I've been experimenting with the new Group Policy Object (GPO) that allows us to uninstall some default Windows Store apps on business machines, like Xbox and such. I thought I'd give it a shot and created a GPO to remove several apps, including Outlook for Windows and Microsoft Teams, along with a few Xbox apps and MSN Weather. I targeted it specifically to our IT workstation organizational unit. However, my machine was unaffected after checking with gpupdate and gpresult. Then, the GIS manager came by looking for service desk staff and ended up reporting that Outlook and Teams were closed and seemed to be missing. I quickly fixed my M365 installation to restore the apps and pulled back the GPO. Later, my boss mentioned that Teams had disappeared too. It looks like there might be some unexpected interactions between the new GPO options and our M365 deployments. As a heads-up, if many staff members start contacting the service desk about missing Outlook or Teams, it could create some chaos. I want to remove those apps entirely, but I want to ensure we keep the actual 365-based apps intact. Has anyone else dealt with issues like this recently, or is this just bad luck on my part?
2 Answers
You could be missing the proper Teams app, which might not have synced properly with your installations. Check this resource for bulk installations: [Bulk install Teams](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-client-bulk-install). But I get it; results can be really mixed when you're testing a new policy just like you are.
For sure. It's best to get a few different setups going to see how they react before a wider rollout.
It seems like you might have jumped the gun by removing Outlook and Teams without thorough testing first. If you targeted your GPO specifically to the IT OU, it sounds like the policy might be removing the M365 apps instead of just the Windows Store ones as you intended. You might want to narrow your scope even more before rolling it out more widely, just to avoid more support cases.
Exactly, it sounds like the GPO is mistaken in what it's supposed to remove. You may want to try smaller test groups first.
Not just that; double-check the apps you're removing to ensure they're set up correctly on all machines.
Yeah, it sounds like you've got mixed results. Testing with a small group can reveal some of these quirks, but the inconsistency is frustrating.