Show or hide "Most used" list from Start menu

Policy ID
ShowOrHideMostUsedApps
Scope
Computer Configuration, User Configuration
Supported on
At least Windows Server 2016, Windows 10 Version 2106
Source
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
Category
Start Menu and Taskbar

Description

If you enable this policy setting, you can configure Start menu to show or hide the list of user's most used apps, regardless of user settings.

Selecting "Show" will force the "Most used" list to be shown, and user cannot change to hide it using the Settings app.

Selecting "Hide" will force the "Most used" list to be hidden, and user cannot change to show it using the Settings app.

Selecting "Not Configured", or if you disable or do not configure this policy setting, all will allow users to turn on or off the display of "Most used" list using the Settings app. This is default behavior.

Note: configuring this policy to "Show" or "Hide" on supported versions of Windows 10 will supercede any policy setting of "Remove frequent programs list from the Start Menu" (which manages same part of Start menu but with fewer options).

Options

  • Choose one of the following actions
    • Not Configured
    • Show
    • Hide

Registry

ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
  • ShowOrHideMostUsedAppsREG_DWORD
UserHKEY_CURRENT_USER
  • ShowOrHideMostUsedAppsREG_DWORD

Other policies in the same category

View all policies in this category (109)