How to get a enum value from string in C#?

var value = (uint) Enum.Parse(typeof(baseKey), "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE");  

Using Enum.TryParse you don't need the Exception handling:

baseKey e;

if ( Enum.TryParse(s, out e) )
{
 ...
}

baseKey choice;
if (Enum.TryParse("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE", out choice)) {
     uint value = (uint)choice;

     // `value` is what you're looking for

} else { /* error: the string was not an enum member */ }

Before .NET 4.5, you had to do the following, which is more error-prone and throws an exception when an invalid string is passed:

(uint)Enum.Parse(typeof(baseKey), "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE")