4 Unique Methods to Disable Microsoft Store

You can disable Microsoft store using multiple methods. In this post, I will show you how to turn off Microsoft Store application using Registry, PowerShell, Locally and Group Policy.

What is Microsoft store? The Microsoft Store is an app on Windows and allows you to install apps and games, purchase digital media and Microsoft devices.

If you are not using Microsoft store application on your computer, you can disable it, certainly. However, some users tend to leave it enabled on the taskbar.

You can also hide the Store icon from the task sequence so that you don’t accidentally launch it. Right-click the Microsoft store icon on task bar and click Unpin from taskbar.

But if you have decided to disable the Microsoft store application, I will show you how to do it using multiple ways. Depending upon your requirement, you can go with any of these methods.

Most admins prefer to disable the store application using group policy. We will use the built-in policy setting called Turn off the store application to disable the access to the Store application. By default, this policy is set to Not configured.

Note – The GPO method will work only in Windows 10 Enterprise and Education editions on V1511 or later. According to Microsoft, this behavior is by design. In Windows 10, version 1511,1809, and 1903, these policies are applicable to users of the Enterprise and Education editions only.

If you enable this setting, access to the Store application will be denied. Access to the Store is required for installing app updates. If you disable or don’t configure this setting, access to the Store application is allowed.

Method 1 – Turn off Microsoft Store Application locally

You can turn off Microsoft store application on a single computer using the following steps. First, on your Windows 10 computer, click Start > Run > type the command gpedit.msc.

This launches the Local group policy editor. Now expand Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components. Click on Store folder.

In the right pane, right click Turn off the store application and click Edit. Select Enabled to turn off the Microsoft store application. Click Apply and OK.

Before you test further, run the gpupdate /force command to update the policies. Reboot the computer. Login and try opening the Microsoft Store application. Now it shows Microsoft Store is blocked. Check with your IT or system administrator.

Method 2 – Disable Microsoft Store Application using Registry

You can tweak the registry to disable the Microsoft store application. However, I would recommend backing up the registry before you make any further changes.

Click Start > Run and type the command regedit. Browse to the following path – Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsStore. Look for Registry key named RemoveWindowsStore. By default, the value is 0.

To disable the Microsoft store application, change the value of RemoveWindowsStore from 0 to 1. Close the registry editor and reboot your computer once. You’ll now find that Microsoft store app is no longer available on your system.

Method 3 – Uninstall Microsoft Store using PowerShell

To remove or uninstall Microsoft Store from your computer, try the below steps.

• Run the PowerShell as administrator.
• Copy and paste the following command into the PowerShell prompt and hit Enter – Get-appxpackage windowsstore | remove-appxPackage
• The Microsoft store is now uninstalled for the current user.

The above command uninstalls the Microsoft store application for the currently logged-in user. If you want to remove the store application for all the users, run the following PowerShell command – Get-Appxpackage -allusers windowsstore | Remove-AppxPackage

Tip – In case you want to reinstall the Windows Store, open PowerShell as administrator and run the following command – Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers| Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

Method 4 – Turn Off Microsoft Store using Group Policy

In Method 1, we disabled the Store application locally using gpedit.msc. If you want to disable the store application on multiple computers in a domain, you can use group policy.

Before you apply this group policy to your domain computers, I would recommend applying it on a OU containing few test machines. If you find it working, you can deploy it to a larger set of computers.

Launch the GPMC console, create a new GPO and name it as turn off Microsoft store. Right-click the newly created GPO and click Edit.

Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components. Click on Store folder.

In the right pane, right click Turn off the store application and click Edit. Select Enabled to turn off the Microsoft store application. Click Apply and OK.

You need to wait for the policy to get applied on the client machines. You can also run gpupdate /force on the client computers. Launching the Microsoft store should now show Microsoft Store is blocked. Check with your IT or system administrator.