Turn off Help and Support Center Microsoft Knowledge Base search
- Policy ID
- HSS_KBSearchPolicy
- Scope
- Computer Configuration
- Supported on
- At least Windows Server 2003 operating systems with SP1 or Windows XP Professional with SP2
- Source
- Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
- Category
- System › Internet Communication Management › Internet Communication settings
Description
This policy setting specifies whether users can perform a Microsoft Knowledge Base search from the Help and Support Center.
The Knowledge Base is an online source of technical support information and self-help tools for Microsoft products, and is searched as part of all Help and Support Center searches with the default search options.
If you enable this policy setting, it removes the Knowledge Base section from the Help and Support Center "Set search options" page, and only Help content on the local computer is searched.
If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, the Knowledge Base is searched if the user has a connection to the Internet and has not disabled the Knowledge Base search from the Search Options page.
Registry
ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
- MicrosoftKBSearchREG_DWORD