened with the following access rights: DELETE, KEY_ENUMERATE_SUB_KEYS, and KEY_QUERY_VALUE. For more information, see Registry Key Security and Access Rights.
This handle is returned by the RegCreateKeyEx, RegCreateKeyTransacted, RegOpenKeyEx, or RegOpenKeyTransacted function, or it can be one of the following Predefined Keys:
- HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
- HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- HKEY_USERS
[in, optional] lpSubKey
The name of the key. This key must be a subkey of the key identified by the hKey parameter. If this parameter is NULL, the subkeys and values of hKey are deleted.
Return value
If the function succeeds, the return value is ERROR_SUCCESS.
If the function fails, the return value is a nonzero error code defined in Winerror.h. You can use the FormatMessage function with the FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM flag to get a generic description of the error.
Remarks
If the key has values, it must be opened with KEY_SET_VALUE or this function will fail with ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED.
To compile an application that uses this function, define _WIN32_WINNT as 0x0600 or later. For more information, see Using the Windows Headers.
Note
On legacy versions of Windows, this API is also exposed by kernel32.dll.
Note
The winreg.h header defines RegDeleteTree as an alias that automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that is not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.
Requirements
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum supported client | Windows Vista [desktop apps only] |
| Minimum supported server | Windows Server 2008 [desktop apps only] |
| Target Platform | Windows |
| Header | winreg.h (include Windows.h) |
| Library | Advapi32.lib |
| DLL | Advapi32.dll |