How to Hide (or Disable) Copilot in Windows 11

Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid, but you still have options. Microsoft recently introduced Copilot in Windows 11, and it has found its new home in the taskbar. But if you want it to be discreet, or perhaps disabled altogether, you can do so.

Hiding the Copilot button in Windows 11

Microsoft Copilot can be hidden by clicking the toggle switch in the taskbar personalization settings. The fastest way to get to Settings is from the taskbar itself.

1. Click on an empty area of ​​the taskbar.

2. From the menu, select Taskbar Settings .

   Photo: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

3. You’ll immediately be taken to the Personalization > Taskbar screen in the Settings app.

4. Turn off the toggle switch for Copilot (preview) listed in the Taskbar Items section.

   Photo: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

You can get to the same screen from the Settings app.

1. Click Start and select Settings from the menu, or press the Windows key + I on your keyboard.

2. Select Personalization on the left, scroll down and open Taskbar , which allows you to show or hide the buttons that appear on the taskbar.

   Photo: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

3. As before, turn off the toggle switch for Copilot (preview) listed under Taskbar Items.

The Copilot button should now disappear from the taskbar. Remember that this action only hides the button. You can still bring up Copilot from a separate desktop sidebar using the Windows + C keyboard shortcut.

Hiding the Copilot button in Microsoft Edge

Copilot is now also an integral part of Microsoft Edge. If Edge is your default browser, you might want to clean it up by removing the Copilot button from view. Here’s how to hide it:

1. Open Microsoft Edge and click the three dots in the top right corner to open the menu.

2. From the menu, select Settings .

3. Select Sidebar in the left column.

   Photo: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

4. Under App & Notification Settings, go to App Settings and select Copilot .

5. Turn off the Show Co-Pilot switch. It also automatically disables the “Automatically open Copilot” option in the sidebar .

   Photo: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

6. Restart your browser for the changes to take effect.

Additionally, you can also quickly hide the Copilot button from the button itself.

1. Launch Microsoft Edge and click the Copilot button to open the sidebar.

2. Click on the three vertical dots to open more options .

   Photo: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

3. Tap Notifications & Apps Settings to open the same screen (as above) with a toggle for Show Copilot.

How to disable Microsoft Copilot on Windows

Because Copilot is built into Windows 11, it cannot be uninstalled like a regular app. Instead, Windows 11 Professional, Education, or Enterprise edition users can use Group Policy Editor to disable it on their computers for a longer period of time. Those using Windows 11 Home will have to resort to tweaking the registry.

After using these methods, Copilot will no longer appear when using the keyboard shortcut. Don’t worry, all of these methods are reversible and you can easily revert Copilot if you want to take advantage of generative AI in Windows later. Here are step-by-step instructions for both.

Disable Copilot using Group Policy settings.

Group Policy Editor is an administration tool in later versions of Windows that can be used to manage system settings, such as Microsoft Copilot, and policies in a network environment.

1. To disable Windows Copilot using Group Policy Editor, open Start , type Group Policy Editor in the search box, and press Enter .

2. In the Group Policy Editor window, navigate to the next level:

   User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot

3. In the right pane, right-click “Turn off Windows Copilot” and select “Edit” .

4. The Disable Windows Copilot dialog box displays several options. Select Enabled to disable the Copilot button in Windows.

   Photo: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

5. Select Apply and OK . Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

To undo these changes, simply select the Disabled radio button and restart your computer again.

Disable Copilot from the registry (Windows 11 Home users)

Editing registry settings is always risky, so always choose this option last. Create a registry backup and a restore point as a precaution in case something goes wrong.

Here’s how to disable Microsoft Copilot using Registry Editor.

1. Open Start and type “registry” in the search box to find Registry Editor.

2. Expand the tree view on the left to the following registry entry:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

3. Right-click the Windows key > New > Key. Label the key as WindowsCopilot .

4. Right-click WindowsCopilot > select New > DWORD Value (32-bit) . Name the DWORD as TurnOffWindowsCopilot .

5. Double-click TurnOffWindowsCopilot and enter 1 in the Value Data text box. The base should be the default “Hexadecimal”. Click OK.

   Photo: Microsoft/Saikat Basu

6. Restart your computer to see if the Copilot button is disabled.

The above steps will disable Copilot for the current user. To make the change for all users, go to this registry path and follow the same steps to create and change a new DWORD value.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

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