Specifying a Write Action

The Write Action in a registry rule is the action to take when there is a registry write attempt matching this rule.

The following table shows the options. Write action includes creation, deletion and modification of registry keys on all platforms. It also includes changes to registry permissions on all Windows platforms except Windows Server 2003 64-bit.

Table 1. Write Action Menu Options

Option	Description
Block	Prevent creation, deletion and modification of registry keys and values at locations matching this rule. When Block is chosen, the Use Policy Specific Notifier checkbox and a Custom Write Notifier menu appear. These allow you to specify the notifier, if any, that appears when the rule blocks an action. For more details, see Registry Rule Fields.
Prompt	Present a notifier dialog to the computer user when an attempt to modify the registry is made at this location. The dialog choices are Block or Allow. Once the user responds to the dialog, the choice applies anytime the same process matches the same rule on the same computer with the same user – the user will not be prompted again in this case. When Prompt is chosen, the Use Policy Specific Notifier checkbox and a Custom Notifier menu appear. These allow you to specify the notifier that appears to prompt the user. For more details, see Registry Rule Fields.
Report	Do not block modifications at this registry path but report them as events.
Allow	Allow creation, deletion and modification of registry keys and values at locations matching this rule. This is the default behavior if there is no rule for a path. Use of Allow gives you a way to create an exception to a more general rule that blocks at a particular location. For example, if you create a rule that blocks all writes to *\Software\MyApp\* you could create an exception by creating a higher ranking rule that allows writes to *\Software\MyApp\SpecialKey