Remove Windows Security icon from Start Menu on Windows 10 LTSC

Question

As shown in the following image:

How can I remove the item "Windows Security" in start menu of Windows 10 (LTSC 2019)?

Same as this question on Microsoft TechNet, but no useful answer there.

Answer 1

If you are just interested in editing the menu listing as it is presented to you, it is located in the folder:

Programdata\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

... on the boot volume.

Note that the folder "Programdata" is a hidden folder so it won't be visible to the file manager tool under its default configuration. You will need to make the folder visible first before you can access it and the subfolders. Also note that this doesn't remove any software, the files will still be on the disk.

Answer 2

Since it is NOT in locations for Start menu items

%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

MS is hiding something. The following procedures works (on windows 10 LTSC 2019), but use it in your danger.

1. open an elevated Command Prompt (an Administrative command prompt), copy and paste the following lines (and press return)

     set WS=%SystemRoot%\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.SecHealthUI_cw5n1h2txyewy
     takeown /f %WS% /r /a > nul
     icacls %WS% /reset /t > nul
     rmdir /s /q %WS%

Here is the screenshot Administrative command prompt

2. in start menu, right-click Windows Security, -> more -> App settings Windows Security

3. In the setting window, click reset -> reset

4. now, the Windows Security is gone! Windows Security item gone

Answer 3

if you delete the registry branch - [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Appx\AppxAllUserStore\InboxApplications \Microsoft.Windows.SecHealthUI_10.0.18362.329_neutral__cw5n1h2txyewy]

then when creating a new user there will no longer be a shortcut Windows Security. the question is how to reset this shortcut under the current user.

Answer 4

I can't help with removing from the Start menu (yet!) but it is easy enough to block access via Group Policy.

For domain joined computers: Open Group Policy Management and add the following setting to the OU or OUs you would like to block.

User Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Software Restriction Policies > Additional Rules > New Path Rule - Path: c:\windows\systemapps\Microsoft.Windows.SecHealthUI_cw5n1h2txyewy - Security Level: Disallowed

This will block the Windows Security app for the users to which the setting is applied, but still allow it to be accessed by others.

For standalone machines: Apply the same setting to Computer Configuration in the Local Group Policy. This will, however, block access for all users including administrators.

(I realise that I'm a bit late to this party but, hopefully, someone will find this information useful.)