Microsoft Teams is a pre-installed app on Windows and starts automatically after logging in. The auto-start functionality can be useful if you use Teams regularly. However, not everyone uses Teams or needs it opening on startup. Thankfully, you can stop Teams from automatically starting using Teams settings, Task Manager, or Windows Settings. For those managing multiple computers, there is also a registry method that can help. All methods work on Windows 10 and 11. Let’s get started and remove Teams from Windows Startup.
Uncheck Auto-Start in Teams Settings
First, open the Teams app. You can click on the Teams icon on the taskbar or search and open it from the Start menu. Once the Teams app opens, click on the “menu icon” on the title bar and then click on the “Settings” option. This will open the Teams settings page. On this page, navigate to the “General” tab and uncheck the “Auto-start Teams” checkbox to prevent Teams from starting automatically.
Using Task Manager Startup Apps Tab
Any startup app, including Teams, gets registered in the Task Manager and you can disable it from there. You can open Task Manager by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting “Task Manager.” You can also press the “Ctrl + Shift + Esc” shortcut. Go to the “Startup apps” tab, find and select the “Microsoft Teams” entry, and click on the “Disable” option at the top of the Task Manager window. This will stop teams from opening automatically on startup.
Using Windows Settings App
Alternatively, Windows 11 users can also use the Settings app.
Open Settings by pressing the “Windows logo key + I” keyboard shortcut. Go to the “Apps” > “Startup” page in the Settings window. Find the “Microsoft Teams” entry on the right panel and turn it off.
Using Registry Editor
Other than the above three methods, you can also prevent Teams from automatically starting with Windows using the Registry Editor. This method is a bit advanced and requires editing registry values. So, only follow this method after trying the above three methods and after creating a registry backup.
Launch the Registry Editor by typing “regedit” in the Run window (you can press Windows key + R to open it) and click on the “Ok” button. Once you see the registry window, copy the path below (press Ctrl + C), paste it in the Registry Editor’s address bar (press Ctrl + V) and press the “Enter” key. This will take you to the relevant registry key where you can manage Teams startup behavior.
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModel\SystemAppData\MicrosoftTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\TeamsStartupTask
Select the “State” value on the right panel and click on the “Edit” > “Modify” option. You can also double-click on the value.
Replace the default value in the “Value Data” field with “1” and click “Ok.”
Finally, close the registry window and restart your computer. You can right-click on the Windows logo on the taskbar and select “Shut down or restart” > “Restart” to reboot your computer. After rebooting, Teams will not open automatically on startup.
