iCloud pop-up at every Windows 11 startup

Recently (probably after an update), the iCloud window pops up at startup every time I log in to Windows 11. It doesn't ask for a sign-in or anything, it just seems to make itself visible once it's booted. I've had iCloud installed on the same PC for many years now, and iCloud was always enabled on startup, but never accompanied by a pop-up like this until a week or so. All the solutions online tell you to disable or uninstall iCloud. That's not what I want. I just want to not see it come to the front every time I turn on my PC. My iCloud version is 15.3.146.0

Windows, Windows 11 (26100)

Posted on Apr 5, 2025 7:16 AM

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Posted on May 23, 2025 10:37 AM

Adding a +1 for signing out and signing back in to fix this.


However, ICloud will delete everything ICloud having to do with the application that's on your PC by signing out as others have mentioned. The material will still be on ICloud, but it won't be on your PC any longer. ICloud photos, IDrive files, etc are all unavailable - mostly "as expected". Copy/Save them separately before signing out if you need them without ICloud being hooked up or you're nervous about the implications.


The good news is that when you sign back on and agree to allow ICloud Files and ICloud Photos to set up on your Windows machine, it will resync. For pictures, that means it will sync with the pictures in the "Microsoft Picture Directory", which for most users is C:\Users\YourAccountName\Pictures, to your ICloud photos storage. For IDrive, that's what's stored on your Idevice/ICloud being shared back to Windows again for access from the PC.


I don't use Outlook so I can't tell you what happens with Contacts or Calendar. I also don't use ICloud's password sharing so I can't tell you what happens there either.

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38 replies

Apr 6, 2025 9:33 PM in response to annagem

I'd like to follow-up. What I finally did tonight was uninstall iCloud for Windows and iCloud for Outlook from my Windows 11 laptop. I tried numerous other "fixes" which didn't work. I apologize that I cannot provide details, but I do recall this: 1) I removed all iCloud apps from StartUp in Settings/Apps. I removed iCloud apps from Task Manager (not just End Task, but removed from StartUp in Task Manager), and I even used a Command Prompt function (with several other drill-downs) which I found online. None of those things worked.


Not that I'm a favorite of either platform - Windows vs. iOs - but frankly, even after all these years, they do not play nice together in the sandbox. I'm trading in my iPhone for a Samsung and will be done with it! (Going all Apple is not an option.)


I know you may not wish to remove the Apple apps, but that's the only option I saw & tried online which worked for me. I'm happy with it.

Apr 11, 2025 2:08 PM in response to annagem

The icloud app integration with windows is super annoying overall. The passwords app is absolute junk which crashes all the time, and now when I'm playing games on my pc - I am getting the icloud software popping up randomly with no option to disable it! What gives apple!? why is this software so crappy??? My apple hardware (multiple ipads, macbook, iphone and apple watch's) are starting to get old now and like the last guy that replied who switched to samsung, I am considering the same.


I am paying $50 a month for a 2TB icloud account with all the other apple services (apple one) which I am considering switching to spotify and just using my synology NAS with amazon AWS cloud backup. Amazon Prime offers unlimited photo storage as a secondary backup.


Apple fix your software! I don't want to be interrupted by this software ever. Every update the software does one more annoying thing. Where is the QA?!

May 12, 2025 7:06 AM in response to Draion

Does not work for me. There is some sort of error related to outlook though I do not even have outlook installed. It erases data when you sign out but you never are actually signed out. Rebooting rebuilds what was erased but in the end you have the same problem. How about done fixes from Apple? Why does this happen and what is wrong with sign out?

May 14, 2025 9:09 AM in response to rjsqxxx

When I attempt to sign out, I'm warned that this will delete all photos and videos stored in iCloud will be deleted from the PC. I suspect that, like most folks that is several thousand photos - a pretty scary proposition - but I bite the bullet and proceed only to be informed that

and, I'm not signed out.


However, a further annoyance has bee added. When I open Outlook, I have two additional screens to navigate that tell me

and then

obviously really old files that have nothing to do with the curent problem.

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iCloud pop-up at every Windows 11 startup

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