Double Startup

[Guest]

I recently reorganised my start menu. I had to move everything from my user
account to all users so it would all be visible in the one folder. Strangely
though, everything in the Startup folder was being opened twice when the
computer was turned on, then started complaining that it wasn't working right
because there was a previous instance open. So I moved the startup folder
from All Users to my account. It refused to cut and paste because it was a
system folder and just did a copy. So now there are two startup folders with
the same items. So I delete the contents of the All Users one, effectively
moving the shortcuts to my account. Next time I start up the computer,
though, none of these items are opened. I have to open them manually. So I
move them back to All Users, because then at least they'd be opened
automatically. I don't see why, but for some reason any shortcut in the All
Users startup folder is still being opened twice on startup.
I am using Windows XP SP2.
How do I force this to open the startup folder only once like it used to,
short of creating an exe that runs from the registry on a folder the OS
normally doesn't touch?

 

[Galen]

In Taneth <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I recently reorganised my start menu. I had to move everything from
my user account to all users so it would all be visible in the one
folder. Strangely though, everything in the Startup folder was being
opened twice when the computer was turned on, then started
complaining that it wasn't working right because there was a previous
instance open. So I moved the startup folder from All Users to my
account. It refused to cut and paste because it was a system folder
and just did a copy. So now there are two startup folders with the
same items. So I delete the contents of the All Users one,
effectively moving the shortcuts to my account. Next time I start up
the computer, though, none of these items are opened. I have to open
them manually. So I move them back to All Users, because then at
least they'd be opened automatically. I don't see why, but for some
reason any shortcut in the All Users startup folder is still being
opened twice on startup.
I am using Windows XP SP2.
How do I force this to open the startup folder only once like it used
to, short of creating an exe that runs from the registry on a folder
the OS normally doesn't touch?

You can TRY to remove the double entries:

Pesky Startup Apps:
http://kgiii.info/windows/all/general/startupapps.html

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/

"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of
existence." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

Now that's interesting. When the startup shortcuts are in the 'all users'
startup folder, they appear in both the 'user' and 'common' lists when [I
presume] they should be in 'common' only, but when moved to my account appear
in neither [when they should be in 'user' only].

Here's the pickle: when I uncheck an item in one of those lists, it
disappears from the other.

 

[Guest]

Well, the program you suggested

http://kgiii.info/windows/all/general/startupapps.html

didn't solve the problem, but it did lead me to the solution (it is for this
reason I rate the response as "answered the question", but it could use an
intermediate level). If both lists were reacting as one then the only logical
conclusion is that they are referencing the same folder. This would also
explain why the other folder had no effect.
I did a search in the registry and this is what I came up with:

[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders]
Startup="C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup"

where "All Users" should have been my username.

This may have happened when I moved the folder in the first place, which
means Windows made the change without notification and without checking that
it wasn't creating such a double reference.

 

[Guest]

Well taneth it seems you dint do enough research on this. When it comes to
computers never presume anything.

"[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders]
Startup="C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup""

What you found is just an entry that gives the path for one of the windows
shell folders. As you must have noticed there is a complete list of these
shell folders. These entries just define the location of these folders.

"This may have happened when I moved the folder in the first place, which
means Windows made the change without notification and without checking that
it wasn't creating such a double reference."

No, this did not happen because of your moving the folder. These are the
windows' default location of these folders.(Note it dint change to <your
profile>\desktop where you had moved the folder in the first place. Rather
because of your moving the folder the applications were not starting up.

Now to explain how this works:

=>While installation of a program if anything is to be started up at startup
it puts its icon in either <your username>\start menu\programs\startup or
All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. This depends whether the program is
being installed for all users or for you only.(you may have noticed this
while installing some program it asks you whether you want to install it for
all users or for you only)

=>Windows stores the startup items at two locations in the registry:
1>HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
2>HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

If the entries are in both these locations then obviously windows will try
to run that program twice. Now, some programs are built to handle that and
some are not. The ones that are not will obviously start causing problems.

Now this is what happened when you copied all the files from your all users
startup folder to your <username>\startup folder:
There was already an entry for programs to startup from all users in one of
these and another one was created as soon as you did this.

This was the whole problem ->drilled down

Enjoy this christmas week and the year ahead
yogi

Well, the program you suggested

http://kgiii.info/windows/all/general/startupapps.html

didn't solve the problem, but it did lead me to the solution (it is for this
reason I rate the response as "answered the question", but it could use an
intermediate level). If both lists were reacting as one then the only logical
conclusion is that they are referencing the same folder. This would also
explain why the other folder had no effect.
I did a search in the registry and this is what I came up with:

[HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders]
Startup="C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup"

where "All Users" should have been my username.

This may have happened when I moved the folder in the first place, which
means Windows made the change without notification and without checking that
it wasn't creating such a double reference.

 

[Guest]

As I keep saying, I did not COPY the files, I MOVED them. They are only in
ONE location.
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders is
full of paths with MY username except for the startup. As it happens this
keeps changing back every time I run this program Galen suggested.
The key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell
Folders is the one with the All Users paths.
Now it may be that I haven't researched this enough, but it is also clear
that no-one is actually reading all of the problem. The startup items are in
one location, not two, this location is being read twice and shouldn't be.
The other location that should be read after it, is not. I know it's supposed
to split them into current and common, and the problem is it thinks both
those locations are the same folder and is reading it twice. Clear enough now?

 

[Guest]

Taneth,
Clear enough to me. Happy problem solving

yogi