Want to uninstall Cortana? You’ve come to the right place, and we’ve got good news. It’s pretty simple to shut down Microsoft’s digital assistant, as the company continues to make it less and less prevalent on devices.
Whether they’re surrendering territory to Alexa, Google Assistant and (possibly?) Siri is a question to be answered another day: we’ve got complete instructions for both regular folks and power users alike, to help you uninstall Cortana to your liking.
Of course, Microsoft would probably prefer you get rid of Cortana by upgrading to Windows 11 where the digital assistant isn’t enabled by default. Eeven better, if you or someone you know has enabled Cortana (we’ll show you how later in this article) it’s pretty easy to switch it off again.
It seems that Microsoft’s not giving up on Cortana, though. Instead, we’re seeing Cortana show up in other locations, such as Microsoft’s mobile Microsoft 365 apps. So, yes, even though you can remove Cortana from PCs, it’s still showing up inside the company’s Outlook and Teams apps.
There are two ways to disable Cortana, as outlined by Windows Latest. You can either stop it from automatically opening when you boot your PC (the easier way), or remove the new Cortana app from Windows 10 (which is a little harder). We’ve got full instructions below.
How to disable Cortana in Windows 10
- Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
- In Task Manager, click the Startup column.
- Select Cortana.
- Click Disable.
- Then, open the Start menu.
- Find Cortana under All Apps.
- Right-click on Cortana.
- Select More.
- Click on App settings.
- Turn off the switch next to ‘Runs at log-in.’
How to uninstall the Cortana app in Windows 10
These steps require a little tinkering, so a word of caution. Since you’re going to be poking around in PowerShell, back up your system first. Our best cloud backup solutions provide easy ways to protect your data.
- Open the Start Menu and type in PowerShell.
- Right click on Windows PowerShell.
- Select ‘Run as administrator’.
- Type the following text (minus the ‘ marks) in: ‘Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage’
- Press Enter.
Of course, power users set on eradicating Cortana will need to dive even deeper into Windows Registry — which is even more risky for everyday users. Since it’s less necessary and a bit dangerous, we recommend skipping that part.
You’ve already shut Cortana up and removed its app presence. That should be enough for some extra peace of mind.
How to disable Cortana in Windows 11
While Cortana comes disabled by default in Windows 11, it’s possible to bring it back, as we’ll explain below. If you, or someone else, did that to your PC, and you want to remove it you can disable it just as easily.
We’ve got two ways to do it here, and our first is arguably the easiest.
- Click Windows + I (that’s an I not an L) to open Settings.
- Select Apps from the left menu.
- Select Apps and Features on the right menu.
- Scroll to Cortana, click the three dots icon and select Advanced options
- Flip the “Run at Log-in” toggle to the OFF position.
How to disable Cortana in Windows 11 with the Task Manager
This is another way to stop it in its tracks, pulling Cortana out of your Startup apps.
- Right-click the Windows Start button from the bottom of the screen
- Select Task Manager
- Open the Startup tab
- Find and right-click Cortana
- Select Disable
How to install Cortana in Windows 11
Windows 11 doesn’t even have Cortana active by default. But, what if, just play along with us here, you wanted to enable Cortana in Windows 11?
Fortunately, it’s really easy.
- Click Windows + I (that’s an I not an L) to open Settings.
- Select Apps from the left menu.
- Select Apps and Features on the right menu.
- Scroll to Cortana, click the three dots icon and select Advanced options
- Turn the “Run at Log-in” toggle to the ON position.