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How to Disable Widgets in Windows 11 With Group Policy

If Widgets keep appearing on the taskbar, you can block the full Widgets experience with a policy. If the policy is not configured, Widgets may stay on, or users can turn them on in Settings. Set Allow widgets to Disabled to block Widgets, including taskbar content, on that PC.

Problems this setup can solve

  • Widgets with weather and news keep appearing on my taskbar, and I want them gone.
  • Users can turn Widgets back on in Settings, but I need a device-wide policy to keep them off.
  • Widgets remain available on several PCs, and I need to block them across those devices.

Before you start

This is a device-scoped policy. Set it under Computer Configuration to apply it to the whole PC rather than a single user.

The setting applies to Windows Pro, Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise editions.

Steps

  1. Press Win + R and run gpedit.msc.
  2. Under Computer Configuration, go to Computer Configuration › Administrative Templates › Windows Components › Widgets and open the Allow widgets setting.
  3. Set the status to Disabled.
  4. Save the setting.
  5. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run this command to apply the policy right away:
gpupdate /force
  1. Check the taskbar to confirm that the Widgets experience is gone. If it is still there, sign out and sign back in, or restart the PC.

For more details, see the Allow widgets policy page.

Apply it with the registry

If you do not use the Group Policy Editor, you can apply the policy through the registry. Follow the instructions on the registry value page.

How the policy values work

The policy name can be misleading because it describes allowing Widgets.

  • Disabled blocks Widgets. Use it if Widgets should not run on the PC.
  • Not Configured leaves the policy unset, so Widgets are allowed by default.
  • Enabled also allows Widgets; it does not turn them off.

Other Widgets policies are different

Two other Widgets policies appear in the same Widgets area of the policy templates. One hides the Widgets board and its entry point on the taskbar. The other controls Widgets on the lock screen. Both are available only in Windows Insider Preview builds. On a regular release build, use the allow policy in this article.

How to undo it

To stop enforcing the policy, set it to Not Configured and run gpupdate /force.

Cautions

  • Every user who signs in to that PC will lose access to Widgets.
  • Try the setting on one PC first, then apply it to the others once you are happy with the result.
  • Write down which PCs you changed so that you know where to set the policy back to Not Configured later.

This article is based on the Windows 11 version 26H2 (OS build 26300) policy templates (published 2026-09-29).

References