How do I get the value of a registry key and ONLY the value using powershell

$key = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion'(Get-ItemProperty -Path $key -Name ProgramFilesDir).ProgramFilesDir

I've never liked how this was provider was implemented like this : /

Basically, it makes every registry value a PSCustomObject object with PsPath, PsParentPath, PsChildname, PSDrive and PSProvider properties and then a property for its actual value. So even though you asked for the item by name, to get its value you have to use the name once more.

NONE of these answers work for situations where the value name contains spaces, dots, or other characters that are reserved in PowerShell. In that case you have to wrap the name in double quotes as per http://blog.danskingdom.com/accessing-powershell-variables-with-periods-in-their-name/ - for example:

PS> Get-ItemProperty Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxS\VS714.0         : C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\12.0         : C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\11.0         : C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\15.0         : C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\PSPath       : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxS\V               S7PSParentPath : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxSPSChildName  : VS7PSProvider   : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry

If you want to access any of the 14.0, 12.0, 11.0, 15.0 values, the solution from the accepted answer will not work - you will get no output:

PS> (Get-ItemProperty Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxS\VS7 -Name 15.0).15.0PS>

What does work is quoting the value name, which you should probably be doing anyway for safety:

PS> (Get-ItemProperty "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxS\VS7" -Name "15.0")."15.0"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\PS> 

Thus, the accepted answer should be modified as such:

PS> $key = "Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxS\VS7"PS> $value = "15.0"PS> (Get-ItemProperty -Path $key -Name $value).$valueC:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\PS> 

This works in PowerShell 2.0 through 5.0 (although you should probably be using Get-ItemPropertyValue in v5).

Harry Martyrossian mentions in a comment on his own answer that the
Get-ItemPropertyValue cmdlet was introduced in Powershell v5, which solves the problem:

PS> Get-ItemPropertyValue 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion' 'ProgramFilesDir'C:\Program Files

Alternatives for PowerShell v4-:

Here's an attempt to retain the efficiency while eliminating the need for repetition of the value name, which, however, is still a little cumbersome:

& { (Get-ItemProperty `      -LiteralPath HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion `      -Name $args `    ).$args } 'ProgramFilesDir'

By using a script block, the value name can be passed in once as a parameter, and the parameter variable ($args) can then simply be used twice inside the block.

Alternatively, a simple helper function can ease the pain:

function Get-RegValue([String] $KeyPath, [String] $ValueName) {  (Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $KeyPath -Name $ValueName).$ValueName}

^{Note: All solutions above bypass the problem described in Ian Kemp's's answer - the need to use explicit quoting for certain value names when used as property names; e.g., .'15.0' - because the value names are passed as parameters and property access happens via a variable; e.g., .$ValueName}

As for the other answers:

• Andy Arismendi's helpful answer explains the annoyance with having to repeat the value name in order to get the value data efficiently.
• M Jeremy Carter's helpful answer is more convenient, but can be a performance pitfall for keys with a large number of values, because an object with a large number of properties must be constructed.