How to disable 'Search the Web' Completley in windows 11?

Question

How to disable 'Search the Web' completely in windows 11?

I tried the usual ways of looking through the setting and even followed a guide that did some stuff in the registry.

Answer 1

Hello Tristan, sorry about your problems. My name is Marco and I will do my best to help you.

You say you tried with the registry but what exactly?

I will write you the procedure, check if you have done the same as below.

Use the following steps:

-Open the Registry Editor by searching for "regedit" in the Start menu and clicking the top result.

-Click yes if prompted by User Account Control.

-Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer. If the Explorer key does not exist, right-click on Windows and create a new key called Explorer.

-Create a new DWORD (32-bit) registry key and name it DisableSearchBoxSuggestions.

-You can create a new registry key by right-clicking in the right window pane and selecting New->DWORD.

-Double-click on DisableSearchBoxSuggestions to edit it and set the Value data field to 1 and click OK.

• Close the Registry Editor and reboot your computer.

Alternatively, you can use the Group Policy Editor to disable web search in Windows 11. This method is recommended for users running Windows 11 Pro or higher. Here are the steps:

-Press Windows + R, type in gpedit.msc, and press Enter.

-Navigate to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > File Explorer.

and enable the "Turn off display of recent search entries in the File Explorer search box" policy.

Note that disabling web search completely may affect the functionality of the Start menu and search box. If you want to keep some web search functionality, you can use third-party tools or apply content filters to your search results.

Answer 2

I hate this stupid operating system. Windows 11 is complete garbage these days. Seems like every second day I'm searching to disable some dumb feature that is supposed to improve our experience.

Answer 3

There is a simpler method:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select Privacy & Security.
3. Choose Search Permissions.
4. Scroll down to Web Search.
5. Set "Web Search from Microsoft Bing" to Off.

Answer 4

That registry address doesn't exist on my system.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows --> only has 3 entries and none of them are related to Explorer.

Windows 11 Pro 23H2

build 22631.3527

I have this love-hate relationship with Windows but little things add up and one of these days I'll stop using Windows for good.I have installed only a single program yet, because I'm in a hurry to run that program (which will rescue my server) but when I type the program's name into the search box, my genius OS won't even list that one single program. Instead it tries to force feed me some stupid and irrelevant web results. This is very irritating. Then I have to dumpster dive into all the bloatware to find the only thing that matters to me right now. This is hilarious.

Answer 5

Hello Tristan,

If you mean the "Search with AI" Bing Chat icons and "Find results in Web" Web icons in Windows Search (Win+S), then the tutorial below can help show you how to remove them.

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/add-or-remove-bing-in-windows-search-in-windows-11.5309/