Stop the "what's new" welcome experience after updates (Enterprise/Education)

Stop the "what's new" welcome experience after updates (Enterprise/Education) — via Microsoft Learn

Group Policylow riskEnterpriseEducationWindows 11Windows 10

After some updates Windows launches a welcome experience, for example opening Edge on a page about new features. This per-user policy turns that off. Microsoft only supports it on Enterprise and Education.

Sign out and back in

Group Policy

Open gpedit.msc (Pro, Enterprise and Education only) and go to:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Cloud Content > Turn off the Windows Welcome Experience

Registry equivalent

Download apply .reg Download undo .reg

Double-click a .reg file and confirm to merge it. Right-click → Edit first if you want to read it, which is always a good idea with any .reg file from the internet.

Apply

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Oddbyte.Me: Stop the "what's new" welcome experience after updates (Enterprise/Education)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent]
"DisableWindowsSpotlightWindowsWelcomeExperience"=dword:00000001

Undo

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Oddbyte.Me: undo Stop the "what's new" welcome experience after updates (Enterprise/Education)

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent]
"DisableWindowsSpotlightWindowsWelcomeExperience"=-

Same thing from a command prompt

Run in a normal (non-admin) Command Prompt or Terminal.

reg add "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent" /v "DisableWindowsSpotlightWindowsWelcomeExperience" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Undo:

reg delete "HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent" /v "DisableWindowsSpotlightWindowsWelcomeExperience" /f

Not applicable to Pro or Home according to Microsoft's policy reference.

Sources

Experience Policy CSP — by Microsoft Learn
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2025 Update (25H2) — ADMX policy definitions — by Microsoft

Source reviewed: 2026-11-02
Link checked: 2026-11-02
Tested hands-on: Not by Oddbyte.Me

Oddbyte.Me hasn't tried this on every Windows build, so keep the undo handy.

welcome experienceafter updateedgenagenterprise

Myth: the "Turn off Windows Copilot" policy still disables Copilot — via Microsoft Learn

Myth

Many guides still recommend the TurnOffWindowsCopilot registry value. It controlled the old Copilot sidebar, which Microsoft replaced with a separate Copilot app in late 2024. Microsoft now calls the policy legacy, says it is subject to deprecation, and points admins to AppLocker instead.

Turn off activity history for the whole PC — via Microsoft Learn

Group Policylow riskAdminPro / Enterprise / Education

Activity history records the apps, files and sites you use so features can pick up where you left off. These three policies turn off the activity feed and stop Windows and apps publishing or uploading those activities, for every account on the PC.

Turn off the advertising ID for every account — via Microsoft Learn