Apple has Siri, Amazon has Alexa and Microsoft has Cortana. It was a good step from Microsoft to introduce personal productivity assistant with windows, but after the annual update, many users complain that they can’t Disable Cortana!
No doubt that Cortana becomes more integral to Windows 10 with every major update, it displays notifications, can send emails, set reminders, and do all of that using your voice. Though it becomes increasingly restrictive too, Now it launches the Microsoft Edge browser and only uses Bing when you search. Some might find it too intrusive and would prefer to turn Cortana off.
After Anniversary Update Microsoft removed the Direct method to Disable Cortana, but If you’re still bent on turning off Microsoft assistant there’re Indirect methods to do it.
How to Disable Cortana on Windows 10?
First method: Windows 10 Home
If you have Windows 10 Home, you could edit the Windows Registry, but first, you should take backup or make a System Restore point.
- open the Registry Editor by pressing Windows+R on your keyboard
- type “Regedit” into the box, and pressing Enter.
- navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Policies > Microsoft > Windows.
- Right-click the Windows directory, and choose New > Key. Type in Windows Search, and hit enter.
- Right-click the “Windows Search” key (folder) in the left pane and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
.
- Name the value “AllowCortana”. Double-click it and set the value to “0”.
Now sign out and sign back in or restart your computer before the change takes effect. to restore Cortana in the future, you can just return here, locate the “AllowCortana” value, and delete it or set it to “1”.
Second method: Disable Cortana via Group Policy
For Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise users, they can easily disable Cortana using the Local Group Policy Editor.
- Press Windows + R. Type “gpedit.MSC” into the box, and press Enter.
- Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search.
- Locate the “Allow Cortana” setting in the right pane and double-click it.
- Set the Allow Cortana option to “Disabled” and then click “OK”.
Now restart your PC–for this change to take effect. To re-enable Cortana in the future, follow the same steps double-click the “Enable Cortana” setting, and change it to “Not Configured” or “Enabled”.
