Program startup order in Windows 9x

The order of which applications are loaded and where they are loaded from:

  1. config.sys
  2. autoexec.bat
  3. wininit.ini
  4. winstart.bat
  5. system.ini
  6. win.ini
    [Windows]
    Load=
    Run=
  7. All Users-RunServicesOnce
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \RunServicesOnce]
  8. All Users-RunServices
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \RunServices]
  9. All Users-RunOnce
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \RunOnce]
  10. All Users-Run
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Run]
  11. All Users-RunOnceEx
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \RunOnceEx]
  12. All Users-RunEx
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \RunEx]
  13. Current User-RunOnce
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \RunOnce]
  14. Current User-Run
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Run]
  15. Current User-RunOnceEx
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \RunOnceEx]
  16. Current User-RunEx
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \RunEx]
  17. Common Startup Folder in the Start-Menu for All Users
  18. Startup Folder in the Start-Menu for Current User

More Info MS KB137367
More Info MS KB174018
More Info MS KB179365
More Info MS KB232487
More Info MS KB243039

Note if one of the Run-sections includes an invalid entry (Uses a path that doesn’t exist), then Windows might open at folder at startup. Use Startup.CPL or Msconfig to check the entries.

Related Use SHIFT-key to prevent launch of 6-18

Credits Greatis.com