Struggling to find the Windows 10 startup folder location? Here’s how you can find the startup folder and open it in Windows 10.
If you have certain programs that you want to launch as soon as you log in to Windows, you can add them to the startup folder. Once added, Windows will automatically launch any and all programs in the startup folder. Of course, if you don’t need a program starting with Windows, you can simply remove the target program’s shortcut from the startup folder.
To do all that, you need to know where to find the Windows startup folder. Let me show you how to find it.
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Where is the Windows 10 Startup Folder?
You can find the Windows 10 startup folder in the below location.
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
All Users startup folder is located in the below location.
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
How to Open the Windows 10 Startup Folder
There are several different ways to open the startup folder in Windows 10. I will show the easiest way of them all.
Open User-specific Startup folder:
Each Windows user account has its own startup folder. Any programs added to this startup folder will be launched as soon as the target user is logged in. Follow the below steps to open the user-specific startup folder.
- Press “Windows Key + R” to open the Run window.
- In the blank field, type “shell:startup“.
- Click on the “Ok” button.
As soon as you do that, the user-specific startup folder will be opened in the File Explorer. If you click on the address bar, you will see the actual absolute path of the user-specific startup folder. It will be something like this.
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Open All Users/Common startup folder:
All Users startup folder is just as it sounds. The All Users startup folder belongs to all the users on your system. If you have a program that you want to start with Windows for all the users then you should add that program to the All Users startup folder.
Follow the below steps to open the All Users startup folder.
- Open the Run window with the “Win + R” keyboard shortcut.
- Type “shell:common startup” in the blank field.
- Press “Enter” on your keyboard or click “Ok“.
As soon as you press the Enter button, the common startup folder will open in the File Explorer. Click on the address bar and you will see the following absolute folder path for All Users startup folder.
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
Add or Remove Programs in the Startup Folder
To add a program to the startup folder, all you have to do is add its shortcut. Once added, that program or application will start with Windows.
First, open the startup folder as shown above. Next, find the exe file of the installed application, hold the “Alt” key, and drag and drop the exe file into the startup folder. This action will create a new shortcut.
That is it. After creating the shortcut, you can close the startup folder. From now on, that specific application will start with Windows.
If you want to remove the application from the Windows startup list, simply delete the shortcut in the startup folder and you are done.
That is it. I hope that helps. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.
