How to make an exe start at the Windows Startup [duplicate]

Answer 1

You can write the Path to the executable in the Registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

And it will get executed every time you start windows.

Answer 2

You can put a shortcut to the application in C:\Users\@username@\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

Are you using Visual Studio Setup Project? If yes you can set the shortcut directly from there.

Answer 3

Well this really sounds like you should use a "windows service".

There are other options like including a shortcut to the EXE into the "Startup" folder in the Programs Menu ("All Users" if you want it to run for all users on that system).

Another option would be to use the windows registry. You could add an entry to "Run" which points to the exe:

* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
* HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
* HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Answer 4

You have to set up a new key in the registry pointing to your executable.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

More information in this link http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa376977(v=vs.85).aspx

Answer 5

Since no-one else has mentioned it, I'll point out that you can also achieve this using a Scheduled Task who's trigger is 'At System Startup'. However, I haven't tried this with an app that needs UI interaction - it works for a background process, but I suspect it wouldn't work with something that needs a desktop context (since there isn't one until a user logs-on).

Answer 6

You could add your application to the registry to run on startup at

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
or
HKEY_CURREN_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

or you could add it to the startup folder for the system.

These are probably the most common/easiest options if you do not want to write a service.