This quick and simple tutorial is going to show you how to set a time delay on start up application in Ubuntu Unity.

All you need to do is adding a parameter into the command to start the startup program. It will create a .desktop file automatically under ~/.config/autostart/ with the “X-GNOME-Autostart-Delay” parameter.

NOTE that this will not work for Dropbox because it re-writes its .desktop file every time it runs.

To get started, first open Startup Applications utility from Unity Dash.

open-startup-applications

When it opens, highlight the program you want to delay and click the Edit button.

In the Command box add sleep 30; at the beginning, which means the program will delay 30 seconds to start.

deplay-startup-program

Just so easy! After you saved the changes, it takes place in next boot.