Taking Control of System Properties, Startup, and Shutdown

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In the final part of a four-part article, you'll learn how to change the location of your startup folders, disable error reporting, and more. It is excerpted from chapter six of the Windows XP Cookbook, written by Robbie Allen and Preston Gralla (O'Reilly; ISBN: 0596007256). Copyright © 2005 O'Reilly Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission from the publisher. Available from booksellers or direct from O'Reilly Media.

6.13 Changing the Location of Your Startup Folders

Problem

You want to change the location of your startup folder to another drive or to another folder.

Solution

Using the Registry

You can turn any folder you want into the folder whose contents will be run on startup. To change the location of the current user’s Startup folder, run the Registry Editor and then:

You can turn any folder you want into the folder whose contents will be run on startup. To change the location of the current user’s Startup folder, run the Registry Editor and then:

1. Go toHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ User Shell Folders\Startup.
   
2. The string value is%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.%USERPROFILE%\refers to C:\Documents and Settings\User where User is the current user. Edit the string value to any folder on your hard disk. It doesn’t have to be a subfolder of C:\Documents and Settings\User. For example, the location can be C:\ YourStartup.
   
3. Exit the Registry and reboot.

To change the location of the common Startup folder, go toHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders\Common Startup. The string value will be%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. Change it to any folder you want, exit the Registry, and reboot.

Discussion

When you start XP, it automatically runs programs located in your system’s Startup folders. There are more than one of these folders—one for each account, and one common one for all users. So when the system starts, it runs all programs in the account’s Startup folder and the common Startup folder. The locations of the folders are:

1. C:\Documents and Settings\User\Start Menu\Programs\Startup where User is the account of the current user
   
2. C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Shortcuts to any programs you put in either folder will be run at startup. To stop programs from running, remove their shortcuts from the folders.

You can start XP without it running programs located in your Startup folders. You might want to do this if you’re troubleshooting startup problems and want to see whether programs that automatically run at startup are causing the problems. To bypass the Startup folders, hold down the Shift key while you log on. When the logon dialog box appears, type in your user name and password, then hold down the Shift key and click on OK. Keep the Shift key depressed until the desktop appears.

Next: 6.14 Disabling Error Reporting >>
 

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