Start Menu\Programs\StartUp C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp

Common Startup folder: shortcuts and programs placed in it launch at sign-in for every user of the computer.

Updated on 12 November 2026 By AltF4 Formation

What it’s for

The startup folder shared by all users (FOLDERID_CommonStartup): every shortcut or program in it launches at sign-in of any account on the machine. Its per-user counterpart is %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

What it contains

Mostly .lnk shortcuts dropped by an installer or an administrator, sometimes scripts or executables. It is often empty on a new machine. In File Explorer, shell:common startup opens it directly.

Risks and best practices

You need administrator rights to write here, which makes it a classic persistence spot for malware. Include it in your inventory or change auditing, along with the Run registry keys.
To stop an automatic startup, disable it in Task Manager first (the “Startup apps” tab) rather than deleting the shortcut: you can turn it back on later.
For a controlled startup deployment, prefer Group Policy or a scheduled task at sign-in. Never put a script containing a password here.

Useful commands

# Content of the common startup folder
Get-ChildItem "$env:ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp" -Force

# Overview of startup commands (folders and registry)
Get-CimInstance Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object Name, Command, Location, User

# Target of a shortcut
(New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell).CreateShortcut("$env:ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\<shortcut>.lnk").TargetPath

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