How can Web Search be disabled in 1903?

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[Tom-R]

In Win 10 1803 if you wanted to disable Web Search when doing a Start Menu Search, it was relatively easy — just a couple of registry values that had to be added or changed in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search.

The values that I set on 1803 were:
–> BingSearchEnabled = 0
–> CortanaConsent = 0

But those same registry tweaks don’t seem to work anymore — at least not on my new 1903 system.  When I make those same changes on the new system, the Start Menu Search gets disabled completely; I get absolutely no results.

Setting those two values back to 1 instead of 0 returns everything to normal.  But, of course, “normal” here means that I’m stuck again with results from the Web Search, and not just a local search of the system.

So, does anyone know how to disable Web Search in version 1903?

• This topic was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Tom-R.
• This topic was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Tom-R.

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[Alex5723]

Tom-R wrote:

So, does anyone know how to disable Web Search in version 1903?

Have you re-logged or re-booted after the changes ?

Try GPEdit.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Alex5723.

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[Tom-R]

Have you re-logged or re-booted after the changes ?

Yes to both.   Logged out and back in.   And re-booted.   Once I make the registry changes to both values being zero I stop getting any search results.

Try GPEdit.

I don’t think GPEdit will help here.   This is a Win 10 Home system; not Pro.  I’m thinking that any changes I make in GPEdit won’t be recognized or honored in Home edition.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Tom-R.

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Just to check – which build of 1903 are you on?

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It’s OS Build 18362.329, Home Edition 1903.

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See if How to disable web search in Windows 10’s start menu helps.

--Joe

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Tom-R

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[Tom-R]

Joe, thanks for the link; but that Ghacks article is kind of old — from 2015.  It even includes a link to a follow-up article from 2018: Microsoft broke ‘disable web search’ in Windows 10 version 1803

So those articles aren’t much help with my issue in version 1903.  On the other hand, there was a suggestion towards the end of that first article about how to “Disable Web Search using the Firewall“.  The programs and rule names have changed somewhat over the past 4 years; but it gave me an idea to just block outbound connections for both Cortana and Edge in the firewall — neither of which I use or want on this system.  By doing that I’m effectively crippling Web Search on this system.  So now if I type in something like “gpedit” even though I still see a section titled “Web Results”, there’s nothing showing up — no previews or anything.  Yet I still get results from my local system.  So that sort of accomplishes what I need. 

I guess I can consider this kind of an inelegant brute force workaround of the issue.  But I really would prefer some way of simply disabling the Start Menu Web Search without having to entirely block Cortana and Edge completely like this.

If you have any other suggestions how to do that let me know.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Tom-R.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Tom-R.

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