How does the Run dialog know which application on the system is located?

Run (Run Dialog) dialog is one of the most useful tools in case if users want to open programs on their computer. However, to better understand the operating mechanism of the Run dialog box and how to make the Run dialog box determine which application is located on the system, please refer to the following article of Administration network.

How does the Run dialog know which application on the system is located? Picture 1

Ask:

As a user also has quite a lot of experience, and also frequently use the Run dialog box. I can understand why the following commands work on the Run dialog, the reason is because these statements are in the built-in PATH environment variable.

1. mspaint
2. diskmgmt.msc
3. explorer

In addition, the above commands also work on CMD.

However, I have a question about why the following commands work on the Run dialog, even though these statements are not in the PATH environment variable that is available, and these commands do not work on CMD. :

1. firefox
2. winword
3. iexplore

So how does the Run dialog know where the files are located?

Reply:

When you execute any command on the Run dialog box, the system will search the App Paths Registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionApp Paths

And:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionApp Paths

For example:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionApp Pathsfilezilla.exe

By default data value (value data) has the full path to execute. If the path is not found, the Run dialog box will search on each PATH folder. In contrast, the CMD (command prompt) does not search for these Registry keys, but searches for PATH.

Refer to some of the following articles:

1. How to completely hide a folder with a single command on Windows

1. Speed ​​up Internet connection by using CMD command on WindowsXP / 7/8 / 8.1

1. Summary of 20 common Run commands on Windows operating system

Good luck!