43

Well, Windows 8 has no Start Menu any more and the startup folder has disappeared also.

Where can I find that folder? Or is there a new way with Metro?

5
  • Its still there, just not readily available...addictivetips.com/windows-tips/…
    – Moab
    Oct 19, 2012 at 19:01
  • Oh there it is - quite complicated though. But I'm not able to add new startup applications from the "Task Manager". Just view/deactivate.
    – FiveO
    Oct 22, 2012 at 8:03
  • Just drag your program shortcut to that folder, then it will start with windows.
    – Moab
    Oct 22, 2012 at 16:16
  • 1
    yes it is. In Win 7 and before I always opened the startup folder from the start menu. This is not possible anymore, therefore a good question.
    – FiveO
    Oct 30, 2012 at 19:32
  • Related: Run a script on start up on Windows 10 Mar 30, 2018 at 21:39

4 Answers 4

57

It can be found here:

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

or easier to access with this command in the Run Win+R prompt:

shell:startup

enter image description here

Here are even more explanations of how accessing/viewing the startup folder.

4
  • 1
    shell:startup works in Win7, as well!
    – Leftium
    Oct 21, 2012 at 18:08
  • 1
    Wouldn’t it be better to use environment variables instead of a hard-coded path?
    – Synetech
    Oct 30, 2012 at 16:05
  • Don't understand what you mean. This has nothing to do with environment variables, this shows just the path to the startup folder.
    – FiveO
    Oct 30, 2012 at 17:26
  • You would actually use %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
    – c00000fd
    Feb 11, 2021 at 0:37
0

Try the below steps to add startup programs in Windows 8:

  1. Open the Run command by typing Win+R

  2. Type in the command as %APPDATA% then press Enter. This should take you to C:\Users\[you]\AppData\Roaming.

  3. Go to \Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. The full path should look like: C:\Users\[you]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

Note: You can easily skip steps 2 and 3 by simply typing the command shell:Startup at the Run command instead of %APPDATA%

  1. Now add any shortcut which you wanted to add in for the startup applications. You can do it by simply copying the existing shortcut and placing it here. Or Right-click | New | Create Shortcut and you can browse to the wanted program to add a shortcut to it here
0

After forgetting the shell:startup command a few times (and doing a cleanup which wiped the history from the run prompt)...

  1. Run shell:startup
  2. Go up one level to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
  3. Right-click on the Startup folder
  4. Click 'Pin to Start'

Then it's just Win+'Startup' and the search should find it for you next time you forget.

Ta-da - 10 seconds saved off your life.

0

The user specific startup folder can be access with shell:startup

The all users version can be accessed with shell:common startup

This can be entered in an Explorer address bar or the Run box.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .