I am on Windows 10 pro and have debloated and stripped as much tracking junk as I could from the OS, so Copilot had been long gone... until two days ago, when it reappeared on my start menu. I assumed it was sneakily reinstalled after an update so I uninstalled it.

Less than 30 minutes later, it was back. I uninstalled it again, and again it reinstalled after about an hour.

I've tried registry edits, I've tried changing the group policy, but it does nothing - Copilot keeps reinstalling itself in the time span of 20 minutes to an hour.

I know being on Lemmy I'm going to get a bunch of "Replace it with Linux!" replies so I'd like to preempt this by promising you that yes, that will happen eventually - there's just some compatibility issues with a couple of my daily driver programs that are pending a resolution.

For now I must stay on Windows, but Microslops incredibly aggressive Copilot reinstalls are pissing me off and I was just wondering if there are any other means in which I can get rid of this program, or at least hide the stupid ugly thing from my sight?

Edit: I suppose it's important to note that I am not nearly as tech-savvy as a lot of people here, but I try to get by. Please keep this in mind if I ask stupid questions.

Comment hope for answer!

Click to run same problem with office. No can stop, if uninstall, all program no work.

its the microsoft tax. at some point, you get to just suck it up, bend over and let microsoft slide copilot right up your asshole.

theres like 14 different versions and youre not going to be able to hit them all at the same time with any reliability. just hold your nose until you can choose not to use it anymore

I'm sorry, but with windows, your computer is not yours.

One thing you could try is blocking all Microsoft ips on your firewall so that it cannot remotely install but that is a cat and mouse game where microslop has the advantage and it will break important functionality like security updates.

I would test running those programs in a windows VM within Linux on a different ssd/hdd. There are a few other ways to run a windows program on Linux too like winboat, bottles and wine.

debloated & stripped

How did you do that & what tools do you use to upkeep that?

Maybe try oo/shutup10 (it seems it now includes a Copilot removal tool + additionally hiding various icons of it ... bcs it really is everywhere now?)?

I meant to say replace it with Linux!

(Who needs LoL & Adobe anyway? :P)

Yeah I generally dislike when people are like "switch to Linux lololol" on a support thread.... But there legit isn't really anything you can do. You may find some obscure hacks to disable it, but as you see microsoft will just undo th at the next mandatory update.

Then just like local accounts, one by one they'll start removing workarounds and punishing you for doing them.

OP I hate to be that guy, but maybe a dual boot is the way to go for now. Microsoft is only going to make this harder.

Have you tried shut up 10+? The only other thing I can think of is blocking the ports that allow Windows updates to download. That or switching from pro to enterprise and using a cracked key that lets you forgo feature updates but still get security updates.

I use netimiter 4 to limit/block a bunch of Microsoft stuff and I haven't seen copilot show up on w11. If you can find a similar program to control your computers data access (new net limiter is subscription and fuck that) it should be able to block whatever process is redownloading it.

Unfortunately here is where you hit the philosophical wall. You either accept windows for what it is or move to a different platform. Software available or not.

Linux isn’t your only option. Apple has recently released an affordable option. Maybe MacOS will have your daily driver hold ups.

I also want to point out that unless you are using the extended support version of windows 10, you are also risking your security.

Shit or get off the pot moment. Either it’s important enough for you to sacrifice or not. Only you decide that. But just know Microsoft isn’t stopping and it doesn’t care about you.

'with windows, your computer is not yours.'

You beat me to it.

I was gonna recommend O&O, glad to add it already mentioned. I run Win 11 and I've yet to have anything Copilot related. Tend to run it every few months to get the latest updates.

Win11 DeBloater has a bunch of stuff that works on Win10, you might try that.

Okay, this one is kind of funny (Windows 11, but I ran into it when searching for an answer for OP, and chuckled):

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5630906/how-do-i-completely-get-rid-of-copilot-and-stop-it

Thomas4-N 13,070 Reputation points • Microsoft External Staff • Moderator
Nov 22, 2025, 12:47 AM

Hello Alex P, welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I understand how frustrating it feels when features you’ve opted out of keep showing up.

Copilot is now integrated into Windows and Microsoft Edge as part of the operating system design, so there isn’t a supported way to remove it completely. Even if you uninstall the app or hide the button, some components remain because they’re tied to system features and will return with updates.

Here's some steps you can try to partially reduce its presence:

• Uninstall the Copilot app: Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Microsoft Copilot > Uninstall, or use PowerShell. This removes the app temporarily, but cumulative updates or the Microsoft Store can reinstall it.
• Hide the Copilot button and sidebar: Use Taskbar settings or apply Group Policy/Registry changes to turn it off. Keep in mind that updates may re-enable these settings.
• Disable Copilot in Microsoft Edge: Open Edge settings > Sidebar > Turn off Copilot. This is separate from the OS-level integration.

However, in the whole picture, there’s no supported method to permanently block Copilot. It’s treated as a protected system component and will reinstall with cumulative updates and Store auto-updates.

If you prefer an environment without these integrations, switching to Linux is a valid option.

Warm regards,

On maybe a more-helpful note, I have no idea if it might have consequences for your system (spend time every reboot trying to reinstall?) but you might try doing something that'd cause the installer to fail. Whatever update mechanism they have might back off if the installer just can't succeed. Maybe uninstall Copilot, then replace one of the files that's associated with Copilot with a directory or something, and if the installer can't handle replacing that directory with the file it tries to install next time it runs, it bails and backs out?

I've occasionally used that trick when some program writes massive log files and doesn't have an explicit way to disable log file writing --- just drop a directory in the way.

Open up local group policy and under Windows components Enable the setting to disable copilot.

According to the rules of this community it is allowed to propose you to install Linux. So there ya go

If your daily driver programs aren't incredibly resource intensive, just install to a windows VM in Linux and call it a day.

On a side note - which apps do you have problems with on Linux (either finding an alternative or running them on wine)? Maybe someone here can recommend/solve an issue on that front?

You could try being sneaky and after uninstalling copilot, make an empty file named exactly what copilot binary is called say "Copilot.exe" and as administrator remove all permissions so that the system cannot remove it so sneaky reinstall fails.

Might give other persistent errors though. I don't know. Been on linux for 25 years.

I recently switched to Temple OS and this, so far, seems devoid of any AI too. Would reccommend.

I might bookmark this for future reference.

I built a new PC and installed Windows 11 Pro at the beginning of November 2025 and forced a local user account at installation.

After disabling all of the bloat, it has yet to return through every update.

I can't wait to get away from Microslop permanently.

It may also help taking ownership of a folder and making everything read only. I slightly doubt there are checks for that scenario in the middle of the process.

Thread bump!

Would you please consider a post comparing and contrasting Temple vs Linux? Tyia.

Which programs do you require as a daily driver?

if it gets desperate, add a cronjob that runs every 5 mins and checks for it and when found deletes it lol or see what network request is making exactly to download it and block it

Pretty much just manually uninstalling and disabling all of the unwanted stuff, and turning off all available telemetry settings. I used to think I was computer savvy, but in comparison to the folks on here I'm not all that knowledgeable at all. I do what I can.
Thank you for the link, I'm going to try this. I'm at my wits end.
I don't play League of Legends, but I do use Photoshop. I've heard that it runs with Wine, but I need to look further into it.

Edit: this application appears to have worked, I haven't seen Copilot come back. Many thanks, I hope it will stay gone this time.

If you have never tried using GIMP as a replacement to Photoshop, I would suggest doing so depending on your specific needs. There is a learning curve, but nothing worse than Photoshop. There are also lots of online tutorials.

Have this happening on my work computer and the only way I found to stop it from reinstalling was to gut edge as much as possible. The new copilot is just edge but edge can't be uninstalled so I deleted everything in the edge program files folder and it at least stops copilot from reinstalling every 30 minutes but I suspect next windows update will redownload all the edge files and start this process over.

I've done that, and even revisiting the group policy editor it says enabled, but Copilot still keeps coming back.

I use Adobe Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint and they are apparently incompatible with Linux. I've heard they may run on Wine but I need to look further into it.

This feels like a bug then. Win10 was EoL/EoS last year. If you’re not going to Win11 then best to switch to a supported OS.

Turn it off with the group policy editor

Seconded. I always tell people to substitute their apps first.

Much harder to change everything at once.

It's Internet Explorer all over again.

The Affinity Suite is running well under wine now.

ShutUp10++ or reinstall to Windows 10 alphabet soup edition (LTSC IoT)

I hear the photogimp patch makes transitioning to gimp easier, I haven't installed it yet, but it's on my todo list, as I'm setting up to move my Win10 media server/manager to Linux.

Oh, so not debloated or stripped.

Afaik you can't turn off telemetry without editing the register ("regedit") and using group policy stuff. Maybe even using a custom install image.

Doing it all manually & with each update is bonkers.

Just try that O&O tool (it's very user friendly & can revert stuff) & leave on only settings you absolutely do use/need.

Sadly Adobe can be tricky. I heard it runs fine with Winboat. This will start a virtual machine with windows in the background, run Photoshop there but display it right on your desktop instead of presenting you a complete desktop in an isolated VM.

I haven't heard about Clip Studio so far.

I got all apps that I use running with bottles which is basically just a way to generate different wine configs/instances, so that the apps don't interfere (or rather that the fix/feature that you need for one app doesn't break another app).

It seems to have done the trick, Copilot stopped repopulating on my start menu. I really appreciate the help!

That was gonna be my next step if shutup10 didn't work but it did, though yeah I do still need to replace this one with ltsc for the security updates and whatnot.

I tried Affinity, and unfortunately it's still behind on a lot of things in terms of UI, workflow and cross compatibility. Gonna take a look again at GIMP and Krita though.

I worked with GIMP sporadically over the years but never really for long periods, it's definitely on my list to try again.

Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, and a Cintiq 21UX that requires a specific older driver version to work correctly.

This is actually the thing that helped, thank you. Copilot hasn't showed up since. And yeah I do still need to switch to the extended security update version of 10, til I can get all my ducks in a row to abandon Microsoft forever.

I know that Shutup 10++ doesn't allow anything else to change certain setting after they have been enabled or disabled there so I figured it was worth a shot.

Yay!

But now you are missing out on that authentic Microslop late 20s experience!! :'''(

I'm pretty sure they are penguins, but they like to form queues too, which is better than rows anyway.

GIMP has improved but 3.2 still lacks alpha masks on nondestructive filter layers. That is a showstopper for me. Krita has a functioning nondestructive workflow but GIMP has better filters.

Affinity is a commercial tool that gets you 90% to Ps. GIMP isn't in the same league and neither is Krita for photo editing. If you want to paint though, Krita is fantastic.