SOLVED: How to Disable the STORE App in Windows 10

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• What you can do in Windows 10 is open Settings and go to Privacy -> Background apps and switch off Microsoft Store and and other unnecessary items (like Mobile Plans for most people). Then these items will no longer consume computer resources by running in the background or appear in the Task Manager; they become invisible. This step may be enough for many people; it is also easily reversible, unlike the more radical solution suggested here.

  • Thank you so very much for your help with this1

  • I just want to let you know that you helped me :)

• FYI - Microsoft have stated all in-box apps will be able to be fully removed in Win10 19H1.

  Also, you can disable the Windows Store app from doing anything - it will run and show you a message to say access to the store is disabled.

  By using gpedit.msc, under Computer/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Store there is an entry called "Turn off the Store application"

  Yes Home does not come with gpedit but there are ten trillion copies of it on the internet, just make sure you source it from a trustworthy source.

• I don't see "Windows store" under this path KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft.
  Please help!

  • Download https://www.urtech.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Disable_Store_App.zip and then read below.

    I just checked my personal build of Win10 (Fast Ring) and see that the key does not exist either, so I added the key and then the entry (SEE THE DOWNLOAD ABOVE), rebooted but found the store still opens. However, the test machine I used (my personal) was not on a domain and I was logging in as an Admin (which I think ignores that reg entry). If you can try this on your corporate machines and report back how it went for you. I WILL work on it, if you are still seeing problems.

    Also, I found an article that stated the same entry could be made under HK_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsStore\RemoveWindowsStore REGDWORD = 1 but you would need to load the users HKCU hive then edit it and that is a pain.

• I'm so tired of getting in Task Manager in all 10 of my computers several times a day to end task for microsoft store and microsoft pay that wastes RAM that I need to do actual WORK aka data processing and programming.......you know wtf COMPUTERS are for.......NOT sitting in front of the damn monitor all day getting the same crap from Zuckerberg the Facebook bandit or stupid things like "tweet" and all the other sites and programs with the maturity of a 14 year old brat.......since i isn't on my XP Pro or Windows 7 I will just reinstall the old OS......I wasted YEARS helping Microsoft testing 10 for a couple years before it was public and now ......hell that Windows Update commie version is bad enough updating MY computers and then rebooting so they just sit there doing nothing until I sign in and restart the work I was doing........STORE???? are you bleeping kidding me????

  • What you can do in Windows 10 is go to Settings -> Privacy -> Background apps and switch off Microsoft Store as well as Mobile Plans and other background tasks that most users do not need. These programs then no longer run in the background, consuming resources, nor do they appear in the Task Manager either, solving your particular problem.

    • @Malcolm: Not true. wsappx still runs in the background. Doesn't make sense but that's been the case for me for months now.

• Hi Ian. I wonder if there's been any development on this post over time. As far as I can see Win 10 version 1511 and later now ignores this reg setting...

  • I still have seen nothing new on disabling the STORE. I think MS wants the Store to be open and has intentionally made it difficult to remove, except for the largest of clients (which are Enterprise and Education) which will loose the mind if it is left open.

• I hope MS wises up to how off putting this type of aggressive forced advertising and marketing is. Its the same thing cellar services providers do with Android OS; bloat the s*&$ out of it, lock it down, and threaten the end user with some kind of penalty for working around the issue (YES IS IS AN ISSUE). If MS wants to changes its business model into a marketing and advertisement company then fine, quit charging license fees and then maybe I can accept some ads in exchange for a free OS. But to charge a premium for a license and deny the end user has any rights is outrageous, end users should not have to pay a premium to be advertised to. This is especially a problem for admins in a work environment who now need to combat against candy crush and minecraft in the work place..

• I got a windows 10 pro creators, the key was even there set to 0, changed it to 1 and no difference after the reboot the store works.

• Tried this on win10 pro and nothing happened store is still active and working. The computer is also on a domain and need to block on specific not all computers.

  • If you apply this GPO to just the PC's you want to block it should work. I still use this process today with several of my customers.

• I found a solution that disable & remove completly the store and the apps for non admin users. As you were working with windows 7 !!!!

  Step 1 : install first http://www.classicshell.net

  Step2 : move all the content (after taking ownership) of the directory C:\Program Files\WindowsApps somewhere
  Step3 : deny Windows to access the directory C:\Program Files\WindowsApps
  Step 4 : delete existing profile or try to do the same with
  C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Packages

  I will try to create an automated script that do the job

  This idea need improvement since we want to keep some apps
  + posibility to deploy later other appx & update using GPO

• Any chance you can tell me how to disable a broken store file?
  I tried to download a file, its broken, win10 store keeps trying to fetch it [3 days now!] contininously and it crashes my machine then I get the cheery little notification that its going to ry again later.

  Help!

  Thanks and good article!

  • Hi Tanya;

    I would use PowerShell to remove it and then try to source it from the store again. Like: Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online | Select DisplayName, PackageName

    and then

    something like: remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online -PackageName Microsoft.People_2017.222.1920.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe