Windows 10 Anniversary Update Cannot Close Cortana What to do

It is very straightforward to close Cortana on Windows 10 system. Open the Start menu, enter Cortana and then select “Cortana and Search Settings”, and select Close in the settings. However, closing it in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update is not so intuitive, because the shutdown option is not found in the setup options.

In the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Cortana brings a richer set of features but you just can't close it. Naturally, if you don't want this voice assistant function or there is a way to close it, you can follow the steps below:
1. Click the Start menu, type “gpedit.msc” and hit enter key
2. In the pop-up window, select “Computer Configuration"" Administrative Template" "Windows Components" ""Search”
3. Navigate to “Allow Cortana", then double click to open the relevant Policy Settings
4. Select “Close”
5. Click “Apply” and “OK” will close Cortana.

Windows 10 Home Edition users can be closed by the registry method, the specific steps are as follows:
1. Access the start menu, enter “regedit” then hit the Enter key
2. Jump out In the window, select “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsWindows Search”
3. Right-click "Windows Search", and then select "New" Dword (32-bit) Value”
4. Name is "AllowCortana";
5. Double-click the key value and set it to “0” to close Cortana