How to Stop Microsoft Teams From Opening on Startup

This is an independent guide. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft Corporation.

You boot up your laptop to start the workday. Before you can even open your browser, Microsoft Teams launches itself, loads for 10 seconds, and parks itself in your system tray. Every single morning.

If you've tried closing it and it keeps coming back, you're not alone. Teams is configured to auto-start by default, and turning it off isn't as obvious as it should be. The setting to stop Microsoft Teams from opening on startup is buried in different places depending on your operating system and Teams version.

This guide covers five methods to disable Teams auto-start on Windows 10, Windows 11, and Mac. Pick the one that matches your setup and you'll have it sorted in under two minutes. We'll also cover how to stop Teams from running in the background after you close it, and what to do if it keeps restarting itself despite your changes.

Which Version of Teams Do You Have?

Before you change any settings, check which version of Teams you're running. Microsoft shipped a completely rewritten "new Teams" (sometimes called Teams 2.0) starting in late 2023, and the settings menus are different from classic Teams.

How to check: Open Teams and click the three dots (...) next to your profile picture, then select About > Version. If you see "Microsoft Teams (work or school)" with a version starting with 24.x or higher, you're on new Teams. Older version numbers (1.x) mean classic Teams.

The methods below work on both versions. Where the steps differ, we'll call it out.

If you've been exploring Microsoft Teams alternatives and don't need Teams at all, Method 5 (uninstall) might be the fastest path. But if your company requires Teams, read on for the less drastic options.

Stop Microsoft Teams From Opening on Startup on Windows

The three Windows methods above cover the basics, but here's some extra context that helps when things don't go as planned.

Why Method 1 sometimes fails on Windows. If you disable auto-start inside Teams but it still launches after a reboot, a Windows Group Policy set by your IT department might be overriding your preference. This is common on company-managed devices. In that case, Method 2 (Windows Settings) or Method 3 (Task Manager) usually works because they control the OS-level startup list, which takes priority over the app's own setting.

Windows 11 vs. Windows 10 differences. The steps are nearly identical. The only real difference is navigation: Windows 11 moved the Startup section into Settings > Apps > Startup, while Windows 10 keeps it under Settings > Apps with a "Startup" link in the sidebar. The Task Manager approach is the same on both.

Here's a common scenario: Mark from accounting has been fighting Teams auto-start for weeks. Every morning, Teams pops up, triggers a notification storm from overnight messages, and bogs down his laptop before he's even poured coffee. He tried the in-app toggle three times. The fix? His company's IT policy kept re-enabling it. He used Task Manager to disable the startup entry at the OS level, and it finally stuck.

Stopping Teams from running in the background. Even after you close Teams, it can keep running in the system tray (the small arrow area near the clock). To stop this: right-click the Teams icon in the system tray and select Quit. To prevent it permanently, go to Teams Settings > General and disable On close, keep the application running. This saves memory and battery on laptops.

How to Stop Microsoft Teams From Opening on Startup on Mac

Mac users have two paths: the Teams app setting and the macOS Login Items list. Here's when to use each.

Use the Teams app setting (Method 1) if you installed Teams yourself from the Microsoft website or the Mac App Store. Open Teams, go to Settings, and toggle off auto-start. This is the cleanest approach.

Use Login Items (Method 4) if Teams was deployed by your company through an MDM (Mobile Device Management) tool like Jamf or Intune. Corporate deployments often ignore the in-app setting and register Teams directly in your macOS Login Items. Removing it there overrides whatever the app wants to do.

macOS Ventura and newer moved Login Items to System Settings > General > Login Items. On macOS Monterey and older, you'll find it under System Preferences > Users & Groups, then click the Login Items tab.

Here's a scenario Mac users run into: Priya, a freelance designer, uses Teams for exactly one client. She only needs it for the Thursday sync call. But Teams launches every morning, eats 500 MB of RAM, and spins her MacBook Air's fan. She removed it from Login Items and now opens Teams manually on Thursdays. The rest of the week, her laptop runs cooler and the battery lasts an extra hour.

If you're on a Mac and also use Zoom, you might want to check our guide on how to blur your background in Zoom for your next call.

What to Do If Teams Keeps Restarting Itself

You've disabled auto-start, but Teams still appears after a reboot. This is frustrating, and it happens more often than you'd expect. Here are the most common reasons and fixes.

1. A Windows update re-enabled it. Major Windows updates (especially feature updates twice a year) can reset startup preferences. After any big update, check Task Manager's Startup tab and re-disable Teams if needed.

2. Your IT admin pushed a Group Policy. On managed corporate devices, IT can enforce Teams auto-start through Group Policy or Microsoft Intune. If you're on a company device, ask your IT team to adjust the policy. They can set the -noAutoStart flag in the Teams installer configuration.

3. A scheduled task is re-launching it. Open Task Scheduler (search for it in the Start menu), navigate to Task Scheduler Library, and look for any tasks related to Microsoft Teams. Disable or delete them if you find them.

4. The Teams Updater is reinstalling the startup entry. Classic Teams has an updater process called Update.exe that can re-add the startup registry key after updates. The registry method (Method 5) combined with disabling the updater task in Task Scheduler solves this loop.

5. Multiple Teams installations. If you have both classic Teams and new Teams installed, disabling one still leaves the other. Check for both in your startup apps and remove the one you don't use. You can look at our guide on Microsoft Teams alternatives if you're considering a switch altogether.

If none of these apply and you don't use Teams at all, you can uninstall it entirely: go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find Microsoft Teams, and click Uninstall. On Mac, drag Teams from the Applications folder to the Trash.

How to Stop Microsoft Teams From Running in the Background

Disabling auto-start prevents Teams from launching when your computer boots. But if you open Teams during the day and then click the X button, it doesn't actually close. It minimizes to the system tray and keeps running, using 300-800 MB of RAM.

On Windows:

1. Open Teams and go to Settings > General.
2. Find the option On close, keep the application running and turn it off.
3. Now clicking X will fully close Teams instead of hiding it.
4. To close it right now: right-click the Teams icon in the system tray (near the clock) and select Quit.

On Mac:

1. Teams on Mac doesn't have the "keep running on close" toggle.
2. To fully quit: right-click the Teams icon in the Dock and select Quit, or press Cmd + Q while Teams is focused.
3. If you want to prevent Teams from appearing in the Dock at all when not in use, remove it from Login Items as described in Method 4.

Checking if Teams is still running. On Windows, open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and look for "Microsoft Teams" in the Processes tab. On Mac, open Activity Monitor and search for "Teams." If it's listed, select it and click End Task (Windows) or the X button (Mac) to force-close it.

This is also a good time to consider tools that don't need to run as background processes at all. Browser-based platforms like Flat.social use zero system resources when you close the tab. For a broader look at your options, check out our comparison of the best online meeting platforms.

For IT Admins: Deploying Teams Without Auto-Start

If you manage Teams for an organization, you can prevent auto-start at the deployment level so your users don't have to do it manually.

Microsoft Teams new (2.0): Use the Teams admin center or Intune to set the autoStartDisabled policy. This applies to all users in your tenant.

Classic Teams MSI installer: Add the noAutoStart=true flag when deploying the MSI package: msiexec /i Teams_windows_x64.msi OPTIONS="noAutoStart=true"

Group Policy: Create a GPO that deletes the Teams Run registry key (HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\com.squirrel.Teams.Teams) at logon. This catches cases where the Teams updater re-adds the key.

macOS MDM profiles: Use a configuration profile through Jamf or Intune to remove Teams from the user's Login Items list.

Deploying teams without auto-start reduces help desk tickets and improves login times, especially on older hardware where Teams adds 15-20 seconds to boot time.

Quick Reference: All 5 Methods at a Glance

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