Microsoft Store: Admin Guidance for Removing Pre-installed Apps

Admins spend a considerable amount of time removing pre-installed apps from Windows installations from the Microsoft Store. Scripts used for this purpose are said to be unreliable and cause additional work. The company now wants to address this and is enabling the removal of pre-installed apps using Group Policies.

This was announced by Microsoft in the Message Center of the Windows Release Health notes. A blog post in the Microsoft Tech Community provides details. “Starting this month, you can remove selected pre-installed apps with a simple policy in Windows 11 Enterprise or Education 25H2,” Microsoft explains, adding that this is thanks to feedback from admins. Custom image creation and complex scripts are no longer necessary. The policy is called “Remove default Microsoft Store packages from the system.”

As Group Policy and for Mobile Device Management

The app management policy allows admins to select from a list of pre-installed Microsoft Store apps to be removed from Windows 11 Enterprise and Education systems. It can be used in group policies or with mobile device management (MDM) like Microsoft's Intune. Microsoft disables it by default, so IT administrators must explicitly enable it.

Once the policy is enabled, its enforcement is automatic. A cleanup task removes the packages and local user data of the app from users' devices. The policy is applied during the out-of-box experience (OOBE), i.e., the setup after a new installation, after user login following an operating system update, and after user login following updates to the policy on the computers.

Microsoft lists the advantages of policy-based app removal as reduced overhead, eliminating the need to deal with shaky manual removal scripts and automated operations. Admins can also offer a cleaner user experience that is tailored to the work environment. Microsoft lists the apps currently available for automatic removal: Calculator Calc, Camera, Feedback Hub, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Clipchamp, Copilot (consumer version), News, Photos, Solitaire Collection, Sticky Notes, Teams, To Do, MSN Weather, Notepad, Outlook for Windows, Paint, Quick Assist, Snipping Tool, Sound Recorder, Windows Media Player, Terminal, Xbox Gaming App, Xbox Identity Provider, Xbox Speech to Text Overlay, and finally Xbox TCUI.

Microsoft also describes how to use the policy. In Microsoft Intune, devices can be managed with a Settings Catalog or CSP as a policy. Admins must create it first. It can be found under “Devices” – “Manage Devices” – “Configuration” – "New policy", in the category “Administrative Templates\Windows Components\App Package Deployment,” the setting name is “Remove default Microsoft Store packages from the system” and must be set to “Enabled.” The switch for each app to be removed must then be toggled. IT administrators must then assign this policy to the desired device groups, groups, or devices.

For application to individual devices, Microsoft recommends using the local Group Policy Editor. However, for multiple devices from an Active Directory, admins should create or edit a Group Policy and use the following settings: the path of the Group Policy is “Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\App Package Deployment,” the setting is “Remove default Microsoft Store packages from the system,” and the value must also be set to “Enabled”; here too, they must then select the apps to be removed from the app list.

(dmk)