How To Stop Teams From Opening On Startup

Like most newly installed applications, Microsoft Teams is set to launch at startup by default. Although helpful, startup apps can slow down your Windows startup time noticeably. Such apps keep running in the background and consume your computer’s resources until you quit the app itself.

Since Teams is not an essential Windows app, you have the luxury to disable its auto-startup function so that it only opens when you manually run it. We’ve listed some methods to prevent Teams from launching at startup.

Table of Contents

How to Stop Teams From Launching at Startup?

From Settings

The settings app is the simplest way to disable the Teams apps auto-starting on your Windows computer. This step is available and similar for both Windows 10 and 11. Here are the steps for it:

Press Win + I to open the Settings app.
Click on Apps.
Select Startup from the left panel.
Find Microsoft teams from the list and turn Off the slider.

From Teams Settings

Microsoft Teams has a built-in option to stop the app from launching as well. However, doing this step requires you to log in with your Teams account first. Here’s how you do it:

Open the Microsoft Teams app.
Log in with your Teams account.
Go to the Teams Settings after clicking on the three dots.
Select General from the left panel.
Untick the Auto-start application box. This will disable the auto-start function of the app on the next restart.

Using Task Manager

Although the task manager is primarily a utility program to manage all the apps and processes currently running on your PC, it also has other uses and features, including startup app management. You can check for all the start-up applications directly from the task manager and disable them.

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc simultaneously to open Task Manager.
Go to the Startup tab.
Select Microsoft Teams and click Disable.

From Registry

Registry is an advanced Windows program that stores foundational data on your PC. You can make changes to the registry by using the registry editor program, which requires administrator privileges. If you have the Teams app on auto-start, it will show up on the registry as well. Removing that registry entry will stop teams from launching on startup.

However, this step should only be used as a last resort if the above methods do not work. But before we get into how we do it, you should back up your registry. Follow these steps after backing up the registry:

Press Win + R to open the Run app.
Type regedit and press Enter.
Provide administrator privileges by selecting Yes.
Go to the following key. You can also copy and paste the key path on the top bar.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Right-click on the com.squirrel.Teams.Teams key and Delete it.
Restart your PC to apply the changes.

Using Autorun App

The Autorun app is a Microsoft-verified application that lets you configure programs that are set to run automatically at startup. It is a powerful program that can manage startup processes, including system processes and third-party apps. You can download this app from the Microsoft website and use it to disable Teams at startup. Here’s how you do it:

Go to the Microsoft Autoruns download page and click on Download Autoruns and Autorunsc to download the file.
Extract the downloaded file to a familiar location.
Open the extracted folder and open the Autoruns.exe file.
Search for com.squirrel.Teams.Teams and untick the box. This will disable the Teams app running at startup.

Using Group Policy Editor

You can use the group policy editor program to add logon scripts that will automatically run certain programs on startup. If there are multiple users on your PC, other administrative users may have set up a script for it. You can remove it from the group policy editor.

Similarly, if your PC is a part of a certain domain or network, your domain administrator might also have added a script to autostart Teams in a group policy object (GPO). For a local-level policy, you can simply disable it from your PC to stop the script. But in the case of a domain-level policy, you will have to contact your domain administrator about it.

Open the Run app by pressing Win + R.
Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.
Click on Computer Configurations from the left panel.
Go to Administrative templates > System > logon.
Double-click on Run these programs at user logon and select Not Configured or Disabled.
Click the Apply button and then OK.
Repeat the steps from 4 to 6 for User configurations in the left panel as well.