FAQforge

Windows 7 offers the possibility to switch between preinstalled sound schemes and also create new ones and delete those again. What it does not provide however is a way to export and import those schemes to use them on other systems. There is a way to do this but it involves copying over all the custom sound files as well as exporting and importing specific registry keys. This might be a bit too complicated for someone who just wants all their Windows systems to play some nice bird chirp at logon.

Luckily, what is possible on Windows is also scriptable in PowerShell. Therefore the following script is able to export custom sound schemes into a zipped package, including all sound files and needed registry items and also import them onto another system. All the audio files used for the custom scheme to export need to be in the C:\Windows\Media directory – on import, they are all unpacked back there and will not be found if the registry points somewhere else.

$x = “nil”

function SelectFileDialog
{
param([string]$Title,[string]$Directory,[string]$Filter=”Zip archives (*.zip) |*.zip”)
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“System.Windows.Forms”) | Out-Null
$bFile = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog
$bFile.ShowHelp = $true
$bFile.Title = $Title
$bFile.InitialDirectory = $Directory
$bFile.Filter = $Filter
$Show = $bFile.ShowDialog()
If ($Show -eq “OK”)
{
Return $bFile.FileName
}
Else
{
Write-Error “Cancelled by user.”
}
}

function NewZip
{
param([string]$zipFilename)
$l = $zipFilename.length-4
$iszip = $zipFilename.substring($l)
if ( $iszip -ne “.zip”)
{
$zipFilename = $zipFilename + “.zip”
}
set-content $zipFilename (“PK” + [char]5 + [char]6 + (“$([char]0)” * 18))
(dir $zipFilename).IsReadOnly = $false
}

function AddZip
{
param([string]$zipFilename)
$l = $zipFilename.length-4
$iszip = $zipFilename.substring($l)
if ( $iszip -ne “.zip”)
{
$zipFilename = $zipFilename + “.zip”
}$l = $zipFilename.length-4
$iszip = $zipFilename.substring($l)
if ( $iszip -ne “.zip”)
{
$zipFilename = $zipFilename + “.zip”
}
$shellApplication = new-object -com shell.Application
$zipPackage = $shellApplication.NameSpace($zipFilename)

foreach($file in $input)
{
$zipPackage.CopyHere($file.FullName)
Start-sleep -milliseconds 500
}
}

function ExtractZip
{
param([string]$zipFilename, [string] $destination)

if(test-path($zipFilename))
{
$shellApplication = new-object -com shell.Application
$zipPackage = $shellApplication.NameSpace($zipFilename)
$destinationFolder = $shellApplication.NameSpace($destination)
$destinationFolder.CopyHere($zipPackage.Items())
}
}

$objshell = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“System.Drawing”)
[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“System.Windows.Forms”)

$objform = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Form
$objform.Text = “Export Windows 7 Sound Scheme”
$objform.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(330,160)
$objform.StartPosition = “CenterScreen”

$objform.KeyPreview = $True
$objform.Add_KeyDown({if ($_.KeyCode -eq “Escape”) {$objform.Close()}})

$exportButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$exportButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(20,70)
$exportButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$exportButton.Text = “Export”
$exportButton.Add_Click({$x=”exp”;$objform.Close()})
$objform.Controls.Add($exportButton)

$importButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$importButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(100,70)
$importButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$importButton.Text = “Import”
$importButton.Add_Click({$x=”imp”; $objform.Close()})
$objform.Controls.Add($importButton)

$cancelButton = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Button
$cancelButton.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(180,70)
$cancelButton.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(75,23)
$cancelButton.Text = “Cancel”
$cancelButton.Add_Click({$x=”nil”;$objform.Close()})
$objform.Controls.Add($cancelButton)

$objlabel = New-Object System.Windows.Forms.Label
$objlabel.Location = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(10,20)
$objlabel.Size = New-Object System.Drawing.Size(280,40)
$objlabel.Text = “Do you want to export your current theme or import a new theme?”
$objform.Controls.Add($objlabel)

$objform.Add_Shown({$objform.Activate()})
[void] $objform.ShowDialog()

if($x -eq “nil”) {exit}

if($x -eq “exp”)
{
cd C:\Users\howtoforge\Desktop
$ts = (get-itemproperty (get-item HKCU:\AppEvents\Schemes).PSPath).”(default)”
$a = @()
$b = @()
newzip $ts
Get-ChildItem HKCU:\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\ | Get-ChildItem | Get-ChildItem |
Foreach-Object {if ((get-itemproperty $_.PSPath).”(default)” -notlike “C:\Windows\Media\*\*”){($efg = ((get-itemproperty $_.PSPath).PSChildName));
if ($efg -eq $ts) { $a += ((get-itemproperty $_.PSPath).”(default)”)
}}}
foreach ($i in $a){ if ($i) {$b += get-item $i}}
$b = $b | select -uniq
get-item $b | addzip $ts
reg export HKCU\AppEvents ($ts + “.reg”)
get-item ($ts + “.reg”) | addzip $ts
remove-item ($ts + “.reg”)
}

if($x -eq “imp”)
{
$p = SelectFileDialog
if ($p)
{
$ppp = (gci $p | select -expandproperty name)
$ps = $ppp.substring(0,$ppp.length-4)
extractzip $p C:\Windows\Media
regedit (“C:\Windows\Media\” + $ps + “.reg”)
Start-sleep -milliseconds 10000
remove-item (“C:\Windows\Media\” + $ps + “.reg”)
$p.remove
}
}

In order to be able to run the script, you need to enable running PowerShell scripts on your systems. Therefore, open a PowerShell as administrator and type in:

set-executionpolicy remotesigned

Now you can run selfmade or signed scripts. Copy and paste the script above into a notepad and find the line that was printed bold here – change my username in the path (“howtoforge”) to yours. Then save it as .ps1 file.

Afterwards you can run the script by right-clicking it and running it in PowerShell or setting that as the default program to open ps1 scripts with. A prompt will pop up that will ask you if you want to ex- or import. Exporting will automatically export your current sound scheme to a zip file on your desktop (but only with the audio files lying in the said folder – exporting any schemes with files in a subfolder such as the Windows schemes will result in missing paths).

Copy the zipped package to the target system and run the script from there, choosing Import this time. Browse for the package and open it. The script will then put all the audio files to the C:\Windows\Media folder and import the registry file (a few pop ups will come up upon importing stuff into the registry, just accept them and everything should be fine).

If any issues should occur, make sure the zipped package is saved to a folder you have writing-permissions and everything for – if you changed it to something else than your desktop, this may easily happen.
If you are told that the registry file does not exist, this is because you waited too long to accept the import – after ten seconds, the .reg file is deleted to not clutter the Media folder. Just import again to solve it.