As suggested by Joel, the proper solution is to install a shortcut in your program files folder at install time and then copy the .lnk to the startup folder. Trying to create a shortcut is more difficult.
The code below does the following:
- It gets the path to the All Users Startup Folder for you. Environment.GetSpecialFolder is fairly limited and doesn't have a reference to this folder and as a result you need to make a system call.
- Has methods to copy and remove a shortcut.
Ultimately, I wanted to also make sure that it was gracefully handled on vista if the user running the application was a regular user they would be prompted to enter their credentials. I created a post here on the subject so check into that here if that's important to you.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1039875/how-can-i-copy-a-file-as-a-standard-user-in-vista-ie-an-administrative-choice
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Security.Principal;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace BR.Util
{
public class StartupLinkUtil
{
[DllImport("shell32.dll")]
static extern bool SHGetSpecialFolderPath(IntPtr hwndOwner, [Out] StringBuilder lpszPath, int nFolder, bool fCreate);
public static string getAllUsersStartupFolder()
{
StringBuilder path = new StringBuilder(200);
SHGetSpecialFolderPath(IntPtr.Zero, path, CSIDL_COMMON_STARTUP, false);
return path.ToString();
}
private static string getStartupShortcutFilename()
{
return Path.Combine(getAllUsersStartupFolder(), Application.ProductName) + ".lnk";
}
public static bool CopyShortcutToAllUsersStartupFolder(string pShortcutName)
{
bool retVal = false;
FileInfo shortcutFile = new FileInfo(pShortcutName);
FileInfo destination = new FileInfo(getStartupShortcutFilename());
if (destination.Exists)
{
// Don't do anything file already exists. -- Potentially overwrite?
}
else if (!shortcutFile.Exists)
{
MessageBox.Show("Unable to RunOnStartup because '" + pShortcutName + "' can't be found. Was this application installed properly?");
}
else
{
retVal = copyFile(shortcutFile, destination);
}
return retVal;
}
public static bool doesShortcutExistInAllUsersStartupFolder()
{
return File.Exists(getStartupShortcutFilename());
}
public static bool RemoveShortcutFromAllUsersStartupFolder() {
bool retVal = false;
string path = Path.Combine(getAllUsersStartupFolder(), Application.ProductName) + ".lnk";
if( File.Exists(path) ) {
try
{
File.Delete(path);
retVal = true;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(string.Format("Unable to remove this application from the Startup list. Administrative privledges are required to perform this operation.\n\nDetails: SecurityException: {0}", ex.Message), "Update Startup Mode", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
}
}
return retVal;
}
// TODO: Test this in vista to see if it prompts for credentials.
public static bool copyFile(FileInfo pSource, FileInfo pDestination)
{
bool retVal = false;
try
{
File.Copy(pSource.FullName, pDestination.FullName);
//MessageBox.Show("File has successfully been added.", "Copy File", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information);
retVal = true;
}
catch (System.Security.SecurityException secEx)
{
MessageBox.Show(string.Format("SecurityException: {0}", secEx.Message), "Copy File", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
}
catch (UnauthorizedAccessException authEx)
{
MessageBox.Show(string.Format("UnauthorizedAccessException: {0}", authEx.Message), "Copy File", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message, "Copy File", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
}
return retVal;
}
#region Special Folder constants
const int CSIDL_DESKTOP = 0x0000; // <desktop>
const int CSIDL_INTERNET = 0x0001; // Internet Explorer (icon on desktop)
const int CSIDL_PROGRAMS = 0x0002; // Start Menu\Programs
const int CSIDL_CONTROLS = 0x0003; // My Computer\Control Panel
const int CSIDL_PRINTERS = 0x0004; // My Computer\Printers
const int CSIDL_PERSONAL = 0x0005; // My Documents
const int CSIDL_FAVORITES = 0x0006; // <user name>\Favorites
const int CSIDL_STARTUP = 0x0007; // Start Menu\Programs\Startup
const int CSIDL_RECENT = 0x0008; // <user name>\Recent
const int CSIDL_SENDTO = 0x0009; // <user name>\SendTo
const int CSIDL_BITBUCKET = 0x000a; // <desktop>\Recycle Bin
const int CSIDL_STARTMENU = 0x000b; // <user name>\Start Menu
const int CSIDL_MYDOCUMENTS = CSIDL_PERSONAL; // Personal was just a silly name for My Documents
const int CSIDL_MYMUSIC = 0x000d; // "My Music" folder
const int CSIDL_MYVIDEO = 0x000e; // "My Videos" folder
const int CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY = 0x0010; // <user name>\Desktop
const int CSIDL_DRIVES = 0x0011; // My Computer
const int CSIDL_NETWORK = 0x0012; // Network Neighborhood (My Network Places)
const int CSIDL_NETHOOD = 0x0013; // <user name>\nethood
const int CSIDL_FONTS = 0x0014; // windows\fonts
const int CSIDL_TEMPLATES = 0x0015;
const int CSIDL_COMMON_STARTMENU = 0x0016; // All Users\Start Menu
const int CSIDL_COMMON_PROGRAMS = 0x0017; // All Users\Start Menu\Programs
const int CSIDL_COMMON_STARTUP = 0x0018; // All Users\Startup
const int CSIDL_COMMON_DESKTOPDIRECTORY = 0x0019; // All Users\Desktop
const int CSIDL_APPDATA = 0x001a; // <user name>\Application Data
const int CSIDL_PRINTHOOD = 0x001b; // <user name>\PrintHood
const int CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA = 0x001c; // <user name>\Local Settings\Applicaiton Data (non roaming)
const int CSIDL_ALTSTARTUP = 0x001d; // non localized startup
const int CSIDL_COMMON_ALTSTARTUP = 0x001e; // non localized common startup
const int CSIDL_COMMON_FAVORITES = 0x001f;
const int CSIDL_INTERNET_CACHE = 0x0020;
const int CSIDL_COOKIES = 0x0021;
const int CSIDL_HISTORY = 0x0022;
const int CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA = 0x0023; // All Users\Application Data
const int CSIDL_WINDOWS = 0x0024; // GetWindowsDirectory()
const int CSIDL_SYSTEM = 0x0025; // GetSystemDirectory()
const int CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES = 0x0026; // C:\Program Files
const int CSIDL_MYPICTURES = 0x0027; // C:\Program Files\My Pictures
const int CSIDL_PROFILE = 0x0028; // USERPROFILE
const int CSIDL_SYSTEMX86 = 0x0029; // x86 system directory on RISC
const int CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILESX86 = 0x002a; // x86 C:\Program Files on RISC
const int CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES_COMMON = 0x002b; // C:\Program Files\Common
const int CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES_COMMONX86 = 0x002c; // x86 Program Files\Common on RISC
const int CSIDL_COMMON_TEMPLATES = 0x002d; // All Users\Templates
const int CSIDL_COMMON_DOCUMENTS = 0x002e; // All Users\Documents
const int CSIDL_COMMON_ADMINTOOLS = 0x002f; // All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
const int CSIDL_ADMINTOOLS = 0x0030; // <user name>\Start Menu\Programs\Administrative Tools
const int CSIDL_CONNECTIONS = 0x0031; // Network and Dial-up Connections
const int CSIDL_COMMON_MUSIC = 0x0035; // All Users\My Music
const int CSIDL_COMMON_PICTURES = 0x0036; // All Users\My Pictures
const int CSIDL_COMMON_VIDEO = 0x0037; // All Users\My Video
const int CSIDL_RESOURCES = 0x0038; // Resource Direcotry
const int CSIDL_RESOURCES_LOCALIZED = 0x0039; // Localized Resource Direcotry
const int CSIDL_COMMON_OEM_LINKS = 0x003a; // Links to All Users OEM specific apps
const int CSIDL_CDBURN_AREA = 0x003b; // USERPROFILE\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CD Burning
const int CSIDL_COMPUTERSNEARME = 0x003d; // Computers Near Me (computered from Workgroup membership)
const int CSIDL_FLAG_CREATE = 0x8000; // combine with CSIDL_ value to force folder creation in SHGetFolderPath()
const int CSIDL_FLAG_DONT_VERIFY = 0x4000; // combine with CSIDL_ value to return an unverified folder path
const int CSIDL_FLAG_DONT_UNEXPAND = 0x2000; // combine with CSIDL_ value to avoid unexpanding environment variables
const int CSIDL_FLAG_NO_ALIAS = 0x1000; // combine with CSIDL_ value to insure non-alias versions of the pidl
const int CSIDL_FLAG_PER_USER_INIT = 0x0800; // combine with CSIDL_ value to indicate per-user init (eg. upgrade)
#endregion
}
While I was writing this solution, I thought of a better way of handling the problem which wouldn't require users to have escalated privledges in order to disable run on startup.
My solution was to check as soon as the program loaded if a user scoped setting called RunOnStartup. To detect if the application was being started when the system loads or logs in I added an argument to the shortcut which gets added to the All Users -> Startup folder called shortcut.
// Quit the application if the per user setting for RunOnStartup is false.
if (args != null && args.Length > 0 && args[0].Contains("startup"))
{
if (Settings1.Default.RunOnStartup == false)
{
Application.Exit();
}
}