How to Use Startup Menu and Folder in Windows 8

Introduction

As we already know, Windows 8 comes with an advanced Metro Start Menu called Start Screen which was not present in previous versions of Windows like Windows 7 and Windows Vista. In Windows 7 we can easily open the Startup folder from the All Programs link but in Windows 8 for quick access to the Startup folder items we have to manually pin the Startup folder either at the Taskbar or the Start Screen in Windows 8.

The Windows 8 Start Screen holds the following things:

• Audio and Video players.
• PC Settings.
• Shortcuts to system utilities.
• All the native and installed Metro apps.
• Desktop applications and more.

In this article we will learn how to find the Windows 8 Startup folder so we can easily add and edit the Windows 8 startup items.

How to use a startup menu and folder in Windows 8

Step 1 

First off all we have to move to the start window screen in Windows 8.

Step 2

Then for advanced Startup options move the cursor to the bottom-right of the window screen and click the search box which is helpful for searching in Windows 8.

Step 3

Then in the search box type "startup" and click on Apps from the right sidebar then click startup setting in the main window.

Step 4

Now bring up the Windows Run dialog box Windows + R hotkey combination and enter "%AppData%" in the run dialog box.

Step 5

It will open the Roaming profile folder letting you view the installed applications folders and navigate through the Windows system folders.

Step 6

Then to see the startup menu we have to use the following path:

AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Step 7

Then for quickly navigation to the Startup folder open Windows Explorer and enter the following path in the address bar with your user profile folder name and then press Enter:

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

This path will navigate you directly to the Windows 8 Startup folder as in the following:

Step 8

We can pin the startup folder on the Windows Start Screen in the following way:

Step 9

It will create a shortcut to the folder named startup to Start Screen.

NOTE: The Windows 8 Start Screen acts as a central dashboard for all the most frequently used apps and visited system locations.