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How to Disable or Enable Cortana on Windows 10

Isabella Shinn
Isabella Shinn

Updated:

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the ability of all users to turn on Cortana in Windows 10. Here provide 3 ways to disable or enable Cortana in Windows 10 Anniversary Update.


How to Disable Cortana by turning it off on Cortana Settings

If you don't want Cortana to show up in your search box, click on the little 3-lined hamburger icon on the top left and then choose Settings. Then simply toggle the setting to Off to disable it.

Tips: This will delete all the data of Cortana that have about the device and disable itself completely.

Turn off Cortana

To restore enable Cortana for your Computer, you need to sign in with another Microsoft account instead.

How to Enable or Disable Cortana via Group Policy

Use these steps, you can quickly enable or disable Cortana using Group Policy.

Step 1: Open the Local Group Policy Editor.

Open the Local Group Policy Editor

Step 2: Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search. Locate the Allow Cortana setting in the right pane and double-click it.

Step 3: Set the Allow Cortana option to Disabled and then click OK.

Disable Cortana using Group Policy Editor

To enable Cortana, use the same steps above, in Step 3, set the Allow Cortana option to Enable.

You can now close the group policy editor. You'll have to restart your PC for this change to take effect.

How to Disable Cortana via Registry Editor

Use these steps, you can easily enable or disable Cortana in Registry Editor.

Step 1: Open the Registry Editor.

Open the Registry Editor

Step 2: Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search.

Step 3: From the right-side pane, you can see a REG_DWORD value named "Search box Taskbar Mode", double-click on SearchboxTaskbarMode, and change the value data as 0 to disable the Cortana.

Hide Search Box or Cortana icon on Taskbar

To enable Cortana, change the value data of SearchboxTaskbarMode to 1 or delete it.