diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index e62b9ba..79bcfb8 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -5434,6 +5434,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "muda",
  "rfd",
  "tempfile",
+ "tokio",
  "url",
  "zeroize",
 ]
diff --git a/apps/desktop/Cargo.toml b/apps/desktop/Cargo.toml
index 0b35c27..5ee9c8a 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/Cargo.toml
+++ b/apps/desktop/Cargo.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ path = "src/main.rs"
 [dependencies]
 iced.workspace = true
 ironstorage = { workspace = true, features = ["ssh"] }
+tokio.workspace = true
 zeroize.workspace = true
 
 [target.'cfg(target_os = "macos")'.dependencies]
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/main.rs b/apps/desktop/src/main.rs
index 7238a7e..e8a397f 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/main.rs
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/main.rs
@@ -6275,9 +6275,13 @@ fn parse_generation_length(value: &str) -> Result<Option<NonZeroUsize>, String>
 
 async fn load_authentication()
 -> Result<(DesktopStorage, NativeAuthenticationSession, KeyInfo), String> {
-    DesktopStorage::system()
-        .map(|bootstrap| bootstrap.into_parts())
-        .map_err(|error| error.to_string())
+    tokio::task::spawn_blocking(|| {
+        DesktopStorage::system()
+            .map(|bootstrap| bootstrap.into_parts())
+            .map_err(|error| error.to_string())
+    })
+    .await
+    .map_err(|error| format!("desktop startup task failed: {error}"))?
 }
 
 fn load_document(