If you prefer to use the good old msconfig.exe tool to manage your startup apps, you might be surprised that this feature is not included in Windows 10 and Windows 8 any more. Instead, the new operating systems force you to use the new Task Manager app to manage your startup processes. Not only is the new Task Manager full of issues, but once you restore the classic Task Manager, you need a way to manage startup apps the old way too. In this article, we will see how you can get classic msconfig.exe back in Windows 10 and Windows 8.
To get classic msconfig.exe back in Windows 10 and Windows 8, you need to do the following:
- Download the installer from the following website: Download msconfig.exe for Windows 10 and Windows 8.
- Unzip and run the exe file.
- Follow the setup wizard. It will install the classic msconfig.exe files in your operating system.
Once this is done, press Win + R keys together on the keyboard and type msconfig.exe in the Run box. 
The classic msconfig.exe utility will be opened, where you can manage your startup apps and services.
The installer comes with genuine Windows 7 files which are not tampered with. If you are wondering, why it ships with an installer and not just a zip file - the answer is because there needs to be proper multilanguage support (MUI). The installer provides the appropriate MUI files automatically.
Note that it will not replace your system files. The classic msconfig will be installed alongside with the new one, so you can use the following trick to switch between msconfigs:
Type the following in the Run box to launch the new one:
%windir%\system32\msconfig
Type the following in the Run box to launch the classic msconfig app:
%windir%\system32\msconfig1
By default, the classic one will be used when you type just 'msconfig' in the Run dialog without specifying a path.
To uninstall it, go to Control Panel - Programs and Features - Select "Classic msconfig" and then click "Uninstall".
That's it.
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Big thanks!
hehe, you are welcome Rafael.
Nice! I really appreciate this one.
I tend to think moving startup apps management to task manager was probably a good idea on the whole, as it makes sense being situated there but I use process explorer for my task manager so it really conflicts with my usage.
Alternative startup management applications exist, but they usually do a lot more (ie. autoruns) and the corresponding complexity means it takes longer, msconfig was a nice quick and done solution.
Will save this one up for whenever I finally move away from Win7.
How stupid it was from Microsoft to make a tab that redirects to other program. At least, they should have had remove it at all.
I agree with you. It looks very stupid. I was very confused to see such behavior.
Seems like it might be easier to just use Autoruns…
Does not work; It reverts back to windows 8/10 msconfig.
And if it doesn’t revert back, it will not replace the existing msconfig.exe and won’t work if you try to force a rename to msconfig.
After installation the file name for this mod is: msconfig1.exe
But it doesn’t restore classic msconfig in windows 10.
Works here exactly as described.
If you want to “force” to rename, don’t forget to rename MUI files.
And you will lose it with the appropriate OS update.
So installing the msconfig yeilded one problem after installation on a Windows 8.1 x64 system.
“runtime error
program: C:\\Windows\System32\msconfig1.exe
This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact bla bla.
Pressing ok gives:
The exception unknown software exception (0x40000015) occurred in the application at location 0xc5d17609.
Click ok to terminate problem.
So what gives? Installation worked as defined, i’m sure there’s not much difference between your Windows and mine (from the screen shot on the Task Manager, which btw worked yours is one year older that what i have)??
It would be nice if there was a solution, Win8.1 is really a mess right now.
Hi. Just installed the classic task manager, and that’s great. :) But I also installed this and this one isn’t working. It fails to execute, giving a runtime error. I can’t run wither msconfig or msconfig1 now, and I’m not sure what to do. I actually use msconfig a lot to edit my startups, but now it doesn’t work at all? Windows 10 machine.
This worked perfectly on Win 10 Pro build 10586.545. Thank you! Now I can see which startup items I’ve unselected, whereas task manager only showed me the ones I’d enabled.
nice one work 100%
Thanks winaero
thank you for kind words.
Nice bro Big thanks