‎"Lock screen status" setting

Question

Hello!
I am deploying corporate lock screen images as a slideshow across all devices using a PowerShell-based workaround that updates the required registry values per user. It almost works, but one issue remains: I need a way to disable the lock screen widgets or set 'Lock screen status' to 'None' programmatically - through Intune policy, a script, or any other centrally manageable method.
It is frustrating that such an essential OS setting cannot be controlled in a corporate environment. Several discussions mention this problem, but none offer a working solution.
Will appreciate any help on this.

Answer 1

Thank you for the screenshot. It confirms that your User Preference keys (DetailedStatusApp and LockScreenWidgetsEnabled) are correctly set to "off" in the registry. The fact that the "Weather and more" widget persists despite this indicates that the Windows Widgets Platform is enforcing its default behavior at the machine level, effectively ignoring the user-level suppression.

This is a common behavior in Windows 11 23H2/24H2: if the Widget engine is "Allowed" by policy, it often repopulates the lock screen overlay regardless of the DetailedStatusApp value.

Here is the targeted solution to disable the Widgets only on the Lock Screen (keeping the Web Experience active for the user session) by enforcing the Dsh (Device Shell) policy via registry.

1. The "Dsh" Policy Enforcement (The Missing Link)

You mentioned trying Intune/GPO earlier, but there was likely a logic inversion (explained below). To fix this immediately via your script/registry, you must apply the Machine Policy key that corresponds to "Disable Widgets on Lock Screen". This key takes precedence over the user's settings.

Run this in your PowerShell script (requires Admin/System privileges):

Registry Path: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Dsh

Value: DisableWidgetsOnLockScreen = 1

=>This is the direct registry equivalent of the Group Policy "Disable widgets on Lock Screen." By setting it to 1, you are turning the Restriction ON, which forces the widgets OFF.

2. The Intune/GPO Logic Correction

In your previous message, you noted: "Notice that a value of '1' means Disabled for this policy... result is Disabled."

This is the critical friction point. In Windows Policy (ADMX/Intune):

Policy Name: "Disable widgets on Lock Screen"

Your Setting: "Disabled" -> This translates to "Do NOT Disable widgets" -> Widgets are ALLOWED.

Correct Setting: "Enabled" -> This translates to "YES, Disable widgets" -> Widgets are BLOCKED.

If you prefer to use Intune over the registry script, you must change that specific policy assignment to Enabled.

3. Cleaning the Content Feed (Optional)

If the above Dsh key works, this step is redundant. However, if you want to be thorough, you can also unregister the specific "Weather" content subscription in the user hive.

Registry Path: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager

Value: SubscribedContent-338387Enabled -> Set to 0.

Answer 2

Hello,

I'm following up and have taken a look at the screenshot and noticed that you are configuring the News and Interests policy. This is the root cause of the failure: "News and Interests" is the legacy feature set for Windows 10. On Windows 11, the lock screen weather overlay is powered by the Widgets platform (specifically the Windows Web Experience Pack), which ignores the "News and Interests" group policies entirely.

To programmatically force the "None" status on Windows 11 and override the default "Weather and more" setting, you must target the specific registry value that controls the Widget engine's lock screen permission. The DetailedStatusApp value you previously modified is now secondary and often bypassed by the modern Widget overlay.

Here is my suggestion:

Update your per-user PowerShell script to inject the following specific REG_DWORD value. This is the direct registry equivalent of manually selecting "None" in the modern settings UI:

Registry Path: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen Value Name: LockScreenWidgetsEnabled Type: REG_DWORD Value: 0

The "Nuclear" Option (Best Practice for Kiosks/Corporate Display): If you find that Windows Updates periodically reset this registry key (which can happen with Web Experience Pack updates), the most robust engineering solution is to simply uninstall the Widget engine for that user context. This guarantees that the OS cannot display the weather overlay because the underlying app does not exist. You can add this line to your script:

Get-AppxPackage -Name *WebExperience* | Remove-AppxPackage

VP

Answer 3

Hi,

It seems the reason your previous attempts failed is that "Weather and more" is not just a status, but it is a Widget entry point. If the Widgets feature is active on the Lock Screen, Windows will force the Weather overlay even if DetailedStatusApp is null.

To solve this:

1. The Core Issue: Policy "Double Negative" Logic

First, looking at your screenshot and your comment ("Notice that a value of '1' means Disabled for this policy"), there is a critical misunderstanding of how "Disable" policies work in Windows Group Policy/Intune.

Policy Name: Disable Widgets On Lock Screen

Your Setting: Disabled (Value 0)

Result: You have disabled the restriction. This means Widgets are Allowed.

To remove the widgets via policy, you must set "Disable Widgets On Lock Screen" to Enabled (Value 1). This "Enables the Disabling."

2. The PowerShell Fix (Registry Injection)

Since you mentioned the policy value change to '1' didn't work for you (likely due to caching or the "Weather" app residing in a different user-context state), you need to inject the specific User Preference key that controls the "Weather and more" visibility.

Add this exact registry key to your per-user PowerShell script. This is the "switch" that corresponds to unchecking "Weather and more" in the GUI.

Key: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen Value: LockScreenWidgetsEnabled Type: DWORD Data: 0

Here is the corrected PowerShell snippet to include in your deployment:

$LockScreenPath = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen"

New-ItemProperty -Path $LockScreenPath -Name "LockScreenWidgetsEnabled" -Value 0 -PropertyType DWord -Force

New-ItemProperty -Path $LockScreenPath -Name "DetailedStatusApp" -Value "" -PropertyType String -Force

$ContentDelivery = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager"
if (Test-Path $ContentDelivery) {
    New-ItemProperty -Path $ContentDelivery -Name "SubscribedContent-338387Enabled" -Value 0 -PropertyType DWord -Force
}

Answer 4

Hi Artem Shaturskyi,

Since you are already running a PowerShell script to handle the lock screen image, the most reliable "Systems Engineering" fix is to inject the specific registry value that forces the "Status" app to Null within that same user-context script.

Here is the solution for both the "Status" app and the newer "Widgets" (Weather) overlay.

1. The PowerShell Solution (Registry Injection)

You mentioned you are already updating registry values per user. To programmatically set the "Lock screen status" to None, you must target the DetailedStatusApp value in the user's hive.

Add this logic to your existing script:

$RegPath = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Lock Screen"

New-ItemProperty -Path $RegPath -Name "DetailedStatusApp" -Value "" -PropertyType String -Force

$ContentDelivery = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager"

New-ItemProperty -Path $ContentDelivery -Name "RotatingLockScreenOverlayEnabled" -Value 0 -PropertyType DWord -Force

New-ItemProperty -Path $ContentDelivery -Name "SubscribedContent-338387Enabled" -Value 0 -PropertyType DWord -Force

=> This controls the specific app (Weather, Calendar, Mail) shown in the center or bottom of the lock screen. Setting it to an empty string is the registry equivalent of selecting "None" in the UI. This also ensures that no "fun facts" or metadata overlays attempt to repopulate that space.

2. The "Modern" Intune Method (Windows 11 Specific)

If your fleet is on Windows 11, Microsoft recently added a dedicated CSP to handle the "Weather" widget specifically, which is distinct from the legacy status apps. This is cleaner than a script if your OS build is current (Windows 11 22H2/23H2+).

Policy Path: Settings Catalog

Category: Windows Components > Widgets

Setting: Allow widgets on Lock Screen

Value: Disabled

This Policy sets the following machine-wide registry key, which you can also enforce via your script if you prefer a "scorched earth" approach: reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Dsh" /v DisableWidgetsOnLockScreen /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Since you already have the script infrastructure, adding the DetailedStatusApp = "" line is the immediate fix for your "Status to None" requirement. However, I strongly recommend layering the Intune Widgets Policy on top of it to prevent future OS updates from re-enabling the "Weather" feed, which Microsoft often pushes aggressively.

You can watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuQjZJTWPHM showing how to demonstrate the specific Intune configuration steps to disable the widgets feature on Windows 11 lock screens, which complements the registry workaround.

I hope you've found something useful here. If it helps you get more insight into the issue, it's appreciated to accept the answer. Should you have more questions, feel free to leave a message. Have a nice day!

VP