How to stop Microsoft Teams from automatically launching at startup

Microsoft Teams is Microsoft’s platform for business-oriented communication via chat, audio calls, and video calls. The service is part of Microsoft 365 and often comes already integrated with work PCs, especially if you’re part of a company that relies on Microsoft apps.

You might even find that Teams automatically opens whenever you boot or restart your computer. This could be helpful if you’re always on Teams and use it a lot… but what if you don’t? Maybe it’s slowing down your startup times and you want to disable this behavior.

Fortunately, you can. Here’s what you can do if you don’t want Microsoft Teams to automatically launch at startup.

Related: Quick tips to speed up Windows startup time

Option 1: Via Teams

You can disable the automatic launch of Microsoft Teams directly within the application. To do this, click on the three-dot menu next to your profile picture at the top-right corner in Teams, then Settings.

In the General tab, you’ll see a checkbox labeled Auto-start Teams. Simply uncheck the box and Teams will no longer start on its own when you boot up Windows.

You can also specify whether Teams should open in the background, meaning you won’t see the Teams window when it launches. You’ll still be active in Teams and receive notifications, but the window itself will only show when you open the application manually.

Related: Microsoft’s consumer Teams dreams are fading

Option 2: Via Windows Startup

You can also disable automatic startup within Windows’ system settings, which is a great option if you also want to prevent a bunch of other apps from launching on their own at startup.

To do this, open the Start menu and search for Settings, then within Settings navigate to Apps > Startup. (Alternatively, you can simply search for “startup apps” in the Start menu.)

Here, you can browse the list and select on an app-by-app basis whether each app should be automatically launched at system startup. Simply toggle the button for Microsoft Teams to Off. (Click the arrow beside it for more app details and settings to tweak.)

Further reading: How to get notifications when new apps are added to Startup in Windows 11