how can I turn off copilot on my windows 11 computer

Hi Jim Tavolaro

Thanks for posting in the Microsoft Q&A Forum!

I understand how frustrating it can be when a feature feels intrusive or interferes with your workflow. Copilot is designed to assist, but if it doesn't meet your needs, you can follow this step to disable it completely:

Disable Copilot via Terminal:

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

This creates the TurnOffWindowsCopilot DWORD under the HKCU policy key and sets it to 1 (enabled).

After running, sign out and back in (or restart Explorer) for the change to take effect.

If you ever change your mind, here's how you can re-enable Copilot:

reg delete HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot /f

which deletes the key entirely, restoring default behavior.

Here's a Microsoft Q&A thread reference that many users with the same idea as yours also agree:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/4081822/how-do-i-disable-copilot-and-all-other-ai-function

Hope this can help. Let me know if anything comes up!

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