While you are typing a command in the run dialog, Windows constantly displays the best matching commands you have typed recently. If the desired command shows up in the text field, you simply have to confirm it by pressing the Enter key, without having to retype the rest of the command.
What a handy feature!
You wouldn't belief it but this magic feature is turned off by default on nearly every Windows version I've worked on (Sorry, Microsoft, but I cannot see any reason behind this decision). Even worse, there seems to be no check box anywhere in Windows to easily turn it on/off. The only way of changing the default behavior - as far as I know - is by modifying the Windows registry. Change the Append Completion value to yes as shown below.
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[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AutoComplete] "Append Completion"="yes" |
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Alternatively you may want to download and run the .reg file. Unzip the archive and run the .ref file to activate auto complete for the current user.
download the .reg file (activateAutoComplete.zip)
You may have noticed, that not only commands entered once get AutoCompleted/are displayed in the drop down list, but also other strings. When trying to AutoComplete Windows uses 3 sources:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU)HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TypedURLs)index.dat in your User Profile)Set the registry Key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\ClearRecentDocsOnExit from 1 to 0. However you need Admin privileges to do so.
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[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer] "ClearRecentDocsOnExit"=dword:00000000 |
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