How To Fix Let Apps Run In The Background Resetting On Windows 10
Windows 10 1803 was delayed because of a bug that Microsoft caught in time before the release. They managed to fix it but that doesn’t mean 1803 is without bugs. Like all previous major Windows 10 feature updates, this one has its bugs. There was the little mix-up with no mic in certain apps that was basically the mic access resetting. Microsoft has introduced an alert for this in future builds. Something similar, though far more annoying that happens on this build is the Let apps run in the background resetting even after you turn it off. Each time a user reboots their PC, background app refresh is enabled once again. Here’s the fix for it.
SPOILER ALERT: Scroll down and watch the video tutorial at the end of this article.
Let Apps Run In The Background
In order to fix this bug, you need to modify the Windows registry and that requires Administrative rights. Open the Windows registry by typing Regedit in Windows search.
Navigate to the following location.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\BackgroundAccessApplications
Here, look for a DWORD key called ‘Migrated’. If it isn’t there, right-click inside the right panel and select New>SWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it Migrated, and set its value to 4. Customize theĀ Let apps run in the background setting however you like i.e., disable it completely or disable it for select apps. Next, restart your system and this time, the settings should persist after the reboot.
On the off chance that it still doesn’t remember your preferences, open the Windows Registry again and navigate to the following location.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
Look for a DWORD value calledĀ BackgroundAppGlobalToggle and delete it. Again, customize the background app refresh settings, and reboot your system to see if they persist past a reboot.
For many users, this fixes the problem and the apps they’ve barred from running the background no longer appear in Task Manager however, that’s not always the case. For some users, apps that have been barred from running the background might still appear in Task Manager but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re actually running. It’s just another bug that’s a result of the hack that was applied to fix the original problem.
Since this is a bug fix, it might have some exceptions whereby some apps, mostly the default ones like Edge or Cortana are still running in the background even though you’ve turned access off for them. There’s no way to fix it completely and it doesn’t seem that Microsoft is aware of the problem. Not many users change this particular setting so it makes sense that even fewer are experiencing the bug, and fewer still are reporting it.
