How to Stop Windows 11 From Reopening Apps on Sign-in or Restart

Browsers tend to re-open previously opened tabs after a restart. Similarly, Windows 11 can also save applications to reopen them on the next Sign-in or Reboot. This feature saves time and makes it easy to quickly get back to unfinished work. This is indeed a great feature but it can be counterproductive.

Rebooting your computer only to visit previously opened apps increases the Sign-in time if Windows has to re-open many applications. The more applications Windows has to prepare, the longer the Sign-in time. Fortunately, there is a setting that can help turn this feature off and this guide will show you exactly how to do it.

How to Stop Windows 11 from Automatically Reopening Apps on Reboot

To find the desired setting, first, launch the ‘Settings’ app. You can either right-click on the ‘Start’ button and choose ‘Settings’ from the menu. Or you can hold the Windows+I keys together to launch the app.

Select ‘Accounts’ from the left list of settings options on the ‘Settings’ window.

Then, click the ‘Sign-in options’ tile on the ‘Accounts’ Settings page. Here you can find the settings you need to turn off the re-opening of apps upon Sign-in or Restart.

Scroll down on the ‘Sign-in option’ settings to find the ‘Automatically save my restartable apps and restart them when I sign back in’ option. This is the setting that you need to turn off.

Click on the toggle switch next to the mentioned tile to turn off the feature.

And, done! You have successfully disabled apps from reopening upon Sign-in or Reboot.

Apart from applications, Windows 11 can also re-open recent folders upon Sign-in or Startup. If you wish to disable this feature, first, open the File Explorer from the Taskbar.

Click the 3 dots or the ‘See more’ option to the top right of the File Explorer window.

Click on ‘Options’ in the context menu that appears.

Now, click on the ‘View’ tab and scroll through the ‘Advanced settings’ to find and select ‘Restore previous windows at logon’ option.

Uncheck the box beside the ‘Restore previous folder…’ option and click on ‘OK’ to save the changes.

Now folders won’t reopen automatically after you Sign-in or Reboot your computer.

How to Disable Startup Apps on Windows 11

There are some applications like Cortana & Spotify which are set to automatically start each time you restart or boot your computer. It can happen even when you have disabled windows from reopening apps on start-up. Like the previous features, you can easily disable this one as well.

First, launch ‘Task Manager’. Right-click on the Start Menu icon and select Task Manager from the context menu. Alternatively, you can also launch Task Manager by holding Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys together.

Click the ‘Startup’ tab on the Task Manager window. Here you will see a list of applications. The ones that say ‘Enabled’ under the Status column are enabled to launch automatically when you boot up or restart your computer.

Now, select the application from the list, that you want to stop from launching itself on startup and then click on the ‘Disable’ button at the bottom right corner of the window.