Startup folder error -- items started twice instead of once.

P

Peter Williams

Hi All,

To cut a long story short, a few weeks ago I was rearranging the
shortcut menu-items under the Start / All Programs menu and I
accidently copied my my-user's Startup folder into the All Users'
Startup folder. I checked and it is not shown there. But now everytime
I add a single shortcut to the All Users' Startup folder the item is
started twice.

I have also used "StartEd" (shareware program) to try to fix this
program. It shows that the programs (which the shortcuts start) and
being started twice; once for my user and once for all users.

Does anyone have a fix for this. E.g. obvious I don't want the
programs to be started twice, only once.
 
W

Wesley Vogel

Your problem is similar to this.

Duplicate Icons in the Desktop - Windows 2000/XP
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/duplicatedesktop.htm

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Instead of Desktop and set it to %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
in the instructions, use Start Menu and set it to %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Instead of Common Desktop to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop
in the instructions, use Common Start Menu and set it to
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu

You may also want to compare all of the values in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

with the values in the two tables shown here...
Reset the Shell Folders paths to defaults
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
P

Peter Williams

Hi Wes,

Wesley said:
Your problem is similar to this.

Duplicate Icons in the Desktop - Windows 2000/XP
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/duplicatedesktop.htm

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Instead of Desktop and set it to %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
in the instructions, use Start Menu and set it to %USERPROFILE%\Start
Menu

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

Instead of Common Desktop to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop
in the instructions, use Common Start Menu and set it to
%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu

You may also want to compare all of the values in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

with the values in the two tables shown here...
Reset the Shell Folders paths to defaults
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/usershellfolders.htm

I used RegEdit and I have found that this registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Us
er Shell Folders

\Startup

contains the following data:

%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

I did not really understand your instructions on what to change. It
appears that the above registry point to the Startup items (I used the
StartEd shareware program to determine this).

Can you please give me additional advice on what to change to fix this
problem?!?

Any help is greatly appreciated. ;-)))
 
W

Wesley Vogel

Hi Peter,

I apologize. I mistakenly listed Start Menu and Common Start Menu in my
first post. I should have listed Startup and Common Startup.

Forget about StartEd, I never heard of it and cannot even find any info on
it.

Common Startup is for all users and Startup is just for you. Something is
probably incorrect in one of the registry keys below.

Open the Registry Editor...
Start | Run | Type: regedit | Click OK |
Navigate to >>>
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
compare what is in the right hand pane with this:

AppData %USERPROFILE%\Application Data
Cache %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
Cookies %USERPROFILE%\Cookies
Desktop %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
Favorites %USERPROFILE%\Favorites
History %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\History
Local AppData %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data
Local Settings %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings
My Music %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Music
My Pictures %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Pictures
Nethood %USERPROFILE%\NetHood
Personal [My Documents] %USERPROFILE%\My Documents
PrintHood %USERPROFILE%\PrintHood
Programs %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs
SendTo %USERPROFILE%\SendTo
Start Menu %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu
Startup %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Templates %USERPROFILE%\Templates

This is the important one:
Startup %USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Take note of anything that is different.

Everything in the above key should start with %USERPROFILE%. If you paste
%USERPROFILE% into Start | Run and click OK, it will most likely open
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here. The folders above are your
folders.

The HKEY_CURRENT_USER key is for the current logged on user, you.

Now navigate to >>>
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\
Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
compare what is in the right hand pane with this:

Common AppData %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data
Common Desktop %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Desktop
Common Documents %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Documents
Common Programs %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs
Common Start Menu %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu
Common Startup %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Common Templates %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Templates

This is the important one:
Common Startup %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Take note of anything that is different.

Everything in the above key should start with %ALLUSERSPROFILE%. If you
paste %ALLUSERSPROFILE% into Start | Run and click OK, it will most likely
open C:\Documents and Settings\All Users. The folders above are for all
users, anyone who is logged on to the machine. They are common to all
users.

The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key is machine wide, for any user that is logged on.

Post back with anything that is different than what is listed for both
registry keys.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top