Getting program to run at start up from c# code. Setting Registry Run to 'true' doesn't work as well.

Question

I found this nice snippet of code online:

rkApp = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run", true);

Which runs great but alas on windows 7 and vista I suspect, it crashes cause it doesn't have permission to write there.

So then I research (on stackoverflow of course) how to avoid this, quickest method:

rkApp = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run", true);

Simple enough! Though there is two issues remaining. One is with both methods (on a XP Box that is), the program thinks its relative path is somewhere in the C:\windows folder now...so I.e. it won't find my path relative help files etc. The second issue is, on windows 7, my program won't startup until I log in. I want it to start up in the background if possible before anyone logs in.

Its a simple .exe that hangs out in the systray when its running. I didn't want to create this monstrosity of an installer to get around these admin and pathing issues.

I Think I would have to create it as a service (no clue how to do that) to get it to start up when the machine reboots before anyone logs in. Secondly to do that I am sure I have to figure out the admin privileges, and since I don't want to have to approve the program to run every time it starts up it sounds like I would have to figure out its admin privileges during install time, but alas no installer.

So just curious what routes I might take to get this to work. I can even suffer it coming up only after when the user logs in, but my current methods that work this way really screw up the pathing of my program since it tries to write stuff out to a new directory (not the one I originally started the EXE from). Etc...and I have no clue how to go about fixing that pathing issue.

Answer 1

If you want your program to start as a service before anyone logs on, then it's going to need to be installed and run as an admin user. There's not getting round this fact.

There's a Microsoft Knowledge Base article on creating a service which should get you started.

There's a project template for a Windows Service installed by default in Visual Studio 2008:

"File > New > Project > Visual C# > Windows > Windows Service"

Answer 2

It sounds like you need two programs here.

You can't have an application run in the system tray and run prior to login. The system tray doesn't "exist" until the user logs in and has a valid desktop.

The normal way to handle this is to make two programs. First, create a windows service that does the bulk of your work. This will run on startup, and be independent of any user logins.

Then, make a user mode application which uses IPC to communicate with the service. This can run on login, and "talk" to the service remotely, thereby providing your system tray requirements.