Thread: Registry Startup Key

Hey,

Can someone tell me how i can add a key to the regisitry telling my app to start with windows. I cant remember the location in the regisitry for this, but the apps path is "c:\program files\Swapper\swapa.exe"

Thanks alot,
TNT

Or far easier, add a shortcut to the All Users\startup dir

Hey thanks,

Fordy i would use that method, but its just OSs like win95/98 dont have allusers/startup, and it could be running on any OS, so i assumed i should use the registry.

Do you have any code to add the key? I think i need to use RegCreateKeyEx() but i am not sure how to use it.

Thanks alot,
TNT

I sat down tonight and did the following....The proram works out the OS version, and then creates a shortcut in the startup folder....the example given is to a simple shell script (test.wsf) that doesnt do much interesting stuff...so substitute this with your proggie

MAJOR DISCLAIMER - I was unable to test this on any other system apart from Win2K....though it should work ok with XP,95,98 and I guess NT, though some tweaking by someone with those systems may remove some bugs.

I started by using the GetVersionEx() API to see what OS I am working on...I wrapped it in a Is2000Plus() function..this shoulddo what we need, but may need further tweaking....If its 2000 or XP, a shortcut will be created in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup"....if its Win98 it will be "C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup"......So with a bit of luck it should run on both systems at startup!

The I use 2 COM interfaces to allow me to create a shell link (shortcut) in memory and then save it to disk....dont get too worried about the COM.....

Have a play with it!

Code:

#include <windows.h>//Essential stuff
#include <objbase.h>//get COM up and running
#include <Shlobj.h>//for interfaces

BOOL Is2000Plus(void){
	OSVERSIONINFO ovi = {0};

	ovi.dwOSVersionInfoSize = sizeof(OSVERSIONINFO);

	GetVersionEx(&ovi);
	if(ovi.dwMajorVersion >= 5)
	/*Win 2000 & XP are Major Version 5, 95 & 98 are Major Version 4
	I have not taken into account ME or NT as I am unfamiliar with them*/
		return TRUE;
	return FALSE;
}

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hThisInstance, 
				   HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
				   LPSTR lpszArgument, 
				   int nFunsterStil)
{
	CHAR lpstrTargetPath[] = "c:\\test.wsf",
		 lpstrDescription[] = "Phew...this is easy in VBScript!!!",
		 lpstrLinkPath[MAX_PATH+1];
	WCHAR lpwstrLinkPath[MAX_PATH+1]; //to store shell link path in Unicode
	IShellLink* Isl; //Needed to create shortcut in memory
	IPersistFile* Ipf; //Needed to store that shortcut on disk

	
	if(Is2000Plus()){ //Which OS???!?
		wsprintf(lpstrLinkPath,//2000
			"C:\\Documents and Settings\\All Users\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Startup\\Run.lnk");
	}
	else{
		wsprintf(lpstrLinkPath,//98
			"C:\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Startup\\Run.lnk");
	}
	
	
	HRESULT hRes = CoInitialize(NULL); //Essential COM nonsense
	if (!SUCCEEDED(hRes)){
		MessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP,"Could not initialise COM",
			"Error",MB_OK);
		return 1;
	}

	hRes = CoCreateInstance(CLSID_ShellLink, NULL, 
        CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER, IID_IShellLink, (LPVOID *) &Isl);
							//Get interface to shell links
	if (!SUCCEEDED(hRes)){
		MessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP,"Could not get shell link interface",
			"Error",MB_OK);
		return 1;
	}

	Isl->SetPath(lpstrTargetPath); //target
    Isl->SetDescription(lpstrDescription); //weak description
	
	hRes = Isl->QueryInterface(IID_IPersistFile, 
            (LPVOID*)&Ipf); //Jump up to the persistant file interface
	if (!SUCCEEDED(hRes)){
		MessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP,"Could not get pers. file interface",
			"Error",MB_OK);
		return 1;
	}

	MultiByteToWideChar(CP_ACP, 0, lpstrLinkPath, -1, 
                lpwstrLinkPath, MAX_PATH+1); //COM uses Unicode for this stuff

	hRes = Ipf->Save(lpwstrLinkPath, TRUE);//save the link to disk
		if (!SUCCEEDED(hRes)){
		MessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP,"Could not get save to disk",
			"Error",MB_OK);
		return 1;
	}
    Ipf->Release(); //release interfaces
    Isl->Release(); 
	CoUninitialize(); //bye bye COM!

	return 0;
}