Microsoft started rolling out the Moment 4 update for Windows 11. The update also included Windows Copilot, a generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) that replaces Cortana and offers to perform certain tasks for the users.
However, if you are not interested in having additional bloatware on your system then there are ways to remove or disable Windows Copilot on Windows 11. The steps will depend on whether you have Windows 11 or Windows 11 Pro.
For Pro users, Group Policy Editor offers the easiest way to disable Copilot. Windows 11 users, on the other hand, will have to rely on Windows Registry Editor so we do recommend taking a backup before proceeding as editing Windows Registry Keys can harm your system.
Method 1: Using Group Policy EditorWindows 11 Pro users can access the Group Policy Editor on their system to disable Copilot by following the steps below:
1️⃣ Open the Start Menu and type "Group Policy Editor" or "gpedit"
2️⃣ Click on Edit group policy
3️⃣ Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot
4️⃣ Double-click on "Turn off Windows Copilot". This will open a new dialog box
5️⃣ Select the "Enabled" radio button on the top left and click on Apply then OK to save changes
This will disable Windows Copilot on your system and remove the icon from the taskbar as well.
Method 2: Using Registry EditorIf you are using a non-Pro version of Windows 11 then you will need to leverage the Registry Editor to remove Windows Copilot as Group Policy Editor is not bundled with Windows 11. This is a little bit more advanced, and you should proceed at your own risk.
With that out of the way, here is how you can disable Windows Copilot on Windows 11:
1️⃣ Open the Start Menu and type "Registry Editor" or "regedit"
2️⃣ Click on Registry Editor. Click yes if you get the UAC prompt
3️⃣ Once opened, you will need to navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
4️⃣ Now click on Edit > New > Key and name it "WindowsCopilot"
5️⃣ Navigate to Edit > New > DWORD (32-bit) value and name it "TurnOffWindowsCopilot"
6️⃣ Double click on "TurnOffWindowsCopilot" and set the value as 1 and base as Hexadecimal
7️⃣ Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows and repeat the same steps
8️⃣ Now, either restart your system or open Task Manager and restart the Windows Explorer task
You can also paste the following snippet in Notepad and save it as .reg file. Once run, this will execute the above steps for you so you don't have to do it manually:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot]
"TurnOffWindowsCopilot"=dword:00000001[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot]
"TurnOffWindowsCopilot"=dword:00000001Once done, Windows Copilot will be removed from your system. You can get it back by deleting the "WindowsCopilot" key from both locations and rebooting the system.
Remove Windows Copilot icon from the taskbarIf you are happy with Windows Copilot but don't want the taskbar to show the icon and take up space, then you can follow the below steps to remove it from the taskbar:
1️⃣ Open Windows Settings and navigate to Personalization > Taskbar
2️⃣ Find the Copilot (Preview) option under Taskbar items and click on the toggle next to it to hide the icon
Do note that this will just hide the Copilot icon on the taskbar, and you can still launch it by pressing Windows + C shortcut key.
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