The more startup programs you have, the longer the Windows startup time will be. The good thing is that you can use the task scheduler to delay startup programs with just a couple of clicks. Most of us have applications that are good to have at system startup but are not essential. For example, though I use OneDrive every day, I don’t need it as soon as I turn on the computer. So, I delayed OneDrive startup to reduce Windows startup time. I’ve done the same thing to the Steam client. You can do the same for your other useful but non-essential startup programs.
In this quick and simple tutorial, I will show how to delay any startup program using the Task Scheduler on Windows 11 and Windows 10. Let’s get started.
Before You Begin
- First, ensure you disable the startup program in Windows that you plan to delay in Task Manager. Otherwise, the program might start twice.
- Additionally, some programs may require administrator rights to run correctly at startup.
- The following steps have been tested on Windows 11 and Windows 10 for compatibility.
Delay Startup Program with Task Scheduler
To delay the startup program and improve Windows startup time, we will use the Task Scheduler. Here’s how:
- Open the “Start” menu.
- Search for “Task Scheduler” in the Start menu and click “Open“.
- Click the “Create Task” option on the right sidebar.
- Enter a name in the “Name” field.
- Go to the “Trigger” tab.
- Click the “New” button.
- Choose “At log on” from the first dropdown.
- Select the “Delay task for” checkbox.
- Choose “15 minutes” from the dropdown.
- Click the “OK” button.
- Go to the “Actions” tab.
- Press the “New” button.
- Select the “Start a program” option.
- Click the “Browse” button.
- Find and select the application’s exe file.
- Press the “Open” button.
- Click the “OK” button.
- Go to the “Conditions” tab.
- Uncheck the “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” checkbox.
- Press the “OK” button.
- Close Task Scheduler.
- With that, the startup program will start with a delay on Windows.
Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)
First, open the Task Scheduler application. To do that, launch the Start menu, type “Task Scheduler” in the top search bar of the Start menu, and click the “Open” option.

Click the “Create Task” option on the right sidebar of the Task Scheduler window.

The action opens the scheduled task creation wizard. Here, go to the “General” tab, and enter a name of your choice in the “Name” field. In my case, I want to open the Snagit application. So, I named the task accordingly.

After naming the task, go to the “Trigger” tab. In this tab, click the “New” button to create a new trigger.

In the “New Trigger” window, select “At Log On” from the “Begin the task” dropdown menu. Next, check the “Delay Task For” checkbox and select “15 minutes” from the dropdown next to it. Click the “OK” button to save the changes.
This will ensure that the task will only trigger 15 minutes after logging in. You can select any length of time you want from the drop-down menu.

Now, we need to add the application that you want to start with delay at the trigger event. So, go to the “Actions” tab and click the “New” button.

Select the “Start a Program” option from the “Action” drop-down menu. Next, click the “Browse” button under “Settings”.

Find the application’s exe file you want to start with a delay, select it, and click the “Open” button.

You will see the file path added in the “Program/Script” field. Click the “OK” button to save changes.
Important note: Some programs may require additional flags/parameters to start silently. You can find these flags/parameters on the developer’s website. Enter any relevant flags/parameters in the “Add arguments” field.

Go to the “Conditions” tab and uncheck the “Start the task only if the computer is on AC power” checkbox. Otherwise, this task won’t run if your laptop/desktop runs on battery power.
Click the “OK” button in the main window to save the task.

To ensure the task runs and opens the application, right-click on the task you just created and select the “Run” option. It should start the application immediately.

That is all. With that, you’ve configured the Task Scheduler to open a startup app with a delay to reduce the overall startup time.
Conclusion
As you can see, with the built-in Task Scheduler application, you can delay startup programs in Windows to reduce the system’s startup load and improve performance. If you have several programs to manage, consider adding each of them to the Task Scheduler with a delay trigger. Alternatively, you can use my script to open multiple programs at once and schedule it with a delayed start. This approach makes managing startup programs even easier and more efficient.
If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.
horrible – START in (optional) missing – If I copy and paste the path including the executional, does it need to be in quotes as you show?
If there are spaces in the file path then it should be in quotes.
Can you please clarify me something?
Is this done/triggered after the system fully boots up and logs on to it? I mean, is there a way to schedule the task (like a checkbox or something) to be delayed to be started after the system is fully idle? Like 3 or 5 minutes after the system stops booting up and logging on.
I didn’t see this detail on the article.
Also, do you recommend some sort of 3rd-party software for this?
I’m afraid it can’t be done with every program/app since each one have their own arguments for starting up minimized or in system tray, for example.
Does this have necessarily to be done via Task Scheduler or can I set up via registry key on CurrentVersion\Run hive?
I’d love to know whether there’s a software that does this or not.
None of the ones I’ve seen before enables you to delay the software/app to be started after the system is fully idle after the boot load.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the Task Scheduler supports multiple conditional triggers that depend on each other. However, you can use the recently released Power Automate Desktop app from Microsoft to get the job done. There is definitely a learning curve to use that application, but it provides many options to automate tasks however you want.
https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/desktop/