There’s no denying that AI has its place in Education, whether it’s to help reduce the workload of school staff or assist students with their learning, AI has the potential to revolutionise the way we learn. That being said, anyone who works in the education sector will know Microsoft’s colourful new ‘Copilot’ button that comes bundled with newer Windows 11/10 Builds has the potential to be a huge distraction for students, essentially giving them unmanaged access to a chat bot directly within the OS.
With this in mind I am creating this article to show how you can disable Microsoft Copilot for windows using GPO or Intune.
How to Disable Copilot via Group Policy
Before we can remove Copilot from windows devices, you first must have a copy of the Windows Copilot ADMX/ADML files. The latest versions can be downloaded directly from Microsoft here. Simply extract the files and you will find the WindowsCopilot.ADMX file at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Group Policy\Windows 11 October 2023 Update (23H2)\PolicyDefinitions and the WindowsCopilot.ADML in the En-US or En-GB folder.
Once you have found these files, head to your Central store, this is likely to be found at \\SERVERNAME\SYSVOL\contoso.com\Policies\PolicyDefinitions.
At this stage its recommended to take a backup of this folder in case any issues arise.
Copy the .ADMX file that you have downloaded, into the PolicyDefinitions folder, then copy the .ADML from the en-US/en-GB folder into the correct folder on your server.
Close Group Policy Editor on your domain controller and reopen it. You should now see an option to manage Copilot under User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot
Edit this setting and select enabled.
The next time your users sign in, Copilot should be disabled/removed.
How to disable Windows Copilot with Intune
If you are looing to turn off Windows Copilot using Microsoft Intune, you can do this using the settings catalog. To begin head to Windows > Configuration and either create a new policy, or edit an existing Settings Catalog Policy.
For this demo I will create a new one by clicking Create > New Policy > Windows 10 and later > Settings Catalog
Click Add Settings and look for Windows AI category.
Tick Turn Off Copilot in Windows (User)
In the settings window, toggle the button to disable Copilot for Windows.
Click Next and assign your policy to the users you wish to disable Copilot for.
#EdTech Network Manager, experienced in Microsoft 365, Server 2019, Intune, SCCM and anything inbetween.
This method in InTune no longer works for Windows 11 24H2. Copilot app gets auto re-installed and this InTune policy does absolutely nothing to stop or disable copilot anymore. It previously worked in the past before 24h2, but not anymore.