Windows Start Up Folder

There are reasons why you're here, looking to find out where your Windows start up folder is located:

Either, you've realized just how many darn applications load up automatically when you start your PC. Everyone's been in this situation before, and cleaning up your start up folder is a great way to fix it. Note that sometimes applications won't appear in the start up folder (see the bottom of this guide for help with these).

Or, you're in the opposite boat, and you want to add a new application to your start up folder so that it automatically starts when you log in.

In either case, Save Location has the answer you seek. Keep reading and you'll gain all the long sought-after knowledge you need to master the inner workings of... the Windows start up folders.

Windows Start Up Folder

There are two different Windows start up folders:

• One for each user, so that different users can have different applications on start up
• One for the computer, applications in this folder will load on start up for every user

User Start Up Folder

You can find the user-specific startup folder on Windows at the following path:

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

You can also optionally open up the Run application, type in shell:startup, and hit OK to open the folder:

Computer Start Up Folder

For start up programs that apply to every user on the computer, you can find it at this path:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp

In a similar vein to the user-specific folder, you can quickly open this path by typing shell:common startup into Run:

Disable Startup Applications That Aren't in Startup Folder

If you're trying to clear up your start up applications folder, you might notice that some applications that run on startup actually.. aren't in the folder. What's going on here?

Well, these are probably defined as start up applications in your Startup settings. Click here to open your start up settings. Alternatively, type Startup apps into your start menu.

In this interface, all you need to do is hit the toggle switch from On to Off to disable an application: