How To Disable Cortana On Windows 10

The Cortana digial assistant that's congenital into Windows 10 never took off. The cool thing is you can disable it or remove it completely. Hither's how.

Microsoft's attempt at a digital assistant, Cortana, congenital into Windows 10, never took off. In fact, in recent versions of Windows, the company has removed it from the search experience (19H1 build 18317). Nosotros take covered means to limit its activeness past disabling Cortana and replacing it with Windows Search. And Cortana made our list of disappointing Microsoft products. If yous don't use it and would rather information technology exist completely gone, hither'due south how to get rid of information technology using a Registry hack on Windows x Abode or Local Group Policy on Windows x Pro.

Disable Cortana on Windows 10

It'southward worth noting that y'all don't demand to go through the more complex steps of completely removing information technology. You can disable Cortana – merely it will still be there and possibly running in the background. It can too collect select search and other usage data.

Permit'south take a wait at that outset since it's a less invasive approach. Open Starting time > Settings > Privacy. Then from the left side, click on Microphone and turn off Cortana'south access to it. That will substantially make it useless for admission to the Microphone, anyhow.

Disable Cortana on Windows x Home

Since the Windows x Habitation version doesn't take Group Policy Editor, yous'll need to use the Registry to disable Cortana totally.

Important: The following steps require hacking the Registry – which isn't for the faint of heart. Whether yous're a beginner or not, make sure to follow these steps advisedly. Also, before proceeding, create a registry backup, Restore Point, or full organisation backup – or all three for redundancy. That way, if something goes awry, you can recover your system.

With that out of the way, allow's brainstorm. Hitting the keyboard shortcut Windows Central + R to open the Run dialog and type: regedit and hitting Enter or click OK.

When the Registry opens, head to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows > Windows Search

Right-click on the Windows binder and select New > Cardinal, and proper noun it: Windows Search .

Side by side, right-click an surface area on the right side in the Windows Search binder and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Then give the DWORD Value the name: AllowCortana, ready its Value data to 0, and click OK.

The post-obit is what your Registry edits should await similar. Close out of Registry Editor and restart your PC. Cortana volition be disabled when it comes back, and you won't need to worry about it anymore.

If yous try to launch it, you'll get the following message noting that it'south disabled, and you need permission from your administrator.

Disable Cortana on Windows 10 Pro

The Pro version of Windows 10 has Group Policy Editor, so you tin can use that instead of messing with the Registry. To launch it, use the keyboard shortcut Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog. Blazon: gpedit.msc and striking Enter or click OK.

Now, head to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search and double-click on Permit Cortana.

In the screen that opens up, select the Disabled radio push and and so click OK. Close out of Group Policy Editor and restart your machine.

When you come back from the restart, you lot'll notice that you won't see Cortana on your PC anymore. You won't find it on the Start Menu or the Taskbar.

This method doesn't uninstall or completely remove Cortana from Windows 10, just information technology does disable it. If you want to uninstall it, you tin can follow our article on how to uninstall Cortana from Windows 10.

Annotation: Yous demand to be running Windows 10 May 2020 Update or higher for this to work.

You essentially need to run Windows PowerShell as administrator:

Then enter the following command and hit Enter:

Go-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage

That'southward all there is to it. Whether y'all want to disable Cortana or completely uninstall it, you now can. For more on the digital assistant, check out how to brand Cortana and Alexa work together.