How-To

How to Uninstall Cortana from Windows 11

By Brian Burgess

Published September 5, 2023

Microsoft has deprecated Cortana and if you no longer want it on your system you can uninstall Cortana from Windows 11. Here’s how to do it.

Microsoft’s voice assistant, Cortana, is essentially dead. Since the service never took off on PCs or the ill-fated standalone Harman Kardon Invoke, you might as well uninstall Cortana from Windows 11.

Starting with Windows Insider builds, the company began deprecating the Cortana app, and a recent update is intentionally preventing the app from functioning.

Now, if you try to launch it, the app will show a message indicating that it’s been deprecated. Since Cortana is no longer supported, it won’t hurt to get it out of the way by uninstalling it. Here’s how.

Cortana App Deprecated on Windows 11

Microsoft isn’t removing the app itself, so you must manually remove it from your system.

You can still press the Windows key, search for Cortana, and launch the app.

However, if you stay current with Windows Updates, when you attempt to launch the Cortana app, it will display a message indicating it has been deprecated.

If you want Cortana to continue to work, you can pause Windows 11 Update and still use it until the update to deprecate it is installed.

How to Uninstall Cortana

The process to properly remove Cortana from Windows 11 isn’t as straightforward as uninstalling other apps on Windows. But you can quickly get rid of it from the command line.

To uninstall Cortana:

1. Press the Windows key.
2. Type: PowerShell and select the Run as Administrator option from the Start menu.
3. Once the Terminal opens, type the following command and press Enter:

   Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.549981C3F5F10* | Remove-AppxPackage

   

Once you run the command, Cortana will be entirely removed from your system.

How to Uninstall Cortana Using Winget

You can also uninstall Cortana from Windows 11 using the Windows Package Manager command if you prefer.

To uninstall Cortana Using Winget:

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator or run the Command Prompt (cmd.exe) as Administrator.
2. Type the following command and press Enter:

   winget uninstall cortana

3. Type: Y to agree to source terms.
4. You will see a progress bar during the process, and once the command completes, Cortana will be uninstalled from your system.

Managing Apps on Windows 11

Since Cortana is no longer supported, you might want to remove it from your system to leave room for useful apps. You can use either of the options above to uninstall it from your PC completely.

There are other ways to manage apps on Windows 11. For example, you might want to always run apps as administrator. If you have legacy apps that you want to run on the new OS, check out how to run old apps on Windows 11.

If you are troubleshooting an app or system performance, you might need to find the process ID for apps. And for better connectivity, performance, and battery, learn to disable background apps on your system. Not on Windows 11 yet? No worries. You can uninstall Cortana on Windows 10.