Openai/694562f4-9158-8001-8764-12c0f1ed968a

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gpt-5-2

User: I recently installed Office because I needed it for some university assignments and I realized Skype For Business was i…

I recently installed Office because I needed it for some university assignments and I realized Skype For Business was installed too, but unlike Outlook and and some other apps, I can't uninstall it and it doesn't even show up on either Settings or Control Panel. Furthermore, it now runs on startup (because I accidentally opened it once), and, although I already turned it off in the app options, it doesn't show up in the task manager.

Is there any solution? Do I have to reinstall/repair Office for it to show up properly? Is there any way to remove everything besides word, powerpoint and excel?

Assistant: This is expected behavior with Skype for Business SfB when it is installed as part of a Microsoft Office / Microsoft 36…

This is expected behavior with Skype for Business (SfB) when it is installed as part of a Microsoft Office / Microsoft 365 suite, especially university-licensed builds. It is not a standalone app, which is why it does not appear in Apps & Features or Control Panel and cannot be uninstalled individually.

Below is the correct, supported way to deal with it—no guesswork or unsafe registry hacks required.

Why you cannot uninstall it normally

• Skype for Business is installed inside the Office Click-to-Run package
• It does not register itself as a separate Windows application
• Startup behavior is controlled by Office + registry, not Task Manager
• Disabling it in the app UI does not fully stop auto-launch in all builds

Reinstalling or repairing Office will not make it appear separately. That will not help.

Option 1 (Recommended): Prevent Skype for Business from ever starting

Step 1: Disable via registry (effective even if Task Manager does not show it)

1. Press Win + R
2. Type regedit and press Enter
3. Navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Lync

(If Lync does not exist, create it)

1. Create or modify the following DWORD (32-bit) value:

Name: DisableAutoRun
Value: 1

1. Close Registry Editor and reboot

This stops Skype for Business from starting for good.

Step 2: Ensure Outlook is not launching it (if Outlook exists)

Even if you never open Outlook, Office can still wire them together.

Open Outlook → File → Options → Advanced

• Uncheck: - Register Skype for Business as the IM app

Restart.

Option 2: Remove Skype for Business from Office entirely (clean solution)

This is the only way to truly remove it.

You must reinstall Office using a custom configuration

Microsoft intentionally hides component-level uninstalls from the GUI.

What this does

• Removes Skype for Business permanently
• Keeps Word, Excel, PowerPoint
• No hacks, fully supported

High-level steps

1. Uninstall Office
2. Reinstall using Office Deployment Tool (ODT) with Skype excluded

Minimal config example

<Configuration>
  <Add OfficeClientEdition="64">
    <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
      <ExcludeApp ID="Lync" />
      <ExcludeApp ID="Outlook" />
      <ExcludeApp ID="OneNote" />
      <ExcludeApp ID="Access" />
      <ExcludeApp ID="Publisher" />
    </Product>
  </Add>
</Configuration>

This installs only Word, Excel, PowerPoint.

If you want, I can:

• Generate the exact XML for your Office version
• Tell you which Product ID your university license uses
• Provide copy-paste commands to reinstall cleanly

Option 3: Hide it and forget it exists (lowest effort)

If you do not want to reinstall:

• Registry method (Option 1)
• Ignore the files on disk
• No performance impact once auto-run is disabled

Summary (what you should do)

| Goal | Best Option | | ------------------------ | ------------------------- | | Stop startup | Registry fix (Option 1) | | Fully remove Skype | Reinstall Office with ODT | | Keep Word/Excel/PPT only | ODT reinstall | | Repair Office | ❌ Will not help |

Bottom line

• No, repairing Office will not fix this
• No, Skype for Business cannot be uninstalled alone
• Yes, you can remove everything except Word/Excel/PowerPoint
• Yes, you can permanently stop it without reinstalling

If you want, tell me:

• Windows version
• Office version (365 / 2019 / 2021)
• University license or personal

I will give you the exact commands with zero trial-and-error.