How to prevent Microsoft Teams from starting automatically

Background: Users may notice something called Microsoft Teams appear when they log into campus computers, which is a connectivity app made by Microsoft.

Teams isn't actually used by students, staff, or faculty on the Buffalo State campus. Updates to Windows will sometimes cause it to appear automatically on login even when it hadn't previously, which can be distracting or annoying. Thankfully, there's a setting to disable it from starting up with your login.

 

Stop Teams from starting up automatically (the simple way)

  1. While logged into Windows, click on the Start button in the bottom-left corner of your screen, and begin typing "Startup" to search for an app called Startup Tasks. Click to open the app.

  2. Look for Microsoft Teams on the list of apps in Startup Tasks, and click the toggle to "Off" on the right-hand side. This should prevent Teams from opening when you load your profile and/or start up the computer.
     
    Please Note: Some apps are managed by the campus, and won't allow you to disable them without entering admin credentials, but you should have no problem changing the setting for the Microsoft Teams app.

 

Stop Teams from starting up automatically (the older way)

  1. While logged into Windows, Right-click the Start button in the bottom-left corner of your screen, and choose Task Manager from the menu list that appears.

  2. Choose the Startup tab, which will show a list of programs that have "asked" Windows to bring them up automatically.
     
    Note: Task Manager may open in a simplified view. If there are no tabs at the top of the panel, click on More details in the bottom-left.

  3. Click to highlight Microsoft Teams (it will have a purple icon) in the list of Startup programs. With the program selected, simply click on Disable in the bottom-right corner. This prevents Teams from starting alongside Windows.
Print Article