Autostart C++ win32 console application in XPe

Question

I have a Win32 Console Application which I would like XPe to autostart when the system boots up.

What i have done currently is to put this app path in the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run.

However, it does not seem to work with console applications? as i have tried with GUI apps and it works.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Like I said in my comment you could add a shortcut to the application under the AutoStart folder in the start menu.

From the help for the start command:

When executing an application that is a 32-bit GUI application, CMD.EXE does not wait for the application to terminate before returning to the command prompt. This new behavior does NOT occur if executing within a command script.

So it seems like starting a 32-bit non-GUI application would wait for the application to terminate unless you would place a call to it inside a batch file or similar and then in turn call start on that batch script instead.

Try creating a file named something like your-app.bat and add the following command inside it:

 start /D "C:\Test\" WindowsApplication1.exe

Then in your registry point to your newly created batch script instead of the actual executable.

Answer 2

Use Task Scheduler. 0123456789