Windows Startup folder environment variable

The startup priority in Windows is as follows, listed from first to start to last to start:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunonce HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorerRun HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionWindowsRun HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunOnce SystemDriveDocuments and SettingsAll UsersStart MenuProgramsStartup SystemDriveDocuments and SettingsusernameStart MenuProgramsStartup

The last two items relate to Windows XP days. Which relate to: %PROGRAMDATA%MicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup

And yes, to answer your question, Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10 use the same startup folder.

So, if you want your program to run first, always use: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun Otherwise, the startup folder, will load after everything else is loaded.