WMIC – Display a list of programs launched at Windows startup

By | December 19, 2011

Yes there are a lot of ways to see what starts with Windows – but we’ve found yet another. And maybe this one drills down a little deeper. So if you’re running Windows 7, give WMIC a try. WMIC is a program built into Windows 7, and it allows you to create a list of applications that run at startup. So let’s try it now, okay?

1. Press the Windows key + the “R” key. Now type CMD in the Run dialog and press Enter.

2. At the cursor type wmic and press Enter. You’ll now see the command prompt change to “wmic:root\cli>”.

3. At that command prompt type startup and press Enter – and you’ll the list of applications that run at startup displayed immediately.

Cloudeight Internet

You say you want to print it – or save a copy of it in Notepad or Word or whatever? Easy.

1. Right-click on the Command dialog’s title bar.

2. Choose “Edit” , then “Select all”

3. Right-click (again) on the title bar and select “Copy” (or press “Enter”)

4. Paste your list in Word, Notepad, your favorite word processing program – or even an email (send it to yourself).

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Thundercloud>wmic
wmic:root\cli>startup

Caption Command Description Location Name SettingID User UserSID

EvernoteClipper EvernoteClipper.lnk

EvernoteClipper Startup EvernoteClipper POE\Thundercloud S-1-5-21-997223506-2251184446-2613729700-1001

EvernoteTray EvernoteTray.lnk EvernoteTray Startup EvernoteTray POE\Thundercloud S-1-5-21-997223506-2251184446-2613729700-1001

SUPERAntiSpyware C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe SUPERAntiSpyware HKU\S-1-5-21-997223506-2251184446-2613729700-1001\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run SUPERAntiSpyware

(clipped for brevity)
wmic:root\cli>

5 thoughts on “WMIC – Display a list of programs launched at Windows startup

  1. sonia elliott

    -Useful and simple, thankyou – thanks also for a years of useful information, the short one pager is perfect.

    Reply
  2. Artie Boldman

    well, it didnt work out quite that well for me. My startup up showed only a google toolbar and Messenger IM. Also this came up on CMD which is a little different from what you show in the info. wmic:root\cli>
    I dont believe your exmple shows the slash before cli.

    Reply
    1. infoave Post author

      The instructions we provided were accurate and complete. As you can see others have found it worked as well. It’s best to copy/paste the command. And you cannot save it as vbs.txt which is what you’d do unless you changed Notepad to “all files” when you save it. It must be saved as .vbs .

      Reply

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