Option to change priority at startup, so it launches sooner

[MikeSesketcharba]

Flowlauncher starts up with my machine. But it takes 30 seconds or more to be ready. I'd like the ability within the settings, to be able to optionally set the startup priority to higher. This would require admin privileges.

Thanks! Love this app, fell in love instantly.

Edition	Windows 11 Pro
Version	23H2
Installed on	‎10/‎10/‎2024
OS build	22631.4751
Experience	Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22700.1055.0

[deefrawley]

Hi. As far as I'm aware Windows controls startup order and this can't be changed from within apps themselves. You can Google possible ways to do this. Flow also takes some time to load at startup as it loads itself and plugins. If you go to the log folder you can read the main log where it shows exactly how long each plugin takes (so you can see if any one plugin is the culprit for a longer startup time).

[MikeSesketcharba]

Oh well. I might check that out. Thank you for helping me! 29 Jan 2025 21:57:02 Damien ***@***.***>:

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Hi. As far as I'm aware Windows controls startup order and this can't be changed from within apps themselves. You can Google possible ways to do this. Flow also takes some time to load at startup as it loads itself and plugins. If you go to the log folder you can read the main log where it shows exactly how long each plugin takes (so you can see if any one plugin is the culprit for a longer startup time). — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub[#3212 (comment)], or unsubscribe[https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AOMC3E6JT4MN2BEX4566C4D2NE6B3AVCNFSM6AAAAABWDSUPVSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDMMRSHAZTEMRRHA]. You are receiving this because you authored the thread. [Tracking image][https://github.com/notifications/beacon/AOMC3EY4XKNOVJO4TLK3MA32NE6B3A5CNFSM6AAAAABWDSUPVSWGG33NNVSW45C7OR4XAZNMJFZXG5LFINXW23LFNZ2KUY3PNVWWK3TUL5UWJTU4KU7FU.gif]

[Jack251970]

@MikeSesketcharba Fully understand your request. I have similar experience when I start my system and need to launch other apps but FL has not launched yet. Now I create a PR for using logon task and this can make FL launch faster than apps using startup entries. Hope this can meet your need!

[Robert-K]

I've also been looking to solve this problem.

Wallpaper Engine handles this really well, they have a "high-priority" option which allows it to launch much earlier.

Looks like they are registering it as a Windows service. I think a similar option would fit well in FL.

I tried turning Flow.Launcher.exe into a service with nssm and it does launch earlier on logon, but I'm not getting a window.

[chrisl8]

I literally quit using Flow Launcher because of this. If I have to use the normal Start menu when I start my computer, my muscle memory never locks onto the Flow keyboard shortcut.

I did some testing today and can confirm.

Time from Flow Launcher first log entry to last is from 4 to 6 seconds, very fast.
However, Flow Launcher's first log entry can be as much as 2 minutes after login!

Somehow literally every other thing on my computer gets priority, including Steam, Everything, Signal, Discord, etc.

Sure, I could have less crap on startup, but these things cause me no grief, they just do their thing while I work, but I need/want Flow to be first on the scene, so anything we could do to improve that would be amazing!

Let me know if I can help debug, test and/or experiment with anything for you to further this effort.

P.S. Sorry for the "bump" that doesn't add any content, but I'm keen on this.

P.P.S. I see there is a PR and an artifact to test it with. I'm testing it now...

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Edit: I can confirm that PR #3218 improves startup time by about 80%.

Some thing still get going sooner, like OpenShell, Everything and Parsec, but I suspect Everything and Parsec are running as services, which might not be available for Flow Launcher.

I'm not sure how OpenShell is able to start immediately, nor how it binds to the Windows key, two things that have always illuded Flow Launcher, but this PR is probably enough to overcome the issue at hand and make Flow Launcher much faster, again about 80% by my count.

[deefrawley]

I have a 7 year old desktop and Flow has never loaded so slow I haven't noticed it. Same with a Surface Pro 3 which is now ancient. Mind you I don't usually try to use it the second I hit the power button either. Just out of curiosity what is the use case that you need it that fast?

[Robert-K]

@deefrawley on my Yoga 7 it takes about 30 seconds from boot to Flow Launcher working.

Flow Launcher has become the central part of my Windows experience, I use it to open pretty much any file, program and run commands. Using the Windows Start Menu feels wrong at this point. So the 30s feel to me like 30s of extra boot time.

@chrisl8 not sure if I'm reading your comment correctly, but FYI there's a plugin for binding Flow Launcher to the Windows key 🙂
(Internally just maps Win to Alt+Space afaik, but it works really well and still allows all the other Win+ shortcuts)

[chrisl8]

@Robert-K Thanks so much, I was not aware of that plugin, I will check into it. I have tried many things based on many online ideas to do this include AutoHotKey, which didn't work for me. I guess I somehow missed that plugin.

[deefrawley]

Flow Launcher has become the central part of my Windows experience, I use it to open pretty much any file, program and run commands. Using the Windows Start Menu feels wrong at this point. So the 30s feel to me like 30s of extra boot time.

That is a long time and I understand not going back once you've gotten used to Flow :) Hopefully the logon task PR can get merged in the next release and help out there (which is also a new Windows trick for me).

[rottakore]

Creating a string key on HKLM\...\Run to launch FL is a tiny tiny bit faster than task scheduler, and I think it's easier to delete it.