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In the old days of Windows, we could disable and uninstall unused subsystems in Windows, like Posix on Windows. See, for example, KB 101270, Disabling the POSIX Subsystem.

I'm using Windows 8 and 8.1. They have a tablet window manager by default, but I don't have a tablet. The tablet window manager and the Windows Store apps are not used, so all they do is take up space and increase attack surface for me. In additional, I can't get seem to get Windows Update to update the components, so they often are unpatched which further increases attack surface.

Is it possible to disable or uninstall the Metro subsystem? If so, how do we do it? (I'd prefer to uninstall it completely to free up the space).

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    No; this cannot be done; it would be possible on Windows Server to some degree though
    – Ramhound
    Aug 23, 2015 at 1:55
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    not in Win8, but in Windows 10 by installing StartIsBack++ and removing the Microsoft-Windows-ShellExperienceHost Package.
    – magicandre1981
    Aug 23, 2015 at 6:14
  • @Ramhound any link to an explanation why it is not possible? what if I delete a metro-only file, will the system refuse to boot, or what?
    – Costin Gușă
    Aug 30, 2015 at 9:34

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Even if you do not use Metro, it is still running in the background, consumes CPU power and does something on the disk. The only way to disable Metro is to terminate the Metro thread in Explorer.exe.

Unpack this archive and run the vbs script:

http://www.eightforums.com/attachments/customization/67840d1462474574-there-way-disable-metro-interface-metrokill.zip

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