How to Disable Copilot in Windows 11 (All Methods)

Microsoft has woven Copilot into almost every corner of Windows 11: a taskbar button, a standalone app, a dedicated keyboard key on newer laptops, a sidebar in Edge, and a separate subscription layer inside Microsoft 365. Each one is a separate thing that you switch off separately.

The steps below cover all of them, starting from the quickest fix (hiding the taskbar button) and working through to longer-lasting approaches for managed PCs and Home edition machines.

What "Copilot" means on your PC right now

The name covers several distinct products:

Recall is a separate AI feature. This guide covers the first four; Recall and Microsoft 365 Copilot have their own controls noted at the end.

Hide the Copilot button from the taskbar

This is the fastest option. It removes the button from sight without uninstalling anything.

1. Right-click an empty space on the taskbar and choose Taskbar settings, or go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar.
2. Find Copilot in the taskbar items list.
3. Toggle it Off.

The button disappears immediately. Copilot is still installed; press Win + C and it opens. If you want it gone entirely, continue to the next section.

Uninstall the Copilot app

Uninstalling removes the app from your system. Note that a future Windows Update may reinstall it unless you also apply the Group Policy or registry block below.

Via Settings:

1. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps.
2. Search for Microsoft Copilot.
3. Click the three-dot menu next to it and choose Uninstall.

Via PowerShell (any edition):

Open PowerShell as administrator and run:

Get-AppxPackage -Name "Microsoft.Copilot" | Remove-AppxPackage

If the package name differs on your build, list all Copilot-related packages first:

Get-AppxPackage | Where-Object Name -Like "*Copilot*"

Use the exact Name value from the output in the removal command.

Disable Copilot with Group Policy (Pro and Enterprise only)

Group Policy can block Copilot on managed machines, but Microsoft marks the related policy as legacy and subject to near-term deprecation, so it may stop working and does not guarantee the app will not reinstall.

1. Press Win + R, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot
3. Double-click Turn off Windows Copilot.
4. Select Enabled and click OK.

Log out and back in, or restart, for the policy to apply.

Disable Copilot with the registry (Home edition)

If you are on Windows 11 Home, you can create the same policy block through the registry.

1. Press Win + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
2. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
3. If the WindowsCopilot key does not exist, right-click the Windows folder, choose New > Key, and name it WindowsCopilot.
4. Inside WindowsCopilot, right-click an empty area and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
5. Name it TurnOffWindowsCopilot and set its value to 1.
6. Close Registry Editor and restart.

This mirrors the Group Policy option on Home edition. Microsoft marks this legacy policy as subject to near-term deprecation, so it may stop working and does not guarantee the app will not reinstall.

One-line PowerShell alternative (run as administrator):

reg add "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot" /v TurnOffWindowsCopilot /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

For a stronger block, Microsoft documents an AppLocker rule using the package name MICROSOFT.COPILOT. See Manage Windows Copilot on Microsoft Learn.

Turn off Copilot in Edge, Office, and remap the Copilot key

Disable Copilot in Microsoft Edge

1. Open Edge and click the three-dot menu (...) in the top-right corner.
2. Choose Settings > Sidebar.
3. Under App and notification settings, find Copilot and toggle it off.
4. Optionally, also toggle off Show Copilot button in toolbar under Appearance.

Remap or disable the Copilot key

Newer Windows 11 laptops ship with a dedicated Copilot key. By default it opens the Copilot panel. PowerToys lets you remap it to anything else.

1. Download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store or GitHub.
2. Open PowerToys > Keyboard Manager > Remap a key.
3. Set the Copilot key as the source and choose a different action (for example, Win + S to open Search, or Disable to make it do nothing).

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a paid add-on licence, separate from the free Windows app. If your organisation has assigned you a licence, your IT admin can remove it from the Microsoft 365 admin centre. As an individual subscriber, you can cancel the add-on through your Microsoft account at account.microsoft.com.

Turn off Copilot data and personalization

Even if you keep Copilot installed, you can limit what data it collects.

1. Go to Settings > Privacy & security > Activity history and turn off Store my activity history on this device.
2. Go to Settings > Privacy & security > Search permissions, scroll to Cloud content search, and turn off both Microsoft account and Work or school account.
3. In the Copilot app itself, open Settings (gear icon) and disable Personalisation if the option appears.
4. At privacy.microsoft.com, you can review and clear your Bing search history and Copilot conversation history tied to your Microsoft account.

For a broader look at what Windows 11 sends home and how to tighten it, see our guide on how to bypass the Microsoft account requirement during Windows setup and the overview of best Windows utilities that include privacy-focused tools.

Copilot came back after an update: what to do

Windows Update can silently reinstall the Copilot app, especially on Home edition without a registry block. Here is what to do when it returns:

1. Apply or re-apply the registry block from the section above. If you skipped it, this is why Copilot is back.
2. Re-run the PowerShell uninstall to remove the freshly reinstalled package.
3. On Pro/Enterprise: confirm the Group Policy setting is still Enabled. A major feature update (for example, upgrading from 23H2 to 24H2) can reset some local policy settings.

AppLocker (Enterprise only): Microsoft documents an AppLocker rule with package name MICROSOFT.COPILOT as the way to block the app from running. See Manage Windows Copilot. This requires Active Directory or Intune and is outside the scope of a single-PC guide.

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