diff --git a/extensions/typescript/package.json b/extensions/typescript/package.json
index b039fac9631..cff9784cabe 100644
--- a/extensions/typescript/package.json
+++ b/extensions/typescript/package.json
@@ -315,6 +315,15 @@
           "type": "boolean",
           "default": true,
           "description": "%javascript.nameSuggestions%"
+        },
+        "typescript.tsc.autoDetect": {
+          "type": "string",
+          "default": "on",
+          "enum": [
+            "on",
+            "off"
+          ],
+          "description": "%typescript.tsc.autoDetect%"
         }
       }
     },
diff --git a/extensions/typescript/package.nls.json b/extensions/typescript/package.nls.json
index 821257b38a1..0679841532d 100644
--- a/extensions/typescript/package.nls.json
+++ b/extensions/typescript/package.nls.json
@@ -37,5 +37,6 @@
 	"jsDocCompletion.enabled": "Enable/disable auto JSDoc comments",
 	"javascript.implicitProjectConfig.checkJs": "Enable/disable semantic checking of JavaScript files. Existing jsconfig.json or tsconfig.json files override this setting. Requires TypeScript >=2.3.1.",
 	"typescript.check.npmIsInstalled": "Check if NPM is installed for automatic typings acquisition",
-	"javascript.nameSuggestions": "Enable/disable including unique names from the file in JavaScript suggestion lists."
+	"javascript.nameSuggestions": "Enable/disable including unique names from the file in JavaScript suggestion lists.",
+	"typescript.tsc.autoDetect": "Controls whether auto detection of tsc tasks is on or off."
 }
diff --git a/extensions/typescript/src/features/taskProvider.ts b/extensions/typescript/src/features/taskProvider.ts
index de8394594c9..4d50b233294 100644
--- a/extensions/typescript/src/features/taskProvider.ts
+++ b/extensions/typescript/src/features/taskProvider.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,10 @@ const exists = (file: string): Promise<boolean> =>
 		});
 	});
 
-export default class TypeScriptTaskProvider implements vscode.TaskProvider {
+/**
+ * Provides tasks for building `tsconfig.json` files in a project.
+ */
+class TscTaskProvider implements vscode.TaskProvider {
 	private readonly tsconfigProvider: TsConfigProvider;
 
 	public constructor(
@@ -116,4 +119,39 @@ export default class TypeScriptTaskProvider implements vscode.TaskProvider {
 		}
 		return null;
 	}
+}
+
+type AutoDetect = 'on' | 'off';
+
+/**
+ * Manages registrations of TypeScript task provides with VScode.
+ */
+export default class TypeScriptTaskProviderManager {
+	private taskProviderSub: vscode.Disposable | undefined = undefined;
+	private readonly disposables: vscode.Disposable[] = [];
+
+	constructor(
+		private readonly lazyClient: () => TypeScriptServiceClient
+	) {
+		vscode.workspace.onDidChangeConfiguration(this.onConfigurationChanged, this, this.disposables);
+		this.onConfigurationChanged();
+	}
+
+	dispose() {
+		if (this.taskProviderSub) {
+			this.taskProviderSub.dispose();
+			this.taskProviderSub = undefined;
+		}
+		this.disposables.forEach(x => x.dispose());
+	}
+
+	private onConfigurationChanged() {
+		let autoDetect = vscode.workspace.getConfiguration('typescript.tsc').get<AutoDetect>('autoDetect');
+		if (this.taskProviderSub && autoDetect === 'off') {
+			this.taskProviderSub.dispose();
+			this.taskProviderSub = undefined;
+		} else if (!this.taskProviderSub && autoDetect === 'on') {
+			this.taskProviderSub = vscode.workspace.registerTaskProvider(new TscTaskProvider(this.lazyClient));
+		}
+	}
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/extensions/typescript/src/typescriptMain.ts b/extensions/typescript/src/typescriptMain.ts
index 07a666936b9..9c207250932 100644
--- a/extensions/typescript/src/typescriptMain.ts
+++ b/extensions/typescript/src/typescriptMain.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ import CodeActionProvider from './features/codeActionProvider';
 import ReferenceCodeLensProvider from './features/referencesCodeLensProvider';
 import { JsDocCompletionProvider, TryCompleteJsDocCommand } from './features/jsDocCompletionProvider';
 import { DirectiveCommentCompletionProvider } from './features/directiveCommentCompletionProvider';
-import TypeScriptTaskProvider from './features/taskProvider';
+import TypeScriptTaskProviderManager from './features/taskProvider';
 
 import ImplementationCodeLensProvider from './features/implementationsCodeLensProvider';
 
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ export function activate(context: ExtensionContext): void {
 		lazyClientHost().serviceClient.restartTsServer();
 	}));
 
-	context.subscriptions.push(workspace.registerTaskProvider(new TypeScriptTaskProvider(() => lazyClientHost().serviceClient)));
+	context.subscriptions.push(new TypeScriptTaskProviderManager(() => lazyClientHost().serviceClient));
 
 	const goToProjectConfig = (isTypeScript: boolean) => {
 		const editor = window.activeTextEditor;