How to skip the Start screen and boot directly to Desktop in Windows 8.1

I decided to write this article, because lots of people are still trying to use my Skip Metro Suite, which was not designed for Windows 8.1 and isn't actually required on Windows 8.1 any more. Windows 8.1 already offers you a native way to skip the Start screen and boot directly to Desktop!  Let's see how to activate this useful feature.

To enable the Boot to Desktop feature, right click on the taskbar and choose "Properties":

 

In the next window, switch to the navigation tab, and enable the When I sign in or close apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start option:

That's it! You don't need any third party apps to skip the Start screen.

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Author: Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.

2 thoughts on “How to skip the Start screen and boot directly to Desktop in Windows 8.1”

  1. I am trying SkipMetroSuit for 8.1 and it’s not working it just crash my task bar. i can’t even shutdown now

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