Disable Copilot on Windows 11 using Intune and GPO

In this post, I will show you how to disable Copilot on Windows 11 using Intune and Group Policy (GPO). If your organization prefers to restrict the use of Copilot AI features in the workplace, you can follow the methods outlined in this guide.

Starting with Intune service release 2402, a new setting named “Turn Off Copilot in Windows,” has been added to the Settings catalog under the category named ‘Windows AI‘ to manage copilot access for users.

For devices that are joined to the Active Directory domain, I recommend configuring ‘Turn off Windows Copilot‘ GPO to disable AI assistant on Windows 11. All you need is the latest ADMX templates for Windows 11.

Note: The Intune Policy CSP – TurnOffWindowsCopilot is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. For devices registered with Intune MDM, use the Settings Catalog policy to manage Copilot access.

Create Intune Policy to disable Copilot on Windows 11

Here are the instructions to create a policy in Intune to disable the Copilot for Windows 11 users. In the Intune admin center, navigate to Devices > Windows > Configuration > Create > New Policy. Choose Windows 10 and later as Platform and Settings Catalog as Profile Type. Click Create.

Specify the policy name and add a brief description of this policy. Select Next.

In the Settings picker window, type “Turn off Copilot” in the search box. Next, select the Windows AI category and then select the setting “Turn off Copilot in Windows (User)“. Close the Settings picker.

Enable the setting ‘Turn off copilot in Windows (User)‘. This will permanently disable Copilot, and the users will not be able to use the AI app. The Copilot icon will not appear on the taskbar either. Click Next.

In the scope tags section, you specify scope tags. Specifying scope tags is optional, and you may skip this step. Click Next.

In the Assignments tab, select the Entra ID security user groups to which you want to assign the policy. If you are deploying this policy for the first time, I recommend deploying it to a few test groups first and then expanding it to more users or devices if the testing is successful. Select Next.

On the Review + Create page, review all the settings that you have configured so far and select Create. A newly created policy must appear in the Configuration Profiles list.

Sync Policies with Intune

To speed up the policy assignments, you can manually sync Intune policies using various methods on windows computers. The sync action prompts devices to instantly connect with Intune and apply the most up-to-date policies. This is typically performed to test an app or policy deployment and verify its functionality.

End-User Experience

Once the policy settings are applied, sign in to Windows 11 that is targeted with the above policy. You’ll notice that the Copilot icon has been removed from the taskbar. The policy settings also prevent users from enabling the Copilot from the taskbar options on Windows 11.

Disable Copilot on Windows 11 using GPO

You can disable Copilot on Windows 11 using a group policy with the following steps:

• Open the Local Group Policy Editor by running the gpedit.msc command.
• Go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot.
• On the right pane, double-click on the ‘Turn off Windows Copilot‘ GPO.
• Select Enabled to turn off Windows Copilot.

The “Turn off Windows Copilot” GPO setting allows you to turn off Windows Copilot on Windows 11 devices. If you enable this policy setting, users will not be able to use Copilot. The Copilot icon will not appear on the taskbar either. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, users will be able to use Copilot when it’s available to them.

Click Apply and OK to save the changes you’ve made to the policy setting. Restart your PC, and you’ll notice the Copilot icon has been removed by GPO from the Windows 11 taskbar.

Intune Policy CSP for Copilot – Deprecated

The TurnOffWindowsCopilot policy setting allows you to manage Copilot on Windows 11 via Intune. The below table shows the Intune policy CSP with which you can either enable or disable Copilot on Windows 11.

Intune CSP Policy for Managing Copilot	Setting
CSP (user)	./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/TurnOffWindowsCopilot

TurnOffWindowsCopilot

Note: This policy is deprecated and may be removed in a future release. Use the Settings Catalog policy to enable or disable Copilot on Windows 11.

In Intune, you can enable or disable the Copilot on Windows 11 by setting appropriate values for the TurnOffWindowsCopilot setting. The above policy setting allows you to turn off Windows 11 Copilot using Intune.

• TurnOffWindowsCopilot=1, users won’t be able to use Copilot. The Copilot icon won’t appear on the taskbar either.
• TurnOffWindowsCopilot=0, users will be able to use Copilot when it’s available to them.

The below screenshot is from a Microsoft article that explains the scope, editions of Windows, and applicable OS for the policy CSP – Windows AI.

Turn off Copilot using Intune Policy CSP – Deprecated

Use the following steps to create a custom policy in Intune to disable Copilot on Windows 11 devices:

• Sign in to the Microsoft Intune Admin Center.
• Navigate to Devices > Windows > Configuration Profiles.
• To add a new custom profile, select Create Profile.

On the Create a Profile pane, configure the following and select Create.

• Platform: Windows 10 and later
• Profile Type: Templates
• Template Name: Custom

In the Basics tab, enter the following properties:

• Name: Enter a descriptive name for the profile, which you can easily identify later. For example, a good profile name is ‘Disable Windows Copilot using Intune‘.
• Description: Enter a brief description of the profile. This setting is optional but recommended.

Click Next.

On the Configuration Settings tab, we will use OMA-URI settings to disable copilot on Windows devices. Click on the Add button.

Add the following OMA-URI settings to turn off Windows Copilot using Intune.

• Name: TurnOffWindowsCopilot
• Description: Disable Copilot on Windows devices
• OMA-URI: ./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/TurnOffWindowsCopilot
• Data type: Integer
• Value: 1

Click Save.

Once you have added the above OMA-URI settings, they are visible on the screen. Click Next.

On the Assignments tab, select and add the groups for whom you want to target this policy. If you are testing the policy on devices/users for the first time, we recommend creating a pilot group. Once you find the policy assignments successful, you can then expand them to a larger group. Click Next to display the Review + Create page.

Review the values and settings you entered for the policy CSP. When you are done, click Create to add this policy to Intune.

After you create a custom policy in Intune, a notification appears: “Profile Disable Copilot on Windows 11 using Intune created successfully“. This confirms that the policy has been created and is being applied to the groups we chose. The new configuration policy that we created to disable copilot on Windows 11 devices is now visible in Intune’s list of configuration profiles.

You must wait for the policy to apply to the targeted groups, and once the devices check in with the Intune service, they will receive your policy settings. You can also force sync Intune policies on your computers to sync with Intune. To monitor the deployment, select the policy and review the Device and user check-in status. Once the groups receive the policy, the Windows copilot is turned off for the users.

Intune Disable Copilot error 0x87d1fde8

After using the Intune Policy CSP to turn off Copilot on Windows 11, several users reported the error 0x87d1fde8. The solution is to use the correct OMA-URI, which is as follows – ./User/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/WindowsAI/TurnOffWindowsCopilot.

The GPO method disables the copilot feature on Windows 11 without any issues.