Run a flow on Startup

[EntchenEric]

Hello Microsoft community,

I hope you're all doing well. I've recently created a Flow that I would like to execute upon system startup. However, my search for up-to-date guides on this topic has proven challenging, as most relevant information I've come across is at least two years old.

Could someone kindly advise if there is a current method for running a Flow at startup? If this is not possible, I'd greatly appreciate suggestions for alternative approaches or any workarounds that might achieve a similar outcome.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[Deenuji]

@EntchenEric 

You can achieve that by following the suggested steps.

1. Create a desktop shortcut to your flow like below screenshot,

(After that you can see your flow shortcut in your machine desktop)

2. Then drop your flow shortcut into your startup menu as like below

 C:\Users\[USERID]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

 Now it will automatically trigger your flow upon system startup.

3. Also Please disable the option to "Display confirmation dialog when invoking flows externally" else you may get interrupt with some popup like "An external source invoked flow "your flow name", Continue?"

Uncheck the below highlighted checkbox.

For more details on the topic, Pls refer:

Run desktop flows via URL or desktop shortcuts - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn

Thanks,

Deenu

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[EntchenEric]

I don't have the option to create a Desktop Shortcut. Do I have to enable anything? or did I download a wrong Version of Power Automate?
Currently, I have the version 11.2402.223.0 (the latest from the Microsoft Store).

I only have these options when I click on a Flow:

[Deenuji]

@EntchenEric 

As mentioned in the MS documentation it would require below prerequisite to create a shortcut for your flow:

• Power Automate for desktop needs to be installed on the machine.
• The user must be signed in.
• The user needs a premium license or trial or paid organization subscription or a pay-as-you-go environment.

Please refer these below URL’s for more details:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/desktop-flows/run-desktop-flows-url-shortcuts?WT.mc...

Premium feature-https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform-release-plan/2022wave1/power-automate/run-desktop-f...

Thanks,

Deenu

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[Agnius]

This requires a Premium license. If you do not have one, an unofficial workaround includes giving your flow a keyboard shortcut to start and then making your Task Scheduler task call a PowerShell script that sends those keys to trigger the flow. But it's clunky and unreliable. Also, I'm pretty sure it kind of goes against the PAD EULA for the free version.