In Windows 10 by default a reminder is displayed to the end-user in the Notification area if there are three apps or more that launch automatically when you login. At least I think this is very annoying and it causes end-users to call the servicedesk and ask how they can disable the applications to improve performance. This is not a wanted scenario!
This notification is triggered by a Schedule Task called “StartupAppTask” that resides under Microsoft, Windows and Application Experience in the Task Scheduler. So to stop it we simply disable that Task and then the reminders go away! 😀
How do we do this during OSD you might ask?
Well we run a simple Powershell script when we are on the full Operating System in the Task Sequence like the example below shows, then the task is disabled and never run at all for the end-users.
Powershell command:
powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -Command "&{ Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskName '\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\StartupAppTask'}"
You can disable this task in many ways, I prefer to do it this way then I know that it is always disabled.
I hope this is useful to more than me!
Thanks for the tip it’s very useful. Do you know if this tweak is still active after a feature upgrade of Windows 10? If not I think it would be better to disable it via group policies if possible. Do you have an idea how to do this?
Hi,
You mean from 1507-1511 for instance? I will try that out first thing in the morning. I can add to the blog post on how to do it with GPO’s as well.
/Jörgen
Yes exactly. There are several things that get reenabled after a feature upgrade so I just wanted to make sure if the task stays deactivated. If not the group policy would be the better way to disable it because OSD only takes place on the first installation.
I know how to create a startup script via group policy. I’m just curious if there is a way to do it via “Preferences”, “Control Panel Settings”, “Scheduled Tasks” or not.
Thanks for you help!
Maybe do a compliance rule or deploy an application that does what your script does with SCCM.
It looks like disabling a scheduled task in group policy is not possible, and the associated registry keys are not looking like they would be helpful:
Looking at it in process monitor it looks like the Registry value HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\StartupNotify\EnableStartupAppNotification is first set to 0 and then to 1 every time the scheduled task runs. Not sure it can be set to anything useful though.
Also there is HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Security and Maintenance\Checks\{D26DE5C1-C061-43F7-9C40-7517526CF1C1}.check.0\CheckSetting
There is the question if {D26DE5C1-C061-43F7-9C40-7517526CF1C1} is unique for every computer though or could potentially change in the future. Setting it using group policy is doable, but its an obscure binary value so I wouldn’t touch it.
Thank you for this. I struggled with a reminder popup since October. I wish you a Happy New Year!