How do I get outlook and teams to open on startup?

For Outlook and Teams on Windows 10/11 there are two main options: use the Windows Startup folder (works like any other app) or use each app’s own autostart setting (for Teams, especially in VDI scenarios).

1. Add Outlook and Teams to the Windows Startup folder

This uses the standard Windows mechanism so the apps start whenever the user signs in.

1. Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Enter:

      %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
   

   and press Enter. This opens the Startup folder for the current user.
3. Open the Start menu, find Outlook and Microsoft Teams in the app list.
4. For each app (Outlook and Teams):
   • Right‑click the app and choose Open file location (may be under More).
   • In the File Explorer window that opens, select the shortcut for the app, press Ctrl+C to copy.
   • Go back to the Startup folder window and press Ctrl+V to paste the shortcut.

The next time Windows starts and the user signs in, Outlook and Teams will launch automatically. To stop them autostarting, remove their shortcuts from the Startup folder.

2. Turn on Teams’ own autostart (especially for VDI)

Teams also has an internal autostart setting that can be controlled by policy/registry, which is important in Windows 365/VDI environments.

1. Make sure Teams has been launched at least once for the user (MSIX/UWP apps don’t autostart before first launch).
2. In Teams, go to Settings → General and enable Autostart Teams.
3. If the Autostart Teams checkbox is greyed out, a system policy is blocking UWP startup tasks. An administrator can adjust these registry values on the session host/Cloud PC:

      [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
      "EnableFullTrustStartupTasks"=dword:00000002
      "EnableUwpStartupTasks"=dword:00000002
      "SupportFullTrustStartupTasks"=dword:00000001
      "SupportUwpStartupTasks"=dword:00000001
   

   Then restart the VM/Cloud PC so startup options become available in Windows settings.
4. To programmatically control Teams autostart per user, adjust this key:

      [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModel\SystemAppData\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\TeamsTfwStartupTask]
      "State"=dword:00000002   ; 2 = enabled, 0 = disabled
      "UserEnabledStartupOnce"=dword:00000001
   

Using both methods together (Windows Startup folder for Outlook, Teams’ own autostart plus optional registry/policy control) ensures both apps open automatically when the user signs in to Windows 365 Business or other Windows for business environments.

References:

• Automatically start an Office program when you turn on your computer
• Install Teams for Virtualized Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)