I’ve always enjoyed having my favorite tunes ready to go at a moment’s notice, but recently I faced an annoying issue with Spotify. Every time I booted up my Windows 10 laptop, Spotify would automatically start up and play. It was frustrating because I didn’t need it running all the time, and it was taking up unnecessary resources. After some investigation and trial and error, I found a straightforward solution that fixed the problem. Here’s how I managed to stop Spotify from opening at startup in Windows 10 and 11.
First, I needed to get a better grasp on why Spotify was starting up automatically. As it turned out, many applications, including Spotify, have a feature that allows them to start automatically with Windows. This can be convenient for some users who want their applications ready to go as soon as their computer boots up. However, for me, it was more of a nuisance.
I began by checking the Startup settings in Windows. To do this, I pressed Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager. If the Task Manager window didn’t display the Startup tab immediately, I clicked on “More details” at the bottom. In the Startup tab, I saw a list of all the applications set to launch when Windows starts. Spotify was indeed on this list, which explained why it was starting up automatically.
To stop Spotify from opening at startup through the Task Manager, I right-clicked on Spotify in the list and selected “Disable.” This action would prevent Spotify from starting automatically when Windows boots up. I made sure to close and restart my laptop to check if the changes took effect. When Windows started up again, Spotify did not launch automatically, which was a relief.
However, I wanted to ensure there were no other settings in Spotify itself causing it to open at startup. I launched Spotify and clicked on my profile picture in the top right corner of the window. From the drop-down menu, I selected “Settings.” Scrolling down, I found the “Startup and window behavior” section. Here, there was an option labeled “Open Spotify automatically after you log into Windows.” This option was toggled on, so I turned it off. By doing this, I made sure that Spotify wouldn’t override the changes I had made in the Task Manager.
Just to be thorough, I also checked the Windows Settings to confirm that there were no additional settings for startup programs. I opened the Windows Settings by pressing Windows + I and then navigated to “Apps.” In the Apps & features section, I selected “Startup” from the left-hand menu. This opened a list of all startup applications. Again, I saw Spotify listed here, and it was confirmed that it was turned off.
Despite making these changes, I decided to reboot my computer a few more times to ensure that the changes were permanent. Each time, Spotify stayed closed until I manually opened it, which was exactly what I wanted.
In the rare instance that the above steps didn’t resolve the issue, I would have considered additional measures. For example, checking if there are any Spotify-related tasks scheduled in the Task Scheduler might have been necessary. I could have opened the Task Scheduler by typing “Task Scheduler” into the Windows search bar and looking for any tasks related to Spotify. If any such tasks existed, I would have disabled or deleted them to prevent Spotify from starting automatically.
Moreover, if Spotify was still stubbornly opening at startup, I might have looked into the possibility of conflicts with other software or malware that might be affecting the startup behavior of applications. Running a comprehensive malware scan and updating all my software could have resolved these issues.
In summary, dealing with Spotify’s automatic startup was quite manageable once I identified the right settings. By disabling Spotify from the Task Manager and adjusting the settings within Spotify itself, I was able to stop it from launching every time I started my computer. This approach ensured that my system ran more efficiently and that my startup process was free from unnecessary interruptions.