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  • Feb 29, 2020

Win32_StartupCommand

The Win32_StartupCommand WMI class represents a command that runs automatically when a user logs onto the computer system.

The Win32_StartupCommand WMI class represents a command that runs automatically when a user logs onto the computer system.

Methods

Win32_StartupCommand has no methods.

Properties

Win32_StartupCommand returns 8 properties:

'Caption','Command','Description','Location','Name','SettingID','User','UserSID'

Unless explicitly marked as writeable, all properties are read-only. Read all properties for all instances:

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand -Property *

Most WMI classes return one or more instances.

When Get-CimInstance returns no result, then apparently no instances of class Win32_StartupCommand exist. This is normal behavior.

Either the class is not implemented on your system (may be deprecated or due to missing drivers, i.e. CIM_VideoControllerResolution), or there are simply no physical representations of this class currently available (i.e. Win32_TapeDrive).

Caption

STRING MAX 64 CHAR

Short textual description of the current object.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object -Property Command, Location, Name, User, Caption

Command

KEY PROPERTY STRING

Command run by the startup command.

WMI obtains this data from the registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Example: “C:\Windows\notepad.exe myfile.txt”

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object -Property Command, Location, Name, User

Description

STRING

Textual description of the current object.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object -Property Command, Location, Name, User, Description

Location

KEY PROPERTY STRING

Path where the startup command resides on the disk file system.

For example: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Startup (“Startup”)

Common Startup (“Common Startup”)

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (“HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run”)

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices (“HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices”)

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object -Property Command, Location, Name, User

Name

KEY PROPERTY STRING

File name of the startup command.

Example: “FindFast”

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object -Property Command, Location, Name, User

SettingID

STRING MAX 256 CHAR

Identifier by which the current object is known.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object -Property Command, Location, Name, User, SettingID

User

KEY PROPERTY STRING

User name for whom this startup command will run.

Example: “mydomain\myname”

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object -Property Command, Location, Name, User

UserSID

STRING

The UserSID property indicates the SID of the user for whom this startup command will run. That User property may be empty but UserSID still has a value if the user name can’t be resolved (like in the case of a deleted user). The property is helpful to distinguish between commands associated w/ two different users with unresolved names. It may be NULL when the command is associated with items not actually identifying a user like All Users.

Example:S-1-5-21-1579938362-1064596589-3161144252-1006

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object -Property Command, Location, Name, User, UserSID

Examples

List all instances of Win32_StartupCommand 
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand

Learn more about Get-CimInstance and the deprecated Get-WmiObject.

View all properties 
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand -Property *
View key properties only 
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand -KeyOnly

Selecting Properties

To select only some properties, pipe the results to Select-Object -Property a,b,c with a comma-separated list of the properties you require. Wildcards are permitted.

Get-CimInstance always returns all properties but only retrieves the ones that you specify. All other properties are empty but still present. That’s why you need to pipe the results into Select-Object if you want to limit the visible properties, i.e. for reporting.

Selecting Properties

The code below lists all available properties. Remove the ones you do not need:

$properties = 'Caption',
              'Command',
              'Description',
              'Location',
              'Name',
              'SettingID',
              'User',
              'UserSID'
Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object -Property $properties
Limiting Network Bandwidth

If you work remotely, it makes sense to limit network bandwidth by filtering the properties on the server side, too:

Get-CimInstance -Class Win32_StartupCommand -Property $property | 
Select-Object -Property $property

Selecting Instances

To select some instances, use Get-CimInstance and a WMI Query. The wildcard character in WMI Queries is % (and not “*”).

The parameter -Filter runs a simple query.

Listing all instances where the property Caption starts with “A” 
Get-CimInstance -Class Win32_StartupCommand -Filter 'Caption LIKE "a%"'
Using a WQL Query

The parameter -Query uses a query similar to SQL and combines the parameters -Filter and -Property. This returns all instances where the property Caption starts with “A”, and returns the properties specified:

Get-CimInstance -Query "SELECT Command, UserSID, Location, Caption FROM Win32_StartupCommand WHERE Caption LIKE 'a%'"

Any property you did not specify is still present but empty. You might need to use Select-Object to remove all unwanted properties:

Get-CimInstance -Query "SELECT Command, UserSID, Location, Caption FROM Win32_StartupCommand WHERE Caption LIKE 'a%'" | Select-Object -Property Command, UserSID, Location, Caption

Accessing Remote Computers

To access remote systems, you need to have proper permissions. User the parameter -ComputerName to access one or more remote systems.

Authenticating as Current User 
# one or more computer names or IP addresses:
$list = 'server1', 'server2'

# authenticate with your current identity:
$result = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_StartupCommand -ComputerName $list 
$result
Authenticating as Different User

Use a CIMSession object to authenticate with a new identity:

# one or more computer names or IP addresses:
$list = 'server1', 'server2'

# authenticate with a different identity:
$cred = Get-Credential -Message 'Authenticate to retrieve WMI information:'
$session = New-CimSession -ComputerName $list -Credential $cred

$result = Get-CimInstance Win32_StartupCommand -CimSession $session

# remove the session after use (if you do not plan to re-use it later)
Remove-CimSession -CimSession $session

$result

Learn more about accessing remote computers.

Requirements

To use Win32_StartupCommand, the following requirements apply:

PowerShell

Get-CimInstance was introduced with PowerShell Version 3.0, which in turn was introduced on clients with Windows 8 and on servers with Windows Server 2012.

If necessary, update Windows PowerShell to Windows PowerShell 5.1, or install PowerShell 7 side-by-side.

Operating System

Win32_StartupCommand was introduced on clients with Windows Vista and on servers with Windows Server 2008.

Namespace

Win32_StartupCommand lives in the Namespace Root/CIMV2. This is the default namespace. There is no need to use the -Namespace parameter in Get-CimInstance.

Implementation

Win32_StartupCommand is implemented in CIMWin32.dll and defined in CIMWin32.mof. Both files are located in the folder C:\Windows\system32\wbem:

explorer $env:windir\system32\wbem
notepad $env:windir\system32\wbem\CIMWin32.mof
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