Share via

Remove Type to search after clicking Start menu using GPO or registry in Windows 10 20H2 Enterprise

Steve 401 Reputation points
2021-01-08T21:44:02.91+00:00

What GPO setting or registry setting will remove the ability to start typing text in Windows search (Windows 10 20H2 Enterprise) after clicking the Start menu? All the previous registry fixes or GPO's (Do not allow web search & Don't search the web or display web results in Search) no longer work, including disabling the Windows Search service on startup.

Windows 10
Windows 10
A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.
10,866 questions
Windows
Windows
A family of Microsoft operating systems that run across personal computers, tablets, laptops, phones, internet of things devices, self-contained mixed reality headsets, large collaboration screens, and other devices.
4,881 questions
0 comments

6 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Panton L Mr 21 Reputation points
    2021-05-11T10:31:00.317+00:00

    I have just applied a fix that worked for me, locking down an account for exam use.

    Using Group Policy, under 'User configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Software Restriction Policies > Additional Rules', add a path rule to disallow access to C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Search_cw5n1h2txyewy (it used to be C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy)

    95487-image.png

    4 people found this answer helpful.
  2. Hannah Xiong 6,236 Reputation points
    2021-01-11T03:05:56.947+00:00

    Hello,

    Thank you so much for posting here.

    To Hide & Remove Search Icon / Search Box Button in Windows 10 Taskbar, please look at my screenshot. That is how to hide the search box in the taskbar. Just click on hidden.

    55088-3.png

    The show or no-show of search box and search button on Taskbar is controlled by the 32-bit DWORD registry value named SearchboxTaskbarMode in the following registry key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search

    The possible values corresponding to the options above are:

    Disable: 0
    Show search icon: 1
    Show search box: 2

    55029-4.png

    Before the setting, it displays as below.

    55153-1.png

    When we set its value as 0, it displays as below.

    55154-2.png

    If we would like to configure it via GPO, we could set the Registry as shown below. And then create the above registry key.

    55183-5.png

    For any question, please feel free to contact us.

    Best regards,
    Hannah Xiong

    ============================================

    If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  3. Hannah Xiong 6,236 Reputation points
    2021-01-12T03:22:04.593+00:00

    Hello,

    Thank you so much for your kindly reply.

    In my tests, if setting the SearchboxTaskbarMode registry to 0, there is no search after clicking on the Start Menu. In my tests, the machines are Win 10 1909 and Win 10 2004.

    55651-2.png

    55500-1.png

    For any question, please feel free to contact us.

    Best regards,
    Hannah Xiong

    ============================================

    If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

  4. Hannah Xiong 6,236 Reputation points
    2021-01-14T02:40:21.733+00:00

    Hello,

    Thank you so much for your kindly reply.

    When I clicked on the Start menu and then typed in text on the keyboard, it showed in the search box. Now I totally understanding our issue. We would like to completely disable Windows Search feature. The provided solution is to just hide this feature. So sorry for the inconvenience caused.

    As per my search, In Windows 7, we could go and disable the Search functionality by disabling it from "Turn Windows Features on or off". But it cannot be done in Windows 10. Below are the discussions about this requirement. We could kindly check whether it works.

    https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/f62db901-ff6e-4af5-9c53-1c3822bed914/how-to-completly-disable-windows-search-feature-from-windows-10?forum=win10itprogeneral

    https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2168248-remove-windows-10-search-from-start-menu

    So sorry that I do not have the test environment currently to check all the solutions. Someone mentioned that we could manually disable Windows Search services. I tested this but it could not completely disable Windows Search feature.

    Thank you so much for your understanding and support.

    Please note: Information posted in the given link is hosted by a third party. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy and effectiveness of information.

    Best regards,
    Hannah Xiong

    ============================================

    If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

    0 comments
  5. JKFrancis 76 Reputation points
    2022-02-24T20:41:04.4+00:00

    I change the settings for the search in registry using the local administrator account and still it does does not say when a domain user logs in

    177663-image.png

    This is as a domain user I log in

    177577-image.png

    And here is the registry settings for this user and it is not there.
    177626-image.png

    0 comments