How to turn on/off Cortana in Windows 11 PC – Guide
Cortana is no longer part of the initial boot experience. This will prevent you from receiving a voice prompt from Cortana the first time you set up a new Windows 11 PC. However, Cortana is still present in Windows 11.
Many people find Cortana to be a nuisance because it gathers information about users’ habits, location, calendar entries, search history, emails and more and stores them on a cloud server. Additionally, Cortana sucks up system resources and can slow down your system. Therefore, Microsoft decided to remove Cortana from the Windows 11 startup experience and taskbar.
How to Activate Cortana on Windows 11
To enable Cortana on your Windows 11, follow these steps:
- Open the Start Menu and type “cmd”.
- Type “netstat -a” and press Enter.
- Look for the line that says “Cortana is enabled” and change it to “true”.
- Type “setcortanaEnabled $true” and press Enter.
- Close the Start Menu and open the Control Panel.
- Under System, click on Administrative Tools and then under Cortana, click on the link next to her name (if she isn’t already there).
How to Enable Cortana through the Start menu search bar
To get started using Cortana on Windows 11, you can use the Start menu search bar. See how: ..
Cortana is a search bar on the Start menu that allows you to search for specific information. You can type in a word or phrase and it will search through all of the items in your computer’s history that match that word or phrase.
When the Cortana app opens, click Sign In and log in with your Microsoft account.
Click the Accept button to continue. ..
How to Enable Cortana through Task Manager
- Open Task Manager and click on the three lines in the top left corner to see a list of all the processes and applications running on your computer.
- To terminate an application, select it from the list and click on the Terminate button.
- To manage processes, select them from the list and click on the Manage process button.
Task Manager is a tool that can be used to view and manage tasks.
In the Startup tab, you’ll find a variety of resources and tools to help you get started in your startup.
Right-click on Cortana to see the options.
Activate
How to Disable Cortana on Windows 11
If you’re not happy with Cortana, there are a few ways to disable it. You can follow the same steps you took to enable it, as well as using some other useful methods that we’ll list here. Let’s go through them one by one. ..
How to Disable Cortana through the Windows Registry
- Back up your computer
- Disable Cortana
- Edit the Windows Registry
Type “cmd” and press Enter. Type “netstat -an” and press Enter. You should see a list of open ports on your computer. ..
The regedit command will open a new window with the following contents: There, type ‘regedit’ and press Enter.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon In the right pane, under “Userinit” you will see a value called “Shell”. Double-click on this value to open the “Shell” subkey. In the “Shell” subkey, under “Parameters” you will see a value called “Command”. Right-click on this value and select “New String Value”. Type in the following string: net user administrator /add This command will add the administrator account to your computer. ..
The policies in the Microsoft Windows software policy folder control how your computer behaves when you use Microsoft Windows software. ..
New > Key
The newly created key ‘Windows Search’ is a search engine that can be used to find information about Windows and its features.
Name the DWORD “SearchIndexingEnabled” and set its value to 1. ..
When finished, rename the newly created file to Allow Cortana. Now launch the Allow Cortana file and set the value data to 0. Click OK. When finished, restart the PC to solidify the changes. Do this and Cortana will be disabled on your PC permanently.
How to Disable Cortana with Group Policy Editor
To configure Group Policy Settings, you need to use the Group Policy Editor tool. This tool is available in the Windows Administrative Tools folder. To open this folder, click Start, type Administrative Tools, and then click the tool that appears in the search results. Once you have opened the Group Policy Editor, you will see a list of folders and files. The first folder that you will see is called GPO (Group Policy Object). This is where all of your Group Policy Settings are stored. To start working with Group Policy, first open the GPO that you want to work with. Then double-click on the GPO file to open it in the Group Policy Editor. The first thing that you will want to do is locate the policy that that you want to change. To do this, use the tree view at the top of the window to navigate through all of your policies. Once you find the policy that that you are looking for, double-click on it to open it in a new window. Now that you have opened the policy window, there are a few things that you need to do before configuring it using Group Policy Settings. The first thing is to determine what settings are contained within this policy. To do this, use the tabs at the top of this window to switch between different views: General (the default view), Scope (which shows which users and computers are affected by this policy), and Settings (which shows which settings are contained within this policy). Once you have determined what settings are contained within this policy, next step is to decide what type of setting it is: Registry Setting or User Configuration Setting . Registry Setting policies can be configured using REGEDIT , while User Configuration Setting policies can be configured using USERCONFIG . After determining what type of setting it is, next step is to determine which registry key or user profile location should be used as a source for data when ..
Press Win + R to open the Run dialog and type “cmd” to run the command.
The Gpedit.msc file contains settings for how the computer handles user accounts and passwords.
- In the left pane, double-click the policy named “Allow local users to search computer files and folders.”
- In the right pane, under “Settings,” click the “Enabled” check box.
- Under “Options,” click the “Show results in:” drop-down list and select “File system.”
- Under “Results to display,” select the folders you want to allow users to search, and then click OK. ..
Select “Edit” from the context menu. In the “Allow Cortana” policy file, click on the “Add” button. In the new window that opens, enter your desired settings for Cortana. Click on the “OK” button to finish editing the policy.
Apply Disabled Radio
How to Disable Cortana in Windows settings
- Open the Settings menu and select " Cortana."
- Scroll down to the bottom and select " Disable Cortana."
- Click on the " Apply" button and confirm your decision.
Settings is a menu that appears when you press the Windows key + I together. It contains a variety of options, including “Best Match.”
Applications and features
To use Cortana, navigate to the app list search bar and type ‘cortana’. The Cortana app will appear up and you can right-click on the Cortana options (three points aligned) and select Advanced Options. ..
Disable the toggle button on the login screen to run the app at log-in.
Final note
How to turn on/off Cortana in Windows 11 PC In order to turn on/off Cortana in Windows 11 PC, you will need to open the Start Menu and type “cortana” into the search bar. Once you have found the Cortana shortcut, right-click on it and select “Turn On.” If you don’t see the “Turn On” shortcut, then you may need to search for it in the Start Menu. Once you have clicked on the “Turn On” shortcut, Cortana will be enabled and ready to use.
