Startup Folder.

I created a shortcut to Task Manager and dragged it to the Startup folder but when I restart the PC, Task Manager doesn't open.
Any idea(s) why not?

 

Can't help with why, just confirm that it does work on my Win 7 VM. Only item in Startup.

 

When I click the shortcut in the Startup folder, Task Manager opens.
And the other item, MemInfo, always starts.

 

I'd compare the permissions of the two shortcuts.

 

The Permissions are identical.
I did make a change to the Task Manager shortcut.
Properties > Shortcut tab > Advanced... > Run as administrator is checked.

 

Try to run it with a little delay

• First uncheck the "Run as Administrator" box (it would cause the UAC prompt).
• Change the "Target" to
  Code:

  C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c "timeout /t 5 /nobreak >nul & start C:\Windows\system32\taskmgr.exe"

• Change "Run" to Minimized

I was only able to test it on Win10 though.

 

Thanks GermanOne, Task Manager is opening.

• Unchecked 'Run as administrator'.
• Changed 'Target:' to your code.
• Didn't change 'Run:' to Minimized because I need to see what's using excessive RAM.

The reason I checked 'Run as administrator' is because 'Show processes from all users' will be checked. Now it isn't.

 

That would only minimize the annoying CMD window

I see. Create a Scheduled Task triggered at logon. Use your account and highest available run level.
I could help out with an XML file you can import to your task scheduler in case you're not familiar with this stuff.

 

Done. Opens in a normal window.

Thanks. I'm familiar with Task Scheduler - used it to bypass UAC for certain programs I know are safe, until I found a Winaero utility that can do it.
I no longer need Task Manager to start with Windows - the culprit is Avast.

 

For various reasons, I have quite a bit of experience in creating shortcuts in places like the startup folder, on XP and Vista. I think what I'm about to say applies to both of them, from memory, and quite possibly to other versions of Windows.

Despite the fact that I do this often, I also frequently forget something that I've discovered: creating a shortcut and dragging it elsewhere rarely (if ever) results in a shortcut that will work. The shortcut needs to be created in the location you want it, not created elsewhere and then dragged to where you want it.

If you had opened the startup folder, and opened the folder where Task Manager can be found, and right-clicked on Task Manager and dragged across to the startup folder, then chosen the option to create a shortcut there, it probably would have worked first time, even after the restart.

One thing that can work is to create a shortcut on the desktop by right-clicking on something and choosing 'Send to desktop (create shortcut)' and then creating a shortcut to that shortcut by, again, right-click on the desktop shortcut and drag to where you want the second shortcut. Note that if you then delete the shortcut from the desktop or move it, the second one you created from it will stop working.