Just out of curiosity I was wondering how this is done. I know you can probably manually make a program startup using windows scheduler, but for something download from the interwebs, such as Discord, how does it autonomously give itself the ability to run on startup without actually being in the startup folder?
I found the answer elsewhere on this site, here is the link and a quote
https://stackoverflow.com/a/20781275/9546874
Add a new startup application Open your registry and find the key [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run].
For each program you want to start automatically create a new string value using a descriptive name, and set the value of the string to the program executable.
For example, to automatically start Notepad, add a new entry of "Notepad"="c:\windows\notepad.exe".
Some applications do not appear in the startup folder but start up automatically anyway. Programmers have the ability to disable their application showing up in the startup folder. To answer your question, it's a decision made by the dev team behind the application.
Here is a link to disable those applications using the shell: Disable items not in the Startup folder
This article goes into depth about how windows uses registry keys to open applications upon startup.
If you would like to disable discord's auto startup, this is how.
Related
I am planning to start my application whenever the user starts the computer. ASFA I know, there are two options available to me:
put the application link to startup folder
Keep a the startup-registry location updated with application path
However, the problem is, AVs like Kasperesky reports the registry paths (if added by an app) as keyloggers. Just wanted to hear from you people, which is better? Adding a shortcut to startup folder or using the registry way.
I really would prefer that you didn't force my app to start whenever I reboot. So, if you really insist, then please put it in the Startup folder and don't hide it in the Windows registry where I will never be able to find it. There may be times when I need this thing not to start up every time, so please let me do the choosing by putting the shortcut where I can see it and manage it. Otherwise, if it gives me too much trouble, I may just start up Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs, and you really don't want that, do you?
In matlab, I used a windows standalone application. There is a line in this application that writes a file in C:\...\...\. When I run the output exe file produced from this windows standalone application, the exe doesn't write in C:\...\...\ neither tells me that there is a security issues in that partition. All the execution does is nothing. But, when I right-click and run the exe as administrator, it runs correctly.
I want to do it without right-click and run as administrator. Are there is a command in matlab that can do that?
If you create a shortcut to your application, you can go to the Properties of the shortcut, click on Advanced in the Shortcut tab, and select "Run as administrator". That way, whenever you start the application from the shortcut it will be run as an administrator.
(Disclaimer: applications really shouldn't "foul their own nest" by writing into Program Files. This is bad design.)
Starting from Vista, unprivileged processes are not allowed to write to protected folders such as Program Files, because Program Files is designed to store code and not data. However, since this limitation has not been enforced in XP, MS has provided a backward-compatibility hack in the form of Virtual Store. Now, when a program tries to write to protected folder, its output is being redirected into a dedicated folder. This way, the program still "thinks" it writes to its usual location, while in fact it writes to an unprotected location. However, when you later check the Program Files location, you might not see the file - because it's not really there.
You can find more details here: User Account Control Data Redirection.
If you are administrator, add full control permission for your username to the destination folder. You do that by right clicking on the folder, going to properties and then security tab. Then edit and add you username with Full Control rights. Then you don;t have to run the the program as an administrator.
There is no way you can elevate a process once it is started, so Matlab cannot possibly have a command for that. Just running Matlab elevated.
I have a program that was written on XP. What I've found out is that it doesn't work properly on Win7 because HLKM is no longer writable by non-admins.
Essentially, when you register the program, the licensing information is supposed to go into the registry. That information is valid for everyone on the computer, not just the one user, so I don't want to put it in HKCU. But any copy of the program needs to be able to edit that registry (even if it's a non-admin running it), because there are certain situations when it's going to go get updated license information from my web server (for example, if the registry data is lost or damaged, or if your current license is expired and it needs to see if we've applied an extension).
It's not horrible if it goes out to the web server for every unique user who starts up the program, but it causes some annoying issues, so I'd rather it continue to work the way it did in XP. Is there a way to store data in the registry and still have it shared under Win7, or am I going to have to start looking at storing an INI file on the drive?
Here is how I would architect it: your setup runs elevated and sets up the key. Then if their licensing gets corrupted or whatnot, you enable a button or menu item that has text like "fix license" or "update license". You put a shield on that button or menu item. When they click it, you launch a separate exe using ShellExecute. That exe has a manifest that requires elevation. It can then write to the protected area of the registry. The rest of the app can have a manifest with asInvoker.
If you want it to be completely invisible, either the whole app must always run elevated (annoying) or sometimes the app will just launch another exe that asks for elevation without warning - in which case the smart users will say no. A little less invisibility is a good thing imo.
Could you get the installer to make your particular area of the registry to be writeable by everyone? The installer will need to be run with elevated privileges anyway, I'd expect - so this would seem an ideal approach.
I need my application installer set the program to auto-startup for all users.
Then each individual user should be able to modify this option without affecting others.
Currently I write to HKLM/../Run with installer, which acomplishes the first task.
But then I can't disable autorun for current user, because deleting th HKLM/../Run entry would disable it for everybody.
Is there a way to do that, without using shortcuts in Autostart folder?
start it for all users always but check a configuration variable in HKLU to see if it should exit immediately
Any reason not to use the HKCU Run key in the first place?
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
What's the best way to programmatically start an application on login for Windows? I know you can do it by adding an item to the startup folder in the start menu, but I want to have an option in my application to turn it off and on.
This is how you could do it in C#:
Registry.SetValue(#"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run",
"MyStartUp",
#"C:\StartUpApp.exe");
You basically need to add a registry entry. The above one works on start-up. There are a few more. I recommend that you download a tool like Autoruns to see all possible locations.
How about installing your program as a Windows service? Services can be switched between 'disabled', 'manual' and 'automatic', and you can access services from within your code (even from a Java application) and manipulate its state.
Just a thought.
Yuval =8-)