MSConfig

MSConfig
	Component of Microsoft Windows
	MSConfig in Windows 11
File name/executable	msconfig.exe
Other names	System Configuration; System Configuration Utility
Introduced in	Windows 98

MSConfig, officially called System Configuration or System Configuration Utility, is a utility used to troubleshoot the Microsoft Windows startup process by allowing the user to temporarily disable drivers, services and other applications that launch at startup, as well as changing other aspects of system configuration.

History[edit | edit source]

The utility was introduced with Windows 98, where it allowed the user to modify the configuration files of both MS-DOS and Windows, selectively disable the processing of some files at startup, as well as toggle certain troubleshooting settings. The first build to include MSConfig is build 1569. The tool was updated for Windows Me, mostly due to the removal of most access to real mode MS-DOS.

It was ported to the NT-based series with Windows XP, which added the ability to modify the boot manager configuration, as well as to selectively disable services. The Tools page was also introduced, which serves as a hub to other included system utilities. In Windows Vista, the ability to modify the legacy WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI configuration files was removed. The Startup tab was deprecated in Windows 8 in favor of managing applications running on startup from the redesigned Task Manager.