WINDOWS 10 how to stop "Skype for Business" from starting

Question

A couple weeks ago, "Skype for Business" started popping up when I logged in. I opened its settings and unchecked Tools > Options > Personal > [] "Auto start when I log on to Windows" and it stopped for a week. Now it's doing it again, even though it's unchecked.

Solution 1

Neither of the suggestions in the other answers worked for me.

The instructions at https://it.cornell.edu/skype-win/turn-auto-start-or-skype-business-windows seem more targeted.

By default, Skype will start automatically when Windows starts. You can change this setting.

Run Skype for Business.

1. Click the gear icon to open the Options dialog box. (If you click the arrow next to the gear, you will need to select Tools, then Options.) In the list on the left, click Personal.

2. On the right, under My account, you'll see a checkbox for Automatically start the app when I log on to Windows.

3. Check this to have the app start automatically.

4. Uncheck this to prevent the app from starting automatically.

5. Click OK.

I tried it and the suggestion worked.

Solution 2

If people are still having this issue with Skype for Business loading at Windows 10 startup, and it is part of your Office installation, and you can't change the config within Office, then a rather inelegant method is to find the Skype for Business executable (lync.exe) which is stored in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16 and rename it to lync.exe.old. That's it - problem fixed.

Solution 3

If this is a work computer, policies may be changing these settings and you should ask your IT people about this.

If this is a personal computer Skype for Business may have installed as part of the Microsoft Office install, and you can remove it by modifying Microsoft Office.

Open Settings > Apps, find Microsoft Office and modify it, deselecting Skype for Business at the appropriate point in the process.

Solution 4

Make sure you have installed the latest update. If the issue still persists, try the following steps:

1. Open Task Manager> Startup> disable Skype for Business from the list.
2. Go to the location and remove Skype for Business if it is existing: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Hope these are helpful.

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Comments

[Ramhound]

Using a program called AutoRuns, verify there isn't an entry for this application if this is a company/corporate computer you should contact your system administrator for assistance instead.

[user1751825]

If you don't need it, you can uninstall it.

[Ravindra Bawane]

Is this a work computer? If it is, then you should ask your local IT people. If it is not, then Skype for Business may have installed as part of your Microsoft Office install and you can remove it by modifying the Office install.

[Run5k]

@music2myear thanks for the reminder... that was strictly my mistake, and I removed my vote accordingly. That being said, obviously it would be nice to hear some feedback from the OP. Even on a domain, if you uncheck that option box or disable it within the Startup tab in Task Manager, that should suffice. Unless a newer version is pushed out via SCCM (or something similar), it would be exceedingly rare to override the end-user's preferences.

[Ravindra Bawane]

Yea, not sure what accounts for the week gap before the persistence was enabled again. That long doesn't seem likely to mean GP or SCCM. More likely a patch or something.

[Jon Bentley]

+1, was trying to solve this problem for someone and this was the only solution that worked.