Print - How can I clear the Run history?

A. The Run history is stored in the registry in location HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU as a series of values a-z. To delete an entry from the run menu perform the following:

Start the registry editor (regedit.exe)
Move to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU
Select the entry you wish to remove, e.g. h
Press the Del key (or select Edit - Delete) and click Yes to the confirmation
Double click the MRUList value and remove the letter you just deleted. Click OK to save the change
Close the registry editor

If you want to clear the whole Run list you can use the TweakUI utility

Start the TweakUI control panel applet (Start - Settings - Control Panel - TweakUI)
Click the Paranoia tab :-)
Check the "Clear Run history at logon"
Click the "Clear Selected Items Now"
You can then either clear the check on "Clear Run history at logon" and click OK or leave it checked to automatically clear the Run at logon

that does not work. Check for yourself. Entries remain in your list. To verify this just click Start, Run and type "f" and your list will appear again. With that said...How do you delete those entries? The list of files are NOT all kept in the Registry. Thanks for your help.

I've got the same problem. Apparently not all entries are stored in the registry. Anybody got an idea how to erase them?

Make sure you restart. You must restart to notice the changes, otherwise the history is still in memory.

Your a dork, it's not stored in that part of the registry, so restarting after you have not found the list yet is totally and completely idiotic. Can no one fix this problem? It makes me nuts.

INTERESTING: I'm having trouble figuring out how to KEEP the RUN history, but it's hard to find so I looked for the opposite and found this "answer." What's weird is I use TweakUI and my "clear Run History" box is NOT checked... so why the hell won't my commands stay there WTFFFFFF!?

The correct answer was posted above - you must restart to re-read the registry and populate the run combo box. If you are daring, kill the explorer.exe process, then with CTRL-ALT-DEL and Process Manager, use the File->Run feature to run explorer.exe. The history is cleared... (other than explorer.exe of course).

I'm no expert - but for the guy who said that restarting didn't work, it could be an autocomplete issue that you have (as I did) in which case try the autocomplete options in internet options (Type autocomplete in windows help for more details).

skeet3dabeat: the guy above me is right, u have to go to teh internet explorer properties and turn off autocomplete. first navigate to the IE properties, then go to the content tab, after that click on autocomplete. then uncheck the web address box and teh forms tab, then click clear forms, ok, and walla!

What skeet said works, but do keep in mind that you're not clearing the run box with that technique, only not allowing the autocomplete feature to show the crap that's in there. If you turn autocomplete back on you'll see it again. I've had the same problem too and can't seem to find anyway to clear certain things in the run box...still trying :)

some managers refuse to google for answers, and this url is the first thing that would help my manager with many windows probs, if he'd just bookmarked it... it would be a lot better. way to go! nice article!

This method will work for certain entries, particularly those you type yourself. However, certain objects such as web addresses and file names still remain, and apparently not stored in the registry... Can anybody help?

Yeah, this is sKeEt2dAbEat here. After I reinstalled XP on my machine, I was wondering what I did to clear the run history, I'm pretty sure all you have to do is turn off AutoComplete in Internet Explorer. What AutoComplete doesn't clear however, are entries in Windows Media Player, which you can clear in the registry though.

I downloaded TweakUI on August 17, 2005 and it doesn't have a PARANOIA option. Any other suggestions?

If you go into internet properties, then conten, then autocomplete and just clear forms, that will erase everything in the run combo. I tried it and it worked. I rebooted, just to test and there was still nothing left. You don't actually have to turn off auto complete...just click the "clear forms" button (altho I run a 2K environment)

This is so odd, it worked for me the first time, but it won't now... I'm using a networked computer at work (hence the need ^^; oops) and I don't think IT's done anything, is there something else I should try?

Where is the "Paranoia" tab in TweakUI? I just downloaded it from some Microsoft site. There is no "Paranoia" tab in the entire thing.

I operate Windows XP Pro and I'm not getting the run history cleared by either method. Any ideas will be welcome.

For XP Users, the fix is simple: 1. Right click on Start 2. Go to "Properties" 3. In start menu choose "Customize" 4. Choose " Advanced" and click on "Clear List" Done.