Registry startup programs not starting

Topic

New Reply

I was wondering whether anyone could help me.

Some of my startup programs have stopped starting automatically.

This happened first when I upgraded from Win 8.1 to win 8.1.1 – I backed it out and reinstalled, and it seemed to fix it. But now it looks like some other windows update has clobbered it again and I cannot seem to work out why it has stopped.

The programs are listed in the Startup tab of Task Manager and are shown as enabled. It looks like the HKLM and HKCU registry entries for “Run” are not being processed.

Anyone got any ideas?

Reply | Quote

Replies

Are you logging in as the user for the HKCU entries?

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Yes – this is my laptop – I am the only user.

Reply | Quote

Do they show up if you use a tool such as Autoruns or WhatInStartup?

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Yes. In Autoruns they appear in the Logon tab.

I also checked Local Group Policy but could find no policies which would prevent them running.

I wonder whether it is a permissions thing on the Run registry entries. Can someone post their permissions from their own system so I can check?

Reply | Quote

By “startup programs”, what do you mean exactly?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

I mean autostart programs – the programs in the registry entries:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun

Reply | Quote

I assume the space in Curre nt is a typo?

Jerry

Reply | Quote

I have tried to get rid of the null character if it actually exists – but no change. (It could of course be something to do with my pasting here.)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Run

Reply | Quote

I put spaces around the s and the inserted space disappeared. So probably something that this site does to ensure that lines without spaces don’t get too long.

Reply | Quote

I assume the space in Curre nt is a typo?

Jerry

I have seen a lot of instances on this forum where a rogue space appears, particularly with registry entries.

Just tried but can’t recreate!

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun

ETA, I can recreate! The key looks fine until the message is posted.

Reply | Quote

I copied and pasted these registry locations from Regedit. Not sure how the spaces got in there. Here are the strings pasted again…

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun

There are no spaces showing when I pasted them.

P.S. They are there in the same places again. Possibly a null character.

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun

Reply | Quote

Have you run a/v scans?

Can you run the programs manually?

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Yes. A/v scan (by ESET) is clear.

Yes – I can run all programs manually.

Reply | Quote

Can you post a screenshot of the Autoruns Logon tab?

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

Well – on the latest reboot it all started working again.

It may have been something to do with the Intel Turbo memory in the laptop. I cleared and refreshed its content and it all started working again.

Hopefully, some of the other recent glitches will also disappear.

Reply | Quote

Ok – so I cleared the pinned programs in Turbo Memory and restarted a couple of time and the reboot was fine and the Run registry key programs started fine.

Then Windows update ran, and I rebooted again, and the problem recurred even though the Turbo Memory was still empty.

I am also having to keep applying the registration serial number to BatteryBar Pro which suggests that some registry values are not being saved or read.

But apart from that I not only have no idea what the problem is, I also have no idea how to proceed to diagnose this one further.

Any help very gratefully received.

Reply | Quote

P.S. I have a feeling that this issue may have been caused by the Windows 8.1.1 update patch.

They issued an updated version of this patch and I think MS have suggested that people uninstall and reinstall if they have issues.

I installed this some time ago, and have installed further updates and cleaned my disks several times. However I will see if I can uninstall following their instructions and then re-install it afresh and see if that helps.

Reply | Quote

Have you run sfc /scannow?

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Yes – there were no integrity violations (or at least I think that is what it said).

Reply | Quote

I have now discovered that I can reliably make start-up programs work if I log off and log on again.

Weird!!

Not ideal, and I would really like to fix it, but I can live with this if I need to.

Reply | Quote

I have now discovered that I can reliably make start-up programs work if I log off and log on again. Weird!! Not ideal, and I would really like to fix it, but I can live with this if I need to.

Yeah, something similarly would happen to me, my taskbar notifications would be missing some members, kinda sorta like Congress during speech-giving — a restart would bring back the missing.

"Take care of thy backups and thy restores shall take care of thee." Ben Franklin, revisted

Reply | Quote