autostart.md

Windows Autostart Locations

Folders

Location	Operating System
%SystemDrive%\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\	Windows NT 6.0, 6.1
%SystemDrive%\Documents And Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\	Windows 5.0, 5.1, 5.2
%SystemDrive%\wmiOWS\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\	Windows 9x
%SystemDrive%\WINNT\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\	Windows NT 3.50, 3.51, 4.0
User\Startup\
%windir%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\
%windir%\Tasks\
%windir%\system\iosubsys\
%windir%\system\vmm32\

Files

Location	Operating System
%windir%\dosstart.bat
%windir%\system.ini - [boot] "scrnsave.exe"
%windir%\system.ini - [boot] "shell"
%windir%\system\autoexec.nt
%windir%\system\config.nt
%windir%\win.ini - [windows] "load"
%windir%\win.ini - [windows] "run"
%windir%\wininit.ini
%windir%\winstart.bat
c:\autoexec.bat
c:\config.sys
c:\explorer.exe

Registry

Location	Function
%windir%\dosstart.bat
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\batfile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .BAT file (Batch Command) is run.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\comfile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .COM file (Command) is run.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .EXE file (Executable) is run.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jsefile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .JSE file (Encoded Javascript) is run.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jsfile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .JS file (Javascript) is run.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\piffile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .PIF file (Portable Interchange Format) is run.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\scrfile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .SCR file (Screen Saver) is run.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\vbefile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .VBE file (Encoded Visual Basic Script) is run.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\vbsfile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .VBS file (Visual Basic Script) is run.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\wsffile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .WSF file (Windows Scripting File) is run.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\wshfile\shell\open\command\	Executed whenever a .WSH file (Windows Scripting Host) is run.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop	The "SCRNSAVE.EXE" value is monitored. This value is launched when your screen saver activates.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\load	Executed when the user logs in.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\run	Executed when the user logs in.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\run\	Subvalues are executed when Explorer initialises.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\Setup\	Used only by Setup. Displays a progress dialog box as the keys are run one at a time.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\	All values in this key are executed, and then their autostart reference is deleted.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\	All values in this key are executed.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\	All subkeys are monitored, with special attention paid to the "StubPath" value in each subkey.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit	Executed when a user logs in.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon	The "Shell" value is monitored. This value is executed after you log in.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run\	All values in this key are executed.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\run\	Subvalues are executed when Explorer initialises.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\	All values in this key are executed, and then their autostart reference is deleted.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce\	All values in this key are executed as services, and then their autostart reference is deleted.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices\	All values in this key are executed as services.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ShellServiceObjectDelayLoad\	Executed by explorer.exe as soon as it has loaded.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Control\WOW\cmdline	Executed when a 16-bit Windows executable is executed.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Control\WOW\wowcmdline	Executed when a 16-bit DOS application is executed.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager	The "BootExecute" value is monitored. Files listed here are Native Applications that are executed before Windows starts.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\VxD\	All subkeys are monitored, with special attention paid to the "StaticVXD" value in each subkey.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2\Parameters\Protocol_Catalog\Catalog_En tries\	Layered Service Providers, executed before user login.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\	Services marked to startup automatically are executed before user login.
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce\	Similar to the RunOnce key from HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\	Similar to the Run key from HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

Windows Operating System Versions

From http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724832(v=vs.85).aspx:

The following table summarizes the most recent operating system version numbers.

Operating system	Version number
Windows 8.1	6.3
Windows Server 2012 R2	6.3
Windows 8	6.2
Windows Server 2012	6.2
Windows 7	6.1
Windows Server 2008 R2	6.1
Windows Server 2008	6.0
Windows Vista	6.0
Windows Server 2003 R2	5.2
Windows Server 2003	5.2
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition	5.2
Windows XP	5.1
Windows 2000	5.0

References

A large portion of this content came from https://web.archive.org/web/20110203184210/http://www.easy-data.no/Autostart.html