How to Open Any Program by Typing its Name in RUN Dialog Box in Windows?

by **JAHANGEER** 13th July 2010, 3:07 pm

You'll
need to set the application path in Windows Registry so that Windows
can know about the application at the time of execution.
PS:
Before starting the tutorial lets assume that our desired application
name is "My Application". Its an EXE file and is stored
in "C:\Program Files\My Application\" folder. It'll help you in
easily understand the tutorial.
So
without wasting any time, lets start our tutorial:
1.
Type regedit in RUN or startmenu search box and press Enter.
It'll open Registry Editor.
2.
Now go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr
entVersion\App Paths

3. Now we'll need to create a new key under "App
Paths" key. Right-click on "App Paths" key and select "New
-> Key". Set its name to your desired application name along
with its extension e.g. My_Application.exe
4.
Select the key created in Step 3 and in right-side pane, set value of "Default"
to the full path of application's [color:7785=#005A88 ! important][color:7785=#005A88
! important]EXE [color:7785=#005A88 ! important]file
e.g. C:\Program Files\My Application\My Application.exe
5.
Again in right-side pane, create a new String value "Path" and
set its value to the folder containing your application EXE file e.g. C:\Program
Files\My Application\
How to Open Any Program by Typing its Name in RUN Dialog Box in Windows? Create_App_Paths_in_Windows_registr

How to Open Any Program by Typing its Name in RUN Dialog Box in Windows? Create_App_Paths_in_Windows_registr

6.
That's it. Now you can launch your desired application by just typing
its name in RUN or Start menu Search box.
NOTE:
If you want a ready-made registry script to do the task automatically,
then copy paste following code in Notepad and save the file with name "AskVG.REG"
(including quotes).

Windows Registry Editor
Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr
entVersion\App Paths]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr
entVersion\App Paths\My Application]
@="C:\\Program Files\\My Application\\My Application.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\My Application\"

You just need to replace BOLD part of the above
script with the correct application name and path. After saving the
file, run it and it'll add the program path to Registry so that you can
launch it directly from RUN and Start menu Search box.