Run application on startup

Question

i am wondering if its possible to solve this problem. Ive got qt application and if user tick the checkbox, i want this application to launch on startup of operating system. Ive already googled, and ive come up with this solution>

my QT application needs admin privileges in order to modify registry, so

1. create manifest file ( <requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false"/>)

2.apply this command

mt -manifest manifestfile -outputresource:binfile.exe;1

3.use this piece of code in QT to modify registry

void MainWindow::set_on_startup() {

QSettings settings("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run", QSettings::NativeFormat);

       if (ui->checkBox->checkState()) {
        QString value = QCoreApplication::applicationFilePath(); //get absolute path of running exe
        QString apostroph = "\"";

        #ifdef DEBUG
        ui->textEdit->append(QCoreApplication::applicationFilePath ());
#endif

       value.replace("/","\\");
       value = apostroph + value + apostroph + " --argument";

#ifdef DEBUG
       ui->textEdit->append(value);
#endif
        //write value to the register
        settings.setValue("name", value);


    }
    else {
         settings.remove("name");
    }
}

So, this looks good right ? BUT... application with default admin priveleges cant be launched on startup of operating system, BUT application without admin priveleges cant modify registry. So , there is one solution - tell a user, that if he wants to set this "startup" option, he first needs to start application as admin, then the application will be able to modify registry, and default privileges will remain "asInvoker", but this seems really impractical and i think that users will be discouraged by this.

So, how to solve this problem ? how other applications solve this problem ?

Answer 1

You won't need admiministrator privileges if you use following key:

   QSettings settings("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run", QSettings::NativeFormat);

Notice

HKEY_CURRENT_USER

instead of using

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Answer 2

My 2 cents! : )

Why not simply put the app shortcut in "Startup" folder.
Qt provides a cross-platform way of determining the paths to many default system directories using the QDesktopServices class.
(Source: Thanks to Dave Mateer for his answer to this question.)

The method is:

QDesktopServices::storageLocation(QDesktopServices::ApplicationsLocation)

This gives (on my Win 7):

C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

and all we need is:

C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Simple!

I use this without any hassle of UAC or any kind of rights problem in most of my apps.
This may not be the best way... but it is certainly an easy way.
(Please pitch in thoughts/comments if this approach has any big disadvantages.)

Update: To create the short-cut for the application in startup folder, use this code:

QFileInfo fileInfo(QCoreApplication::applicationFilePath());
QFile::link(QCoreApplication::applicationFilePath(), QDesktopServices::storageLocation(QDesktopServices::ApplicationsLocation) + QDir::separator() + "Startup" + QDir::separator() + fileInfo.completeBaseName() + ".lnk");

I hope this helps! : )

Answer 3

Include this header QSettings

#include <QSettings>

And add this into your code.

QSettings settings("HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run", QSettings::NativeFormat); settings.setValue("YourApplicationName", QCoreApplication::applicationFilePath().replace('/', '\\'));

Answer 4

For everybody who are trying to solve the problem, this is the 100% working solution:

How can I ask the user for elevated permissions at runtime?

1. create app1.exe
2. create app2.exe with admin priveleges - tutorial is in the first post (manifest file, mt.exe, etc..)

3. when user tick the checkbox in app1.exe, i call the the app2.exe (for example with no arguments) - you can find all function for this @ the link ive just posted above // well, in fact, you dont have to use the function from the example above: i find this call much better

                 QObject *parent = new QObject();
                 QString program = AppToExec; //"/path/to/the/app2.exe"
                 QStringList arguments ;
                 arguments << ""; //just in case we want arguments
                 QProcess *myProcess = new QProcess(parent);
                 myProcess->start(program);
   

4. app2.exe, for example

     QApplication a(argc, argv);
     MainWindow w;
   //  w.show();
    if (argc == 1) {
    w.test();
    a.quit();
   
   }
   

5. problem solved.