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FULL FIX: Cortana not turning off on Windows 10/11

9 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Cortana is a snarky little digital assistant that Microsoft incorporated inWindows10. Cortana represents the vision and direction Microsoft has for the future, where technology seamlessly works for you rather than you working with it. Cortana is a solid foundation – a tease for what’s to come – and it already supports multiple languages, and gives answers to some of your basic questions. She can tell you jokes, interesting facts, bring you the news that interests you, she will even sing for you if that is what you fancy.

As with any assistant – digital, or not – the more information she has on you, the better results she will be able to provide you with; your friends, where you are, where you live, your emails, your calendar appointments, your contacts – everything helps her be better at her job, but all of this comes at the cost of privacy.

Notice that we are talking about Cortana as if it is a person – and it might as well be; if not, she is the best we can do with our current technology and so she will only get better over time. However, it is still a digital assistant – and that means everything she hears goes through the mighty servers of Microsoft, and that might be troublesome for many people since privacy isn’t a cheap resource to throw away.

And so, you might want to turn Cortana off – which everybody, including Microsoft, understands – so there is a way to do it, and this guide will help you turn her off, in the hopes that one day she will be good enough that you wouldn’t be able to resist the convenience she brings.

What to do if Cortana won’t turn off?

Not being able to turn off Cortana can be a problem for some users. Speaking of issues, here are some Cortana problems that users reported:

Solution 1 – Disabling Cortana – Normal method

Solution 2 – Clearing what Cortana knows about YOU

Now you know how to stop Cortana from listening to you all the time – and how to shut her down forever. However, if you do decide to completely turn off Cortana, you want to take one more step and remove all of the associated data from Microsoft’s cloud. To do so, follow these instructions:

If you enabled location sharing with Cortana, wipe the data from Bing Maps as well. If you also want to delete the data from Microsoft’s storage, you can start it by going to the ‘Start’ menu. Go to ‘Settings>Privacy and wipe it from there.

You can also delete your account by going toStart>Settings>Accounts. Once you’re done with this, the search section will still be the same. But you can’t use any services that Cortana offers.

Feel free to peruse the rest of the options if you want to clear data from other Microsoft services as well. If you’re this concerned about sharing data with Microsoft, you may also want to open theStart menuand head toSettings > Privacyto peruse all the other ways you may be sending information to Redmond, as well as the “Sync your settings” submenu inStart menu > Settings > Accounts.

If you miss Cortana after a few days and want her to come back – just go back to the same settings and re-enable her. It’s the same steps except you have to turn it on rather than off.

Solution 3 – Change your Local Group policy

If Cortana is not turning off, you might be able to turn it off by modifying yourGroup Policysettings. To do that, you just have to do the following:

After doing that, restart your PC and Cortana should be completely disabled.

Solution 4 – Modify your registry

Another way to turn off Cortana is to modify yourregistry. Some versions ofWindows 10don’t haveGroup Policy Editor, such as the Home version, and if that’s the case, you can disable Cortana using theRegistry Editor. To do that, just follow these steps:

After doing that, Cortana should be completely disabled on your PC. In order to apply changes, you might have to restart your PC, so be sure to do that.

Solution 5 – Rename Cortana’s directory

According to users, one way to fix Cortana completely is to simply rename its directory. By doing so,Windowswon’t be able to activate it anymore and Cortana will be completely disabled. To rename Cortana’s directory, you just have to do the following:

After doing that, Cortana should be completely disabled from your PC. Keep in mind that this solution is a bit tricky since you have to be fast and click theTry againbutton before Cortana starts automatically. To enable Cortana again, simply rename the folder to its original name, and Cortana should start working again.

Solution 6 – Take ownership of Cortana’s directory and move it

If Cortana is not turning off, you might be able to fix this problem simply by moving Cortana’s directory to a different folder. To do that, you just have to do the following:

After doing that, you just have to move the directory by doing the following:

After you move the Cortana’s directory, check if the problem is still there. This solution is a bit advanced, but you should be able to perform it by closely following our instructions.

There you go, these are some methods that you can use to disable Cortana on your PC. If you want to enable Cortana, you just have to revert changes and Cortana will be enabled once again.

FULL FIX: Cortana not turning off on Windows 10/11#

What to do if Cortana won’t turn off?#

Solution 1 – Disabling Cortana – Normal method#

Solution 2 – Clearing what Cortana knows about YOU#

Solution 3 – Change your Local Group policy#

Solution 4 – Modify your registry#

Solution 5 – Rename Cortana’s directory#

Solution 6 – Take ownership of Cortana’s directory and move it#