Free Commander autostart at boot

[Walter Eagle]

Hi there

A really simple question, and no doubt I'm doing something really stupid to cause my problem.
I decided I'd like Free Commander to autostart at boot of my Windows 11 Pro system.
But I've been completely unsuccessful so far.

I have a shortcut to FC in C:\Users\[MyUserName]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
I also have a shortcut to FC in C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

If I go to Windows > Settings > Apps > Startup I see two entries for Free Commander (presumably as a result of the two shortcuts?) and both are set to "On".

Any ideas?

Thanks and best wishes

_____________________________________
Windows 11 Pro 25H2 Build 26200.7462
Free Commander XE 2025 Build 938 64-bit donor

[m-a-r-k]

Try running as administrator (right click on shortcut-properties- advanced button.
Also check the file path in the shortcut is correct and in quote marks.

[Walter Eagle]

Hi there

Thanks for the reply.

I confirmed the paths both shortcuts were using to launch FC. I navigated to them (using FC), double-clicked and they both started another instance of FC.
So far, so good.
I then looked at the 'run as administrator' box. It was already checked in both shortcuts.

But then I thought - perhaps 'autorun at start' shouldn't be run as admin?
So I unchecked them, re-started and immediately got two instances of FC at start-up, exactly as expected.
I'll delete the shortcut in the All Users path so in future I only get one instance starting.

Thank you for pointing in me in the right area, even if it was facing the wrong way!

[m-a-r-k]

Glad you got there. Mine is set to run as Administrator which is why I suggested it.
It's all Black Magic...

[Forez]

[...]
But then I thought - perhaps 'autorun at start' shouldn't be run as admin?
[...]

The User Account Control blocks autorunning of elevated programs from StartUp folder even if it set to >>Never notify<<. This is a safety measure to prevent malware from automatically and silently gaining admin rights after boot-up

But if one needs to actually execute some program with privileges, there is workaround: LNKs >>Target<< can use CMD wrapper or some other launcher to trigger elevation. Although some targets, like certain AutoHotkey scripts, might require addition of a time delay