AutoHotkey Community

Ron1

In Windows XP (Service Pack 3), what is the best way for AHK to detect when a computer has finished booting?

Ideas to Date

Use the Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del, and then the Processes tab) to find a file that always begins running as close to the end of the boot process as possible (and stays running), and then detect that file. The file wscntfy.exe (Windows Security Center Notification, introduced in WinXP Service Pack 2) seems to meet these requirements, so I am currently using the following script.

Thrillski · Joined: 18 Jul 2007 Posts: 65 Location: South Florida

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but I have discovered this little utility, Start Right, which lets you manage what gets started up and all of that fun stuff. I'm sure you can use something that would determine when THIS program ends and then you'd have your answer.

http://www.joejoesoft.com/cms/showpage.php?cid=113

Hope this helps...
Have a nice day!
Thrillski

SKAN · Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 6264

Sean suggested me to monitor userinit.exe and I have been using it in my main script ever since:

A Request for UDF Optimisation // WaitForIdleCPU()

posted by

SKAN

_________________

jaco0646 · Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 666 Location: MN, USA

Very nice. Cool

That is a handy tip. Sean is some sort of genius, isn't he? Laughing

_________________
http://autohotkey.net/~jaco0646/

Ron1 · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:31 pm Post subject:

Thrillski, SKAN, and jaco0646,

Thank you all for your very helpful suggestions. They prompted me to explore the boot process further, as least as it applies to Windows XP, Service Pack 3, running on a 3.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo PC.

After a zillion boots and careful monitoring of the rapid changes in the running Processes shown by the Windows Task Manager, I found that there were three processes that were "better" for determining the end of the boot process than the wscntfy.exe program that I suggested above. "Better" here means that these other processes occurred later in the boot sequence. Here are the details:

Clearly, userinit.exe improved upon wscntfy.exe by providing a later point in the boot process. What surprised me was how VERY much later both wuauclt.exe and wmiprvse.exe appeared. And there was very little disk activity in the interval following the disappearance of userinit.exe and the appearance of wuauclt.exe and wmiprvse.exe, making it seem as if the boot process had ended much sooner than it had.

I do see the presence of userinit.exe on the Processes list of the Task Manager just as soon as I am able to trigger the Task Manager, so I assume that userinit.exe will start before any AHK script can do so. This may have been a factor in Sean's selection of userinit.exe.

Whether wuauclt.exe and wmiprvse.exe are as generic as userinit.exe, in the sense of always appearing, no matter what the version of Windows XP, I cannot say.

Since wmiprvse.exe was labeled "NETWORK SERVICE", and since wuauclt.exe apparently plays a role in updating software over the network, I did check to see if the time at which these two programs appeared differed when the network was turned off, compared to turned on. The times were unchanged within the limits of my ability to measure.

Again, my appreciation for your help.

Ron1

Ron1 · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:41 pm Post subject:

Thrillski,

I am intrigued by your suggestion of monitoring Start Right. I use a somewhat similar program called StartUp Cop Pro, from the PC Magazine Utilities. But, unlike Start Right, StartUp Cop Pro doesn't let the user determine the order in which the programs are to be started, as least as far as I have determined to date.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2177188,00.asp

Ron1

jaco0646 · Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 666 Location: MN, USA

wuauclt.exe is the Windows Update service, which doesn't appear if automatic updates are turned off (at least on my XP SP2 machines). I wouldn't depend on this service in any scripts you might distribute. Windows Update might be calling wmiprvse.exe (Windows Management Instrumentation) as well, which would explain it starting up right afterwards.
_________________
http://autohotkey.net/~jaco0646/

Ron1 · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:12 pm Post subject:

jaco0646,

I share your concern about wuauclt.exe not being generic enough (and also wmiprvse.exe). Also, they require a very long wait, indeed, which I am questioning as necessary. So I have settled on using userinit.exe for the moment.

On my XP SP3 configuration, wuauclt.exe and wmiprvse.exe both execute on the boot, even though I do have automatic updates turned off in wscntfy.exe (thus the shield icon in the system tray is red with a white X in it, rather than green). So there may be a difference between XP SP2 and XP SP3, in this regard.

I could not find a way to detect the closing of userinit.exe with WinWaitClose, so I am using Process as shown below. But, with Process, I did get one instance of an odd blank screen, which puzzles me. So I am still on guard about using Process, even though this particular use seems benign. This is my first application of Process.