Make a program start automatically in Windows 11

In Windows 11 you can start an app or program by double clicking on it. Everyone knows it. However, what is less known is how to get a program to start at Windows 11 startup.

Every time you start or restart the computer, you can start a program. This is less complicated than it seems.

There is a folder in Windows that can make all shortcuts in this folder start with Windows. By creating a shortcut and placing the shortcut in this folder, the program will start with Windows. This is how it works.

Make a program start automatically in Windows 11

To get started, you need to know which app you want to boot into Windows. Make this app a shortcut or use the existing shortcut.

In this example I will use the Google Chrome browser. In most cases there is a shortcut on the desktop.

Right-click on the Start button. Then click Run on the menu. In the run window type: shell:startup

The “AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup” folder will now open. All shortcuts in this folder are loaded when Windows 11 starts.

So if you place a shortcut of an app in this folder, this app will start at the same time as Windows 11.

So if you have an existing shortcut on the desktop of a program that you want to start with Windows, drag it into the “Startup” folder. This app is started with Windows.

You can also create a new shortcut yourself. To do this, right-click on free space and click New and then Shortcut.

Then select the executable file, give it a name and this app will also start with Windows.

There are many examples of what you can do with this. I hope it is clear. Thank you for reading!

Also read: disable bootable apps in windows 11.