Hi everyone! I'm looking for some help with a technology upgrade in our robotics lab (K-12). We're updating over 30 PCs from version 23H2 to 24H2, and I've noticed that Microsoft 365 Copilot keeps getting installed whenever users sign in. This bloatware is really frustrating! I've updated the ADMX records on our Domain Controller to manage these settings through Group Policy, but even after trying to disable it, nothing seems to change. I've heard that the registry edit method isn't working anymore either. Since everything in our lab is locked down, going around to manually uninstall it from each computer would be a real hassle. I'm hoping there's a more efficient way through Group Policy. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
There’s definitely a way to handle this with ADMX files. Make sure you've got the Windows 11 Administrative Templates pack for version 23H2. If you’re using a Server 2022 setup for the GPOs, the necessary ADMX and ADML files should be there. Once that’s set up on your domain’s SYSVOL, navigate to User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Windows Copilot, and enable the ‘Turn off Windows Copilot’ policy. That worked for me without any issues on a client system!
You might want to use the DisableNewFeature policy via Group Policy. Also, checking for any updated ADMX files specific to Copilot could help. If those options don't work, a script to disable it through the registry could serve as a backup plan, but ideally Group Policy should manage this without issue.
I already tried the Copilot policy in GP and it didn't do anything. I'll take your advice and script it then, maybe test it on a new GP to see if it works.
I tried that, too, but it didn’t work for me. I read that Microsoft considers this a legacy setting and that I may need to uninstall the app directly.