How to Add a Program to Startup in Windows 10 or 11 – How-To Geek

Some Windows applications configure themselves to start automatically when Windows starts. But you can make any application, file or folder start with Windows by adding it to the Windows “Startup” folder.

Some apps already have a built-in setting for this, but if not, this method is what you want. You can also open any file or folder when Windows starts, in case you use something regularly. All you have to do is create a shortcut to whatever you want to start in a special “Startup” folder – one of Windows’ hidden system folders. This technique will work with just about any version of Windows from Vista all the way up to Windows 7, 8, 10 or even 11.

Also note, however, that the more programs you start at startup, the longer the startup process will seem. If there are apps you don’t want to start on startup, you can also disable some startup programs.

Step One: Open Windows Startup Folder

“Startup” is a hidden system folder that you can navigate to in File Explorer (provided you show hidden files). Technically it is located in %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startupbut you don’t need to open File Explorer and start browsing – there’s a much easier way to get there.

You can open many Windows hidden and special folders directly using the “shell” command if you know the folder names. And you can launch the “shell” command directly from the “Run” dialog box.

To open the “Startup” folder in an easy way, just press Windows + R to open the “Run” box, type “shell:startup”, then press Enter.

This will open a File Explorer window directly to the “Startup” folder.

Go ahead and leave this window open, as we’ll be working with it in the next section.

Second step: create a shortcut in the “Startup” folder

In order for an application, file or folder to start with Windows, all you need to do is create a shortcut to the item in the “Startup” folder. We’ll be working with a handy little app called Sizer as an example, but this technique applies no matter what shortcut you’re creating to.

First, locate the item you want to create your shortcut to. Simply open a second File Explorer window and find the executable, file, or folder you want to start on startup. There are different ways to create shortcuts in Windows, but we’re a fan of the super-fast right-drag method: hold down the right mouse button and drag the item you want to create the shortcut to the folder” Startup”. When you release the button, a context menu with a few options appears. Click “Create shortcut here”.

That’s all you have to do. You will now see a shortcut to your item in the “Startup” folder.

The next time you start Windows, your application, file or folder will launch at the same time. This method even works for launching Windows Store apps on startup.

How to speed up the loading of startup programs

When you’re using Windows 10 or 11, there’s a delay before your startup programs actually start to launch, which is probably there to make everything seem like it’s working earlier in the startup process and allow everyone Windows internal features to start completely. working. But if you have a very fast PC, you might not have to worry about this delay.

You can remove the delay by opening Registry Editor and navigating to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\

Once there, create a key named Serialize, then a new 32-bit DWORD called StartupDelayInMSec below with the value set to 0.

Or you can just head over to our article on removing Windows 10 startup delay and grab the registry hack files that automate it for you. It’s your turn!

Alternative method for advanced users: use Task Scheduler for more control

While we certainly recommend just using the shell:startup trick, you can also use Task Scheduler to run processes at system startup, when you log in, during periods of inactivity, or even when you lock or unlock your screen. It’s an incredibly powerful tool for more advanced users who want to automate their computer to do things like create system restore points on startup or wake up automatically at a certain time.

To launch a program on startup using Task Scheduler, you can open Task Scheduler using the Start menu search box, go to Action, then Create a basic task, and follow the prompts . You should actually use the “Login” option if you’re trying to run a normal program.

To learn more, be sure to read our in-depth guide on using Task Scheduler to launch processes later.