10

Is it possible for me (parent/admin account) to completely disable Cortana for other users (kids/standard accounts)? ...or at least from using it to search things that are not local on the PC itself. I don't want my children gleaning all the Internet has to offer quite yet.

EDIT: @Chirag64 and @mc10 - thank you so much for your answers, but neither answer really addresses my question of "completely disable Cortana for other users (kids/standard accounts)". I do not want to disable it for me, only for my kids...
The "duplicate questions" and the one that was linked as having answers - also don't help me with this...

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  • Can you elaborate on what exactly is not working from the already-suggested solutions? – Twisty Impersonator Aug 6 '15 at 18:23
  • @Twisty: Isn’t it clear?  They’re significantly different questions.  Eliezer made the strategic error of using the word “completely” in the first revision of his question, when that wasn’t what he meant at all.  Eliezer’s question is “How can I park my car on weekends?”  The other question is “How can I remove the engine from my car (while leaving the radio and windshield wipers functional)?”  Eliezer still wants to be able to use Cortana himself, while restricting access to it from some accounts.  The answers to the other question propose solutions as severe as “uninstall it.” – Scott Aug 6 '15 at 18:44
  • @Scott I'd like the OP the opportunity to explain why the existing answers don't work. Perhaps my assessment of their suitability to his situation is different from his or yours. With his clarification I'm prepared to retract my vote if that's appropriate. – Twisty Impersonator Aug 6 '15 at 18:50
  • @Twisty How can you retract a vote to Leave Closed? – Scott Aug 6 '15 at 18:52
  • @Scott By clicking the (reopen) link and choosing Nominate this question to be reopened...unless that won't work? Well, crap, it does work, and so there we have another reopen vote! :-/ – Twisty Impersonator Aug 6 '15 at 18:54
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You can achieve this via the Group Policy Editor.

Just open gpedit.msc, go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Search.

Enable the policies called Do not allow web search and Don't search the web or display web results in Search.

See this link for more details.

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-1

Web search can be disabled via registry editor:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search

create new 32-bit DWORD value ConnectedSearchUseWeb and set it to 0

No reboot required.

Reference

[EDIT] sorry, it also not exactly correct answer, because it not per-account setting.

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  • 1
    Your reference link says a reboot is required. Since I know for a fact, the group policy solution requires a reboot, the registry key solution(which is what the group policy sets) requires a reboot. – Ramhound Feb 22 '18 at 3:14
  • Well, I tested it, it worked without reboot. Enabling it back, however, seems to require a reboot. – vanowm Feb 22 '18 at 3:17

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