Reading RunOnce Key

by Feb 12, 2018

The RunOnce key in the Windows Registry stores all auto-starting executables. It may be empty. To check for auto-starting applications, try this:

$path = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce'
$properties = Get-ItemProperty -Path $path 
$properties

Again, this key may have no values. If it has, each auto-starting program has its own value with its own name. To read just the paths for auto-starting programs, access the registry key and query its GetValueNames() method. It provides you with the registry value names. GetValue() can then retrieve the actual value for you:

$path = 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce'
$key = Get-Item -Path $path
$key.GetValueNames() | ForEach-Object { $key.GetValue($_) }

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