Disable OneDrive and Copilot (and other AI systems) in Windows 11 Pro using GPO

05 Feb, 2026

Make sure you have any files you want copied someplace that isn't a OneDrive folder. OneDrive will try to move files, but it may not succeed.

• Open OneDrive Settings -> Sync and Backup -> Manage backup
  • Turn off each of these. This will remap the various folders to your user directory, saving having to do this manually.
• Sign out of OneDrive
• Uninstall OneDrive

Open the group policy editor (GPO)

• GPO -> Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows AI

  • Allow Recall to be enabled: Disabled
  • Allow export of Recall and snapshot information: Disabled
  • Turn off saving snapshots for use with Recall: Enabled
  • Disable Click to Do: Enabled
  • Disable Settings agentic search experience: Enabled
  • Remove Microsoft Copilot App: Enabled

• GPO -> Local Computer Policy -> Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> OneDrive

  • Save documents to OneDrive by default: Disabled
  • Prevent OneDrive from generating network traffic until...: Enabled
  • Prevent the usage of OneDrive for file storage: Enabled

• GPO -> Local Computer Policy -> User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Copilot

  • Set Copilot Hardware Key: Disabled
  • Turn off Windows Copilot: Enabled

This will not disable Copilot across the whole system. Individual apps will have to have it turned off as well.