Starting application on start-up, using the wrong path to load

Question

I am using registry key to set my application to load on Windows Startup(after a user login). My Code:

RegistryKey RegKey = Registry.LocalMachine;
RegKey = R         


        

Answer 1

I've figured out a cheap trick on how to accomplish this. When your application starts up, Read the registry again to get your application's start-up path(the one you intended). For example: Appl1 has a startup path of "C:\Users\Name\Desktop\App1.exe".

Once you read the registry for that path, set that as current directory. Something like this:

        RegistryKey RegKey = Registry.LocalMachine;
        RegKey = RegKey.OpenSubKey(@"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run", false);
        string Path = RegKey.GetValue("App1.exe").ToString();
        Path = Path.Replace(@"\App1.exe"", ""); // Now it's a valid directory.
        Directory.SetCurrentDirectory(Path);

This worked for me but if anyone has a better method, I would love to hear them.

Answer 2

Directory.SetCurrentDirectory() can be used to set your working directory when the app starts. EXE path can be retrieved using Application.ExecutablePath.

Put them together:

var fi = new FileInfo(Application.ExecutablePath);
Directory.SetCurrentDirectory(fi.DirectoryName);