Difference in result Regedit query and c# program query using Registry class

Question

I am trying to read the value of a name from the Registry using C#. The Registry Path is 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion'

The name I want the value of is 'RegisteredOrganization'

If I use REGEDIT, I can goto the specified path and see the name and its value.

I want to do the same but using c#. I use the following code:

           string rPath = @"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion";
            string key = "RegisteredOrganization";

            try
            {
                using (RegistryKey regkey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(rPath))
                {
                    object nameValue = regkey.GetValue(key);
                    if (nameValue != null)
                    { Console.WriteLine($"{key} = {nameValue}"); }
                    else
                    { Console.WriteLine($"{key} not found!"); }
                }
            }
            catch
            {
                Console.WriteLine($"Error opening key {rPath}");
            }

The result is: RegisteredOrganization not found! Running the program with elevated permission gives me the same results

If I rewrote the program to show the keys in the path it will only show 23 names from the 30 REGEDIT will show.

Can someone give me an explanation for this discrepantie or what I should change in my code to make it work?

Answer 1

The comment Gusman made on the original question is the way to solve the problem. On a 64bit machine the program should run in 64bit mode and not in 32bit. So in the build tab of the project options if you select AnyCPU you should uncheck the 'prefered 32bit' checkbox. Otherwise the code will take the entries from WoW64 which are not the ones shown by REGEDIT. So you get the for mentioned discrepanties. The code it self is correct and functioning. I am not able to check this on a 32bit machine.