diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.tests/misc/org/eclipse/cdt/core/winreg/tests/WinRegTests.java b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.tests/misc/org/eclipse/cdt/core/winreg/tests/WinRegTests.java
index 5bef66d737f..c2aa8c5fd80 100644
--- a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.tests/misc/org/eclipse/cdt/core/winreg/tests/WinRegTests.java
+++ b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.tests/misc/org/eclipse/cdt/core/winreg/tests/WinRegTests.java
@@ -20,4 +20,16 @@ public class WinRegTests extends TestCase {
 		}
 	}
 	
+	public void test2() {
+		WindowsRegistry registry = WindowsRegistry.getRegistry();
+		if (Platform.getOS().equals(Platform.OS_WIN32)) {
+			assertNotNull(registry);
+			String value = registry.getLocalMachineValue("SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion", "Nothing");
+			// Not sure how you set this to anything else so it seems safe.
+			assertNull(value);
+		} else {
+			// Should be null on non-Windows platforms
+			assertNotNull(registry);
+		}
+	}
 }
diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.win32/library/winreg.cpp b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.win32/library/winreg.cpp
index 3f892b95fa7..8b0562ae7f1 100644
--- a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.win32/library/winreg.cpp
+++ b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.win32/library/winreg.cpp
@@ -2,48 +2,25 @@
 #include <jni.h>
 #include <string.h>
 
-jstring getErrorMsg(JNIEnv * env, wchar_t * name) {
-    wchar_t msg[256];
-    wchar_t * msgBuff;
-    DWORD err = GetLastError();
-
-    FormatMessage(
-        FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM,
-        NULL,
-        err,
-        MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT),
-        (LPTSTR) &msgBuff,
-        0, NULL );
-
-    wsprintf(msg, L"%s failed with error %d: %s", name, err, msgBuff);
-
-    LocalFree(msgBuff);
-
-    return env->NewString((jchar *)msg, wcslen(msg));
-}
-
 extern "C"
 JNIEXPORT jstring Java_org_eclipse_cdt_utils_WindowsRegistry_getLocalMachineValue(
 	JNIEnv * env, jobject obj, jstring subkey, jstring name)
 {
 	const jchar * csubkey = env->GetStringChars(subkey, NULL);
 	const jchar * cname = env->GetStringChars(name, NULL);
-	jstring result;
+	jstring result = NULL;
 	
 	HKEY key;
 	LONG rc = RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, (const wchar_t *)csubkey, 0, KEY_READ, &key);
-	if (rc != ERROR_SUCCESS) {
-		result = getErrorMsg(env, L"RegOpenKeyEx");
-	} else {
+	if (rc == ERROR_SUCCESS) {
 		DWORD type;
 		wchar_t buffer[256];
 		DWORD len = sizeof(buffer);
 		rc = RegQueryValueEx(key, (const wchar_t *)cname, NULL, &type, (BYTE *)&buffer, &len);
-		if (rc != ERROR_SUCCESS) {
-			result = getErrorMsg(env, L"RegQueryValueEx");
-		} else {
+		if (rc == ERROR_SUCCESS) {
 			result = env->NewString((jchar *)buffer, wcslen(buffer));
 		}
+		RegCloseKey(key);
 	}
 
 	env->ReleaseStringChars(subkey, csubkey);
diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.win32/os/win32/x86/winreg.dll b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.win32/os/win32/x86/winreg.dll
index 2c113d73d3f..5290964e77d 100644
Binary files a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.win32/os/win32/x86/winreg.dll and b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core.win32/os/win32/x86/winreg.dll differ
diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/utils/org/eclipse/cdt/utils/WindowsRegistry.java b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/utils/org/eclipse/cdt/utils/WindowsRegistry.java
index bb811dfb7b8..b73e67dda89 100644
--- a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/utils/org/eclipse/cdt/utils/WindowsRegistry.java
+++ b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/utils/org/eclipse/cdt/utils/WindowsRegistry.java
@@ -34,6 +34,14 @@ public class WindowsRegistry {
 		return registry;
 	}
 	
+	/**
+	 * Gets the registry value for the subkey of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE with the
+	 * given name. If problems occur, like the name is not found, null is returned.
+	 * 
+	 * @param subkey subkey of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
+	 * @param name name of the registry value
+	 * @return registry value or null if not found
+	 */
 	public native String getLocalMachineValue(String subkey, String name);
 	
 }