[BUG] Claude Breaks Windows 11 Settings

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Faulting application name: SystemSettings.exe, version: 10.0.26100.8737, time stamp: 0x743a766f
Faulting module name: SettingsHandlers_Startup.dll, version: 10.0.26100.8737, time stamp: 0x41076f6f
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00000000000267b3
Faulting process id: 0x1F7C
Faulting application start time: 0x1DD1939E9EE40A2
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\ImmersiveControlPanel\SystemSettings.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\SettingsHandlers_Startup.dll
Report Id: f4290449-c53a-47a1-8d76-edeb8057e5e9
Faulting package full name: windows.immersivecontrolpanel_10.0.8.1000_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Faulting package-relative application ID: microsoft.windows.immersivecontrolpanel

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" Guid="{a0e9b465-b939-57d7-b27d-95d8e925ff57}" />
<EventID>1000</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2026-07-21T17:54:09.0434199Z" />
<EventRecordID>563055</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="21924" ThreadID="13276" />
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>FarrisMobile</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-21-876722784-2480968920-1542900413-1002" />
</System>

• <EventData>

<Data Name="AppName">SystemSettings.exe</Data>
<Data Name="AppVersion">10.0.26100.8737</Data>
<Data Name="AppTimeStamp">743a766f</Data>
<Data Name="ModuleName">SettingsHandlers_Startup.dll</Data>
<Data Name="ModuleVersion">10.0.26100.8737</Data>
<Data Name="ModuleTimeStamp">41076f6f</Data>
<Data Name="ExceptionCode">c0000005</Data>
<Data Name="FaultingOffset">00000000000267b3</Data>
<Data Name="ProcessId">0x1f7c</Data>
<Data Name="ProcessCreationTime">0x1dd1939e9ee40a2</Data>
<Data Name="AppPath">C:\Windows\ImmersiveControlPanel\SystemSettings.exe</Data>
<Data Name="ModulePath">C:\Windows\System32\SettingsHandlers_Startup.dll</Data>
<Data Name="IntegratorReportId">f4290449-c53a-47a1-8d76-edeb8057e5e9</Data>
<Data Name="PackageFullName">windows.immersivecontrolpanel_10.0.8.1000_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy</Data>
<Data Name="PackageRelativeAppId">microsoft.windows.immersivecontrolpanel</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

What Should Happen?

That's the smoking gun. Look at how Claude's entry is stored versus every other app:

Steam: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steam.exe" -silent
Claude: "\"C:\Users\stanf\AppData\Local\AnthropicClaude\claude.exe\" --startup"

Every normal entry wraps the path in one pair of quotes. Claude's value has an extra layer of quoting with escaped quotes — the whole command is wrapped in outer quotes, and the inner path quotes are stored as \". That backslash-escaped-quote format is malformed for a Windows Run value, and it's exactly what makes SettingsHandlers_Startup.dll throw the access violation when it tries to parse the entry to display it. This is the confirmed cause from that bug report, and now you can see it literally in your registry.

And this is why Task Manager's Disable didn't help: the malformed string is still sitting in the Run key, so the Startup page still parses it (to show it greyed-out) and still crashes at the same offset.

Fix — remove the entry, don't just disable it:

First, stop Claude from rewriting it: open Claude Desktop → its Settings → turn off "open on startup," then fully quit it (right-click the system-tray icon → Quit, not just close the window).

Then delete the malformed value and the leftover disable-flag:

powershell
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" -Name "Claude"
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\StartupApproved\Run" -Name "Claude" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Confirm it's gone:

powershell
Get-ItemProperty "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" | Format-List

Claude should no longer appear in that list. Then reboot and open Settings → Apps → Startup. It should load.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Clude desktop
2. enable run on start
3. reboot
4. Setting>Apps>Startup

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

1.22209.3

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PowerShell

Additional Information

_No response_