If you disable the “Automatically run MicroPython application at module startup” setting… is there a python command run the firmware? The micropython documentation tells you that you can enable/disable this feature, but fails to follow up about if you disable the run-on-start-up, how to prompt it to run on demand?
Do you have access to the REPL (via the web interface or a terminal program)? Just import the boot module:
MicroPython v1.13 on 2020-09-11; ESP module with ESP8266
Type "help()" for more information.
>>> import boot