I recently discovered that Microsoft 365 Copilot has been installed on many of our user machines. Instead of uninstalling it, we're looking for a way to prevent it from starting up when users log in. Ideally, I'm hoping for a script that we can deploy across our systems. Has anyone figured this out? It's a Windows application but doesn't seem to be packaged as an appx file, so we're feeling a bit stuck. Any advice would be appreciated!
4 Answers
Honestly, switching to a different OS might save you a lot of trouble with these types of applications. Just a thought! 😊
If Copilot runs as a service, you can block it easily. Check the services via services.msc to find out what it's using. Then, navigate to the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServices. Change the ownership to Administrators, and set permissions accordingly. Then set the Start value to 4 to disable it. That should stop it from launching after a restart.
One straightforward method is to use AppLocker to block Copilot completely. It's a bit complicated to set up initially, but if you're just targeting Copilot, it can be effective.
I had a similar issue when we migrated to GCCH, and Copilot kept crashing since it wasn't available there. The solution for us was to disable it in the startup apps, and that stopped the annoying errors. You might want to try that too.
I appreciate the tip! Is it easy to revert changes if needed?