Microsoft Adds Autoruns to Linux
Microsoft released Autoruns for Linux and Process Explorer 1.0 for macOS, extending its Sysinternals toolkit beyond Windows.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Software
Microsoft has added its Autoruns startup-inspection utility to Linux, a Sysinternals tool that gives a detailed view of automatically started applications and background components. The company also released Process Explorer 1.0 for macOS, available through its public GitHub repository.
Why it matters
The releases extend Sysinternals diagnostic tools that were originally built for Windows to two additional operating systems. Users of Linux and macOS gain access to process and startup visibility tools that were previously limited to Windows environments.
Process Explorer 1.0 for macOS includes Apple Silicon-specific information showing performance and efficiency core usage, while the Linux bug-fix releases update ProcDump to 3.6, Process Monitor to 2.3, Sysmon to 1.6 and SysinternalsEBPF to 2.3. Release notes do not address how the Linux Autoruns build compares in feature coverage to the Windows edition.
The players
Microsoft
Microsoft is a multinational technology company that acquired the Sysinternals toolkit in 2006 and continues to develop and distribute its utilities across Windows, Linux and macOS.
Mark Russinovich
Mark Russinovich is a Microsoft technical fellow who co-created the Sysinternals utilities with Bryce Cogswell before Microsoft acquired the toolkit.
Bryce Cogswell
Bryce Cogswell is a software developer who co-created the Sysinternals utilities with Mark Russinovich before their acquisition by Microsoft.
The details
Autoruns provides a detailed view of automatically started applications and background components, and Microsoft released it for Linux on GitHub. Process Explorer 1.0 for macOS adds a live process tree, process properties, performance graphs and controls for managing running processes, and it is available through Microsoft's public GitHub repo alongside macOS updates to Listent 1.1 and ZoomIt 12.3.2.
Timeline
November 6, 2026: Microsoft published the Linux Autoruns release and the macOS Process Explorer release.
Software Lineage
Sysinternals began as a set of independent Windows diagnostic utilities developed by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell before Microsoft acquired it in 2006. Microsoft's Linux Autoruns and macOS Process Explorer releases extend that Windows-origin toolkit to other operating systems.
Linux and macOS users can now inspect startup items and running processes with Sysinternals-style tools instead of relying only on platform-native utilities. Process Explorer for macOS is distributed through GitHub, so installation depends on downloading from the public repository.
The takeaway
Microsoft's cross-platform releases show that its diagnostic tooling is no longer tied to Windows alone. Users on other operating systems can now get visibility into startup and process behavior that once required a Windows machine.
Further reading
Explore more Software coverage to see how operating system tools are evolving across platforms.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The How-To Geek.
