Disable Get Even More Out of Windows

Question

Hello, I'm having a problem with this screen appearing on my computers. I want it, and anything related to halting startup disabled.

What I've tried so far is setting the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UserProfileEngagement\ScoobeSystemSettingEnabled to 0, as that was the advice I got online. Didn't work.

I've also tried unchecking the "Show me the Windows welcome experience after updates and occassionally when I sign in to highlight what's new and suggested" option in Settings->System->Notifications as that was supposed to help too. Didn't work.

What do I need to do to get Microsoft to stop bothering me? Preferably something with a CLI so I can automate it.

Answer 1

It appears that this is controlled by, in my case, three keys under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager branch.

the ones that start with SubscribedContent

set them all to zero.

I have done this now, but i cant make the screen pop up reliably, so i dont know if its fixed the problem. Its not popping up on second reboot of the same machine, even before i changed these keys.

Another problem, is that these are user keys. So like my digital signage runs as an unprivileged local user, so no group policy will apply to it. Have to make disabling these keys part of my setup signage script, or find another way to push them to all users.

ref: https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/how_to_disable_get_even_more_out_of_windows.html

Note that i dont have the above key exactly, but three similarly named different keys. When i search those strinsg, they all have to do with **** i dont want and that microsoft can seemingly randomly push to machines. so we want those off.

reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager /v "SubscribedContent-338388Enabled" /d "0" /t REG_DWORD /f

reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager /v "SubscribedContent-338389Enabled" /d "0" /t REG_DWORD /f

reg add HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager /v "SubscribedContent-353696Enabled" /d "0" /t REG_DWORD /f

edit: this seems to have worked. put in a computer policy for windows 10 machines, targeting the default user container. But i cant reproduce the error at will so cant test if this solves it.

computer policy for NEW users

user policy for existing users:

gotta do all 3.

Answer 2

Thanks.  I will try this on my data collection boxes... and wait and see.

RickPYR

Answer 3

As far as I can tell:

• SubscribedContent-338388Enabled is related to giving ads for apps in the start menu
• SubscribedContent-338389Enabled is related to the ads you see on the lock menu
• SubscribedContent-353696Enabled is related to ads in the settings menu

While you wouldn't want any of these on any computer, I don't think either of these settings are likely to fix the issue.

This problem is one of the worst to have, being so hidden and spontaneous, so you can't really troubleshoot it either. Having someone actually from Microsoft respond would probably be the best bet, but reaching anything but low tier techs reading from the same checklist you are while completely ignoring everything you say is a nightmare and a half.

Answer 4

Found this list at: 

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/7bl1f2/has\_anyone\_found\_a\_canonical\_mapping\_of\_windows/

Seems about right.

310093 # "Show me the Windows welcome experience after updates and occasionally when I sign in to highlight what's new and suggested"

338387 # "Get fun facts, tips and more from Windows and Cortana on your lock screen"

338388 # "Occasionally show suggestions in Start"

338389 # "Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows"

338393 # "Show me suggested content in the Settings app"

Answer 5

Interesting suggestion. It led me to the Windows Consumer Features registry key, which may be exactly what I'm looking for. That led me to the following files of batch scripting, which should hopefully disable all the nonsense on Windows 10, or at least the consumer-oriented nonsense.

:: Request admin prompt, needed for the next line

Net session >nul 2>&1 || (PowerShell start -verb runas '%~0' &exit /b)

REG ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CloudContent" /v DisableWindowsConsumerFeatures /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

The bad news is this particular key requires administrator rights in order to modify. The good news is it's the wild west out there, and plenty of companies couldn't care less about silly little things like "security" and "best practices". I personally do a little bit, so if someone knows a good way to do this automatically without requiring user input or disabling UAC, any suggestions for how to accomplish that would be appreciated. Will try out the key for now and hope for the best.