IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you
modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore
the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the
registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry
Windows parses the AUTOEXEC.BAT file during startup by default, which
results in the appending of the path statement in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file to
the system path created by Windows.
You can configure parsing of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file in the Registry by doing
the following:
WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may
require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve
problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own
risk.
- Run REGEDT32.EXE.
- Modify the following value within HKEY_CURRENT_USER:
Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\ParseAutoexec
1 = autoexec.bat is parsed
0 = autoexec.bat is not parsed
This has no effect on the parsing of AUTOEXEC.NT or CONFIG.NT by the MS-DOS
or 16-bit Windows environments (VDMs).
NOTE: Support for configuring the parsing of the AUTOEXEC.BAT file is also
provided via the REGKEY.EXE file included with the Windows NT 3.5 Resource
Kit.