I have had a couple inquires of how to set the Lync 2013 Client to start automatically when logging into Windows. This can be done multiple ways depending on how many users you need to set this for. If you want the users to do this themselves they can just open the client and go to tools\options\personal and check the box for “Automatically start Lync when I log on to Windows”. This is the same for both Lync 2010 and the 2013 clients.
Now let’s say you need to do this for 50,000 users. With both versions you could use a script or deployment product (SCCM) to create a registry key and set that keys value on all the users workstations. The difference is where the key needs to be created. Below are the values and locations for each client version. By default both of the clients are set to automatically start.
Lync 2010 Client
Registry Location | HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Communicator |
Registry Key Name | AutoRunWhenLogonToWindows |
Registry Key Type | REG_DWORD |
Registry Key Value | 0 – Lync client won’t start automatically 1 – Lync client will start automatically |
Lync 2013 Office 15\Basic Clients
Registry Location | HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run |
Registry Key Name | Lync |
Registry Key Type | REG_SZ |
Registry Key Value | "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15\lync.exe" /fromrunkey |
Notes | The path in the value would be where you installed Office 15. Also if you want to disable the client from starting automatically just delete this key. |
