How to Delay OneDrive Startup in Windows

Starting OneDrive immediately with Windows can increase the startup time. Here’s how to delay OneDrive startup and improve Windows startup time.

Microsoft OneDrive is often the choice of Cloud Storage for many Windows and Office users. Mainly because it has the files on-demand feature, I even managed to keep my 30GB of free storage from back when. So, it is a no-brainer that I use OneDrive daily. Since I regularly use OneDrive for work and personal reasons, having it start with Windows and run in the background helps with automatic sync.

Now, though I like OneDrive to start with Windows, there is one problem. That is, it increases the Windows startup time a bit. Therefore, I want to delay the OneDrive startup just a bit. As you can guess, delaying the startup improves the Windows startup time. If you are wondering, you can do this by scheduling the OneDrive startup with Task Scheduler.

So, let me show you how to delay the OneDrive startup on Windows without ado.

The steps below work the same in Windows 10 and 11.

Delay OneDrive Startup

There are two significant steps to delay the OneDrive startup. The first one is to stop the OneDrive from starting with Windows. Then use the Task Scheduler to schedule OneDrive Startup 15 minutes after starting Windows. You can customize the delay time as needed. Let me show you the exact steps.

1. Right-click on the OneDrive icon on the taskbar.
2. Choose the “Settings” option.
3. Go to the “Settings” tab.
4. Uncheck the “Start OneDrive automatically when I sign in to Windows” option.
5. Press the “Ok” button.
6. Open the Start menu.
7. Search and open “Task Scheduler.”
8. Click the “Create basic task” option.
9. Type a name in the “Name” field.
10. Press “Next.”
11. Choose the “When the computer starts” option.
12. Press “Next.”
13. Choose the “Start a program” option.
14. Press “Next.”
15. Paste the below path in the “Program/Script” field. Replace the dummy username with the user name.
    C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\OneDrive.exe
    or
    "C:\Program Files\Microsoft OneDrive\OneDrive.exe"
16. Type “/background” in the arguments field.
17. Click “Next” to continue.
18. Press the “Finish” button.
19. Find the task in the Task Scheduler.
20. Right-click on the task and choose “Properties.”
21. Go to the “Triggers” tab.
22. Select the “At Startup” entry.
23. Press the “Edit” button.
24. Select the “Delay task for” checkbox.
25. Choose “15 Minutes” from the dropdown menu.
26. Press “Ok” to save task changes.
27. Close the Task Scheduler.
28. With that, OneDrive will start with a delay in Windows.

Steps with more details:

If OneDrive is already running, close it first. Right-click on the OneDrive icon on the taskbar and select Settings.

Go to the Settings tab in the Settings window and uncheck the “Start OneDrive automatically when I sign in to Windows” option. Click the Ok button to save changes.

Search for Task Scheduler in the start menu and open it.

Task Scheduler allows you to create custom scheduled tasks. In the Task Scheduler window, click the “Create basic task” option on the right panel.

This action opens the task creation wizard. Type the name of your choice and click the Next button. I’m naming my task “Start OneDrive with delay.“

Since we want to start OneDrive on system startup, select the “When the Computer Starts” option. Click Next.

Select the “Start a program” option and click the Next button.

In the Program/Script field, enter the below file path while replacing <username> with your actual username. Next, add “/background“ in the Arguments field. This argument makes sure that OneDrive starts silently. i.e., it will not open the OneDrive folder when it starts. Click Next.

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\OneDrive.exe

or

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft OneDrive\OneDrive.exe"

Note: Microsoft recently changed the installation directory of OneDrive. So, use one of the above paths or search for the executable by clicking the “Browse” button.

Verify the summary and click the Finish button to complete the procedure.

We now need to add the startup delay functionality. So, find the task we just created in the Task Scheduler, right-click on it and select the “Properties” option.

In the Properties window, go to the “Trigger” tab. Select “At Startup” from the list and click the “Edit” button.

Select the “Delay task for” checkbox and“15 Minutes” from the drop-down menu. Click the “Ok” button to save changes.

You are done configuring the task to delay OneDrive startup. To ensure the task runs, find the task in the Task Scheduler, right-click on the task, and choose the “Run” option.

The above action will trigger the task and starts OneDrive. If OneDrive is already running, you will not see any response. In that case, quit OneDrive and rerun the task.

Conclusion

That is it. OneDrive will now start with a 15-minute delay when you start your computer. You can increase or decrease the delay timer as needed if you want. Choose a different option from the “Delay task for” dropdown menu.

As you can see, delaying the OneDrive startup on Windows is pretty simple.

Here are some more OneDrivOneDrive- articles.

• Uninstall OneDrive
• Reinstall OneDrive
• Stop OneDrive sync

I hope this simple Windows how-to guide helped you.

If you are stuck or need some help, comment below, and I will try to help as much as possible.