How can I prevent Skype from starting automatically on boot?

Question

How do I prevent Skype from automatically starting every time I boot my Xubuntu 12.10 netbook?

Things I've tried:

Removing it from the Settings Manager->Session and Startup->Application Autostart - couldn't find it in the list.
Checking for a relevant setting in Skype itself - couldn't find anything of the sort.
Using BUM to turn it off - again, couldn't find it in the list.
Uninstalling Skype with apt-get remove skype --purge and hoping that it removes all the settings as well - it didn't.

Save for reinstalling, what else can I try?

While on the same note - how is it possible for Skype to autostart without going through the normal Upstart route?

EDIT: Couple of more things I tried:

Looking for anything similar in Skype support - I didn't expect to find anything, and I didn't.
Looking through the .Skype folder in my home directory. I did find a couple of files which looked promising (.Skype/shared.xml, .Skype/[my username]/config.xml, .Skype/[girlfriend's username]/config.xml), but looking through them didn't yield anything. Plenty of SQLite files though. Could it be that this setting is somewhere within?

int_ua · Answer 1 · 2017-11-16T13:09:29.227

58

For the new 2017 version of skype that's impudent enough to add itself to autostart each time it's started (seriously? Never installing it on my own machine) it's enough to create a folder with the same name as a file it's trying to create:

rm ~/.config/autostart/skypeforlinux.desktop
mkdir ~/.config/autostart/skypeforlinux.desktop

edited Nov 16 '17 at 13:09

answered Nov 16 '17 at 12:48

int_ua

8,892

score 56 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 07 '18 at 07:06

Since it seems the answers here change all the time, as of an install of skypeforlinux from earlier this week (version 8.11.0.4), I managed to get the autostart to cease with two steps.

First, open up Skype, go to Tools > Settings and uncheck "Automatically start Skype".

Then, inspired by azeam's suggestion, go to (Xubuntu) Settings > Sessions and Startup > Application Autostart, and remove the item for Skype. I'm not sure if unchecking works; I tried that first, but it may have conflicted with Skype's internal settings when I tried it.

score 37 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 19 '13 at 09:15

37

Had the same problem and the following seems to have taken care of it: go to (Xubuntu) Settings > Sessions and Startup > Session, find Skype and left click where it says "If Running" and change it to "Never".

answered Mar 19 '13 at 09:15

azeam

494

score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 01 '17 at 13:44

I had this same issue. I was able to prevent it from starting automatically by removing skypeforlinux.desktop from ~/.config/autostart/. I'm using lubuntu; the location of your autostart folder may vary. You can find by using:

$ locate skypeforlinux.desktop

You'll really only want to delete the copy in the directory called autostart, otherwise you won't be able to start the app from the icon.

I'm assuming that the next time you actually, intentionally run Skype (I hope, for the sake of your sanity, that this day is far in the future) that it will try to put that file back. In which case you might have to delete it again or scour Skype for the setting that will prevent that behavior.

score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 03 '21 at 08:11

6

All of these answers didn't work for me because I have installed Skype by Snap. I needed to delete .desktop file from ~/snap/skype/current/.config/autostart/. After relogin Skype stops starting automatically.

answered Mar 03 '21 at 08:11

QkiZ

1,248
2
19
35

score 6 · Answer 6 · answered Mar 17 '13 at 11:23

6

Go to Tools -> Options -> General settings. Uncheck the option "Start Skype when I start". Save and Quit Skype.

answered Mar 17 '13 at 11:23

Massdon1

109

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 09 '18 at 12:47

Skype (for Linux) Settings

Open Skype - Menue: extras -> settings -> category: start and close

1. Skype automatic start

switch setting:

true:

/home/$USER/.config/autostart/skypeforlinux.desktop

=>file exist

false:

/home/$USER/.config/autostart/skypeforlinux.desktop

=> file does NOT exist!

rm -rf /home/$USER/.config/autostart/skypeforlinux.desktop

Deletes autostart, but this file is created after changes again!

So it is better to change the code than deleting this file:

/home/$USER/.config/autostart/skypeforlinux.desktop

Autostart: X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true

NO Autostart: X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=false

sed -i 's/X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true/X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=false/g' $HOME/.config/autostart/skypeforlinux.desktop

2. Skype start in background

true:

/home/$USER/.config/skypeforlinux/settings.json

"app.launchMinimized":true

false:

/home/$USER/.config/skypeforlinux/settings.json

"app.launchMinimized":false

3. Skype run in background

true:

/home/$USER/.config/skypeforlinux/settings.json

"app.onCloseKeepRunning":true

false:

/home/$USER/.config/skypeforlinux/settings.json

"app.onCloseKeepRunning":false

Tested with:

skypeforlinux 8.18.0.6 amd64
Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS
Cinnamon

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered May 20 '18 at 18:55

2

For regular Ubuntu 16.04, search "Startup Applications". When the window opens, just remove the tick from Skype to prevent it starting at boot, then click remove while you selected Skype to clear it from the list.

answered May 20 '18 at 18:55

yusko

21
1

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered May 05 '14 at 18:07

2

In Kubuntu 14.04, the problem was solved by going to Startup and Shutdown, then Session Management and checking Start with an empty session and Apply.

answered May 05 '14 at 18:07

Craig

21
1

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Jun 30 '21 at 08:51

In my case (Ubuntu 20.04) Skype was install via a snap. So the file to remove was:

/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/skype_skypeforlinux.desktop

As I'm not using it and I'm annoyed by this automatic start that I didn't ask for, I also uninstalled by running:

sudo snap remove skype

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 23 '20 at 16:36

0

Just use GNOME Tweaks. Find Startup Applications. Find Skype and remove. That's all.

answered Jun 23 '20 at 16:36

Robin Banerjee

1

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Nov 01 '20 at 10:54

The solution above is not enough any more. Both skype and teams take the liberty to add themselves to the autostart category on every start - not just at installation. There is a simple counteraction:

cd ~/.config/autostart
rm skypeforlinux.desktion
mkdir skypeforlinux.desktop
chmod 755 skypeforlinux.desktop

Now skype can't do this any more. The same can be used for teams.desktop.

ix5 · Answer 13 · 2021-03-24T19:27:06.720

TL;DR: Insert "app.autoStartEnabled":false into ~.config/skypeforlinux/settings.json

Since the "Skype" package continuously changes, here is what works as of 2021-01-08 for users who cannot/do not want to log in to open the Settings page.

As others have pointed out, you can use various means to stop Skype from creating/overwriting the autostart desktop file (~/.config/autostart/skypeforlinux) every time it starts again. If you think that's too hacky and want a "proper", hopefully future-proof way, here goes.

Werner Nöbauer points out above that ~.config/skypeforlinux/settings.json contains the user preferences in json form.

However, neither app.onCloseKeepRunning nor app.launchMinimized are what you want to change, it's app.autoStartEnabled, as can be discovered using a bit of de-obfuscation magic:

/* main.js */
t.SettingsKeys = {
    AutoStartEnabled: "app.autoStartEnabled",
[...]

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Aug 29 '21 at 12:12

0

Prevent skypee startup at start time in ubuntu.

Login skypee and in menu items.

In Skypee Menu -> Tools-> Settings -> General -> Automatically start skypee.

answered Aug 29 '21 at 12:12

S.P

191

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Jun 27 '22 at 03:41

There are Three simple steps to disable skype from starting on screen or automatically on booting in ubuntu.

Step1: Open skype and click on three dots(...)appearing on top menu bar then click on setting option.

Step2: Then click on >>General setting option.

Step3: Where you will find option >>Automatically start Skype option disable it if it is enabled.

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Aug 05 '24 at 16:59

For 2024 Skype installed via Snap, there is nothing in those folders mentioned above...

I found this post useful: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=270011

systemctl list-unit-files | grep enabled

... for me it showed snap-skype-353.mount enabled enabled

sudo systemctl disable snap-skype-353.mount

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Aug 10 '24 at 16:05

UPDATE for 2024 Skype using Snap and 20.04 LTS

Like the above instructions, disabling the Skype Startup within the application is required, but did not solve my problem, Skype launching on reboot - annoying!

Editing the Skype desktop is still required and completed by using:

sudo vim /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/skype_skypeforlinux-share.desktop

At the end of that file add the following line:

X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=false

Then write the file and try a reboot - comments are welcome ;)

GreyRabbit · Answer 18 · 2025-02-24T09:24:13.260

2024 answer on Linux Mint v22.1

I also couldn't find a comprehensive way to stop skype from automatically starting on boot and none of the answers worked for me. The only way I made it stop from auto starting is with the command (works with skype installed via snap)

snap set skype auto-start=false

As far as I can see it updates the settings.json file of the app. You can find it in

~/snap/skype/current/.config/skypeforlinux/ folder

If you prefer you could update the file directly using nano or vi.

score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Mar 19 '15 at 00:41

Closing Skype is not the same as Quitting Skype. I did three things in Kubuntu 14.04. After Opening Skype I went to Skype(Menu)>Options>General and checked "Start Skype Minimised in System Tray". Then Options>Advanced and unchecked "Check for updates on Startup". Finally, rather than "Sign out" I clicked "Quit" at the bottom of the menu. I believe that it was the final step that did the trick.

score -1 · Answer 20 · edited Aug 16 '14 at 03:04

It seems to be the case that 'closing' Skype isn't actually really closing it. You can notice that also by the fact that if you 'reopen' it, it is already logged in.

You can really close it by typing in the command line:

killall skype

This way it won't be saved in your working session when you log out of your computer, and so won't be automatically restored when restarting your computer.

How can I prevent Skype from starting automatically on boot?

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