How do I set a program to launch at startup

Solution 1:

Thanks to everyone for responding so fast. Joel, I used your option 2 and added a registry key to the "Run" folder of the current user. Here's the code I used for anyone else who's interested.

    using Microsoft.Win32;
    private void SetStartup()
    {
        RegistryKey rk = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey
            ("SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run", true);

        if (chkStartUp.Checked)
            rk.SetValue(AppName, Application.ExecutablePath);
        else
            rk.DeleteValue(AppName,false);            

    }

Solution 2:

Several options, in order of preference:

1. Add it to the current user's Startup folder. This requires the least permissions for your app to run, and gives the user the most control and feedback of what's going on. The down-side is it's a little more difficult determining whether to show the checkbox already checked next time they view that screen in your program.
2. Add it to the HKey_Current_User\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run registry key. The only problem here is it requires write access to the registry, which isn't always available.
3. Create a Scheduled Task that triggers on User Login
4. Add it to the HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run registry key. The only problem here is it requires write access to the registry, which isn't always available.
5. Set it up as a windows service. Only do this if you really mean it, and you know for sure you want to run this program for all users on the computer.

This answer is older now. Since I wrote this, Windows 10 was released, which changes how the Start Menu folders work... including the Startup folder. It's not yet clear to me how easy it is to just add or remove a file in that folder without also referencing the internal database Windows uses for these locations.

Solution 3:

Here is all way to add your program to startup for Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10

• File path

C:\Users\Bureau Briffault\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup (Visible from task manager, Running on current user login success, No admin privileges required)

C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup (Visible from task manager, Running on all user login success, Admin privileges required)

• Registry path

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (Visible from task manager, Running on current user login success, No admin privileges required)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce (Not visible from task manager, Running on current user login success, Running for one login time, No admin privileges required)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (Visible from task manager, Running on all user login success, Admin privileges required)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce (Not visible from task manager, Running on all user login success, Running for one login time, Admin privileges required)

• Task scheduler

Microsoft.Win32.Taskscheduler.dll (Not visible from task manager, Running on windows boot, Running as admin, Admin privileges required)