System Configuration Utility

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gene Goldenfeld
  • Start date Start date
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Gene Goldenfeld

I notice after installing a new hard drive, which XP now boots from,
that in the System Config Utility>Startup some items are still
referring to the old HD (still present). Is there any quick way
to change these to point to the new HD? Most are utilities, such
as taskswitch, autosave, winpatrol,reader_sl (adobe), jusched
(java), etc. Thanks.

Gene
 
Are those utilities still installed on the old drive?

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Wesley Vogel said:
Are those utilities still installed on the old drive?

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
Click to expand...

They were, but not now. After some problems on the new drive, I was
setting up for a clean install and was going to use the old one for
backup. I had gone through and changed all the targets and didn't
realize there were a few loose ends pointing to the old one before
scrubbing it.

Gene

Gene
 
There is no easy way, it will take a little work. See if this helps.

Figure out where each item starts from and then change the shortcuts target
(Startup folder) or the the path (registry entry).

Msconfig.exe can handle startups from these locations...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
Load and Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
%allusersprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
%userprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

msconfig Startup Item, Command & Location

In the System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe), items in the column
Startup Item get their names from:

1. The name of the shortcut in
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
or %allusersprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

2. The name of the shortcut in
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
or %userprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

3. From the Value Name under the Name column in the registry under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and other various startup locations in the registry.

In msconfig, items in the column Command get their names from:

1. The path to the startup item in
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
or %allusersprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

2. The path to the startup item in
C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
or %userprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

3. The path to the startup item in the Data column in the registry under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
and other various startup locations in the registry.

In msconfig, Common Startup listed in the Location column, refers to
%allusersprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

In msconfig, Startup listed in the Location column, refers to
%userprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

As far as I know anything else listed under the Location column refers to
whatever startup registry key...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
Load and Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

For any logged on user, Start button\All Programs\Startup contains whatever
is in both
%userprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
and
%allusersprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
-----

%userprofile% is an environment variable that is the path to the user's home
folder.

Typing or pasting %userprofile% into the Start | Run box opens to the
Documents
and Settings folder on whatever drive it is located on for the logged in
user.

I.e. C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here

%allusersprofile% is an environment variable that is the path to the All
Users folder.

Typing or pasting %allusersprofile% into the Start | Run box opens to the
Documents and Settings\All Users folder on whatever drive it is located on.

I.e. C:\Documents and Settings\All Users

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
Wes,
That was one of the very finest pieces of help I've ever received!
If only 12 hours earlier... ;-(

Now, if you have any thoughts about why ...

1) Sygate Personal Firewall is still not loading to the system tray but
is lurking in the background, and does pop up appropriately, while the
MS red X shield shows; and

2) Why my desktop photo of Glacier Park won't load, although it's there
in the Display Properties box>Desktop list, and why the Apply button is
blanked out, I'd be even more grateful. Thanks!

Gene
 
I should restate that:

1) SPF is taking its good time to show up in the SysTray, while the MS
shield is for AVG, which it now doesn't seem to recognize, officially
at least.
 
Gene said:
Wes,
That was one of the very finest pieces of help I've ever received!
If only 12 hours earlier... ;-(

Now, if you have any thoughts about why ...

1) Sygate Personal Firewall is still not loading to the system tray
but is lurking in the background, and does pop up appropriately, while
the MS red X shield shows; and

2) Why my desktop photo of Glacier Park won't load, although it's
there in the Display Properties box>Desktop list, and why the Apply
button is
blanked out, I'd be even more grateful. Thanks!
Click to expand...


1. I used the free Sygate firewall on my Windows machines for many
years. I found the last version to be flaky and wound up uninstalling
it. The Windows machines use the XP SP2 Firewall now.

2. Go to the Display applet in Control Panel and look on the Desktop
tab. Click on Customize Desktop, and then click on the Web tab. You
will see that there are checkmarks next to "My Current Home Page" and
probably "Lock Desktop Items". Uncheck these. Click Apply and OK out
when you've made your changes.

Malke
 
Malke said:
1. I used the free Sygate firewall on my Windows machines for many
years. I found the last version to be flaky and wound up uninstalling
it. The Windows machines use the XP SP2 Firewall now.

2. Go to the Display applet in Control Panel and look on the Desktop
tab. Click on Customize Desktop, and then click on the Web tab. You
will see that there are checkmarks next to "My Current Home Page" and
probably "Lock Desktop Items". Uncheck these. Click Apply and OK out
when you've made your changes.

Malke
Click to expand...

Re 2, they weren't checked, but sometimes checking and unchecking frees
things. In this case, it got the "apply," but no photo. Sygate's been
working fine for me prior to this episode, certainly better than
Norton, but the MS shield popup says it can't find the anti-virus app.
Another weird thing that started is that as I was proceeding through the
post-repair install updates, "checking for the latest updates for your
computer" (IE6) just keeps running and running w/o results. Time for a
clean install, I guess. Thanks.

Gene
 
Gene said:
Re 2, they weren't checked, but sometimes checking and unchecking
frees
things. In this case, it got the "apply," but no photo. Sygate's
been working fine for me prior to this episode, certainly better than
Norton, but the MS shield popup says it can't find the anti-virus app.
Another weird thing that started is that as I was proceeding through
the post-repair install updates, "checking for the latest updates for
your
computer" (IE6) just keeps running and running w/o results. Time for
a
clean install, I guess. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Having glanced through your previous posts in this thread, I agree with
you. You will have far less problems and spend a lot less time if you
just do a clean install.

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#reinstall_Windows - what
you will need to reinstall Windows

Malke
 
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