Fix: Run Command History Not Saved in Windows 10

The Run dialog in Windows stores the commands, folder paths, and website addresses you typed. The entries are saved to the registry and persist until you manually clear them.

If the Run dialog (Winkey + R) doesn’t retain the recently used command history (a.k.a. MRU entries), it can be due to the following reasons:

1. The “Show most used apps” option is disabled in the Start menu settings.
2. The ClearRecentDocsOnExit registry value is set to 1.
3. The user recently cleared the Quick Access history. Doing so erases the Run command history, as well.

This article tells you how to fix the problem in Windows 10 and earlier systems.

Run Command History Not Saved in Windows 10

To make the Run dialog retain the history of commands entered, follow these steps:

1. If you’re using Windows 10, open Settings, click Personalization, and click Start.
2. Enable the Show most used apps option.
   

If that doesn’t help, there is another setting that you need to check.

1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and go to the following key:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

2. If the value ClearRecentDocsOnExit exists, right-click on it and choose Delete.
3. Repeat the same in the following key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Note that none of the above registry keys exist by default. They exist only if a third-party program sets a GPO or registry-based policy. If the keys don’t exist, ignore the step.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU

Thirdly, if you clear the Quick access history via Folder Options, it erases the Run command history as well.