--- a/mercurial/win32.py	Wed May 30 13:57:41 2012 -0700
+++ b/mercurial/win32.py	Sun May 27 11:29:45 2012 +0200
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 # This software may be used and distributed according to the terms of the
 # GNU General Public License version 2 or any later version.
 
-import ctypes, errno, os, struct, subprocess, random
+import encoding
+import ctypes, errno, os, subprocess, random, _winreg
 
 _kernel32 = ctypes.windll.kernel32
 _advapi32 = ctypes.windll.advapi32
@@ -69,13 +70,6 @@
 # GetExitCodeProcess
 _STILL_ACTIVE = 259
 
-# registry
-_HKEY_CURRENT_USER = 0x80000001L
-_HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = 0x80000002L
-_KEY_READ = 0x20019
-_REG_SZ = 1
-_REG_DWORD = 4
-
 class _STARTUPINFO(ctypes.Structure):
     _fields_ = [('cb', _DWORD),
                 ('lpReserved', _LPSTR),
@@ -179,17 +173,6 @@
 _kernel32.GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo.argtypes = [_HANDLE, ctypes.c_void_p]
 _kernel32.GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo.restype = _BOOL
 
-_advapi32.RegOpenKeyExA.argtypes = [_HANDLE, _LPCSTR, _DWORD, _DWORD,
-    ctypes.c_void_p]
-_advapi32.RegOpenKeyExA.restype = _LONG
-
-_advapi32.RegQueryValueExA.argtypes = [_HANDLE, _LPCSTR, ctypes.c_void_p,
-    ctypes.c_void_p, ctypes.c_void_p, ctypes.c_void_p]
-_advapi32.RegQueryValueExA.restype = _LONG
-
-_advapi32.RegCloseKey.argtypes = [_HANDLE]
-_advapi32.RegCloseKey.restype = _LONG
-
 _advapi32.GetUserNameA.argtypes = [ctypes.c_void_p, ctypes.c_void_p]
 _advapi32.GetUserNameA.restype = _BOOL
 
@@ -270,33 +253,17 @@
     a sequence of scopes to look up in order. Default (CURRENT_USER,
     LOCAL_MACHINE).
     '''
-    byref = ctypes.byref
     if scope is None:
-        scope = (_HKEY_CURRENT_USER, _HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)
+        scope = (_winreg.HKEY_CURRENT_USER, _winreg.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)
     elif not isinstance(scope, (list, tuple)):
         scope = (scope,)
     for s in scope:
-        kh = _HANDLE()
-        res = _advapi32.RegOpenKeyExA(s, key, 0, _KEY_READ, ctypes.byref(kh))
-        if res != _ERROR_SUCCESS:
-            continue
         try:
-            size = _DWORD(600)
-            type = _DWORD()
-            buf = ctypes.create_string_buffer(size.value + 1)
-            res = _advapi32.RegQueryValueExA(kh.value, valname, None,
-                                       byref(type), buf, byref(size))
-            if res != _ERROR_SUCCESS:
-                continue
-            if type.value == _REG_SZ:
-                # string is in ANSI code page, aka local encoding
-                return buf.value
-            elif type.value == _REG_DWORD:
-                fmt = '<L'
-                s = ctypes.string_at(byref(buf), struct.calcsize(fmt))
-                return struct.unpack(fmt, s)[0]
-        finally:
-            _advapi32.RegCloseKey(kh.value)
+            val = _winreg.QueryValueEx(_winreg.OpenKey(s, key), valname)[0]
+            # never let a Unicode string escape into the wild
+            return encoding.tolocal(val.encode('UTF-8'))
+        except EnvironmentError:
+            pass
 
 def executablepath():
     '''return full path of hg.exe'''