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Small utility that sets Windows settings via the back-end used by the Windows 10 setting app.

Usage

Reads a JSON array of payloads from stdin:

WindowsSettings < payload.json

List all possible settings for the current system:

WindowsSettings -list

Payload JSON

The payload sent to the application's standard input looks like this:

[
    {
        "settingID": "SystemSettings_Accessibility_Magnifier_IsEnabled",
        "method": "SetValue",
        "parameters": [ true ]
    }
]

• settingID: The setting ID. See WindowsSettings -list
• method: The method of to invoke.
• parameters: Parameters to pass (optional).

There can be several items, allowing more than one setting to be applied.

See examples

Methods

Method
GetValue [name]	Gets a value, returning the result. name is used if there are different values.
SetValue [name,] value	Sets the value.
Invoke	Invokes an Action setting.
GetPossibleValues	Returns a list of settings allowed for List settings
IsEnabled	Returns a boolean indicating if the setting is enabled.
IsApplicable	Returns a boolean indicating if the setting is applicable.

These are the exposed methods of the SettingItem class.

Setting Types and methods

The type of a setting can be retrieved with WindowsSettings -list.

Boolean, String, List, LabeledString, and Range

The GetValue method returns the value, and SetValue sets it.

• Boolean and String settings are straightforward.
• List settings accept one of several possible values (or the index, depending on the setting), returned by GetPossibleValues.
• Range appears to be numeric, determining the min and max value is currently unknown.
• LabeledString is read-only.

Action

Settings of this type perform an action when the Invoke method is used.

Custom, DisplayString and SettingCollection

Unsupported - needs further investigation.

Response

Each payload item yields a response:

    {
        "returnValue": 5,
        "isError": true,
        "errorMessage": "oops"
    }

• returnValue: The return value of the method (optional).
• isError: true if there was an error (optional).
• errorMessage: The error message (optional).

Limitations

• Relies heavily on undocumented behaviour.
• Various settings are applied asynchronously, with no apparent completion callback.
• Some settings crash.
• The availability of settings depends on the exact Windows version.

Building

msbuild WindowsSettings.sln /t:Rebuild /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="Any CPU"

How it works

Magic.