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How to Remove the Recommended Section from the Windows 11 Start Menu

Windows 11 users can collapse recommendations through Settings; supported editions also offer a dedicated Group Policy to hide the entire section.
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You can hide the entire Recommended section with the Remove Recommended section from Start Menu policy on supported Windows 11 editions. If you do not have access to Group Policy, turn off all recommendation providers in Settings > Personalization > Start; Microsoft says the sections collapse when all providers are off.

Choose the method that fits your Windows edition

Method Who it suits Effect
Settings People configuring their own device, where the controls are available Turning off all recommendation providers collapses the recommended sections so they are no longer visible. Microsoft’s Start menu guidance describes this behavior.
Group Policy Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise / IoT Enterprise LTSC, version 22H2 and later The dedicated policy hides the entire section. Microsoft documents the policy.
Device management Administrators managing supported Windows devices The Start Policy CSP provides a device-scoped and a user-scoped setting to hide the section. See Microsoft’s Start Policy CSP reference.

Hide Recommended through Group Policy

Use this method when the device runs a supported edition and you want the explicit policy that removes the whole section. The policy is documented for Windows 11 version 22H2 and later on Pro, Enterprise, Education, and IoT Enterprise / IoT Enterprise LTSC.

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  1. Open Start, search for Edit group policy, and open it.
  2. In the policy editor, go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar. For a user-scoped policy, use User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar.
  3. Open Remove Recommended section from Start Menu, select Enabled, then apply the change.

Microsoft’s policy description says enabling it means “the Start Menu will no longer show the section containing a list of recommended files and apps.” In device management, the corresponding CSP setting is ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Start/HideRecommendedSection, with a user-scoped equivalent. The CSP maps the Group Policy value to SoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftWindowsExplorerHideRecommendedSection; that mapping is technical information, not a reason to edit the registry manually.

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Turn off recommendation providers in Settings

  1. Open Settings > Personalization > Start.
  2. Review the recommendation-related controls available on your Windows build and turn off every provider that feeds the Recommended area.

Microsoft says the sections collapse and are no longer visible when all recommended providers are turned off. The exact controls may vary with the Start design and Windows build, so use the labels shown on your device rather than expecting every PC to show an identical set.

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What app-launch tracking changes

The setting Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking app launches is under Settings > Privacy & security > Recommendations & offers. Turning it off stops Windows from using app launches to personalize Start and search results, as described in Microsoft’s privacy settings guidance. It is a tracking and personalization control, not a guaranteed way to hide the entire Recommended section.

Avoid the similarly named website policy

Remove Personalized Website Recommendations from the Recommended section in the Start Menu is a separate policy. It removes personalized website recommendations, not the whole Recommended section. To hide the whole area through policy, use Remove Recommended section from Start Menu.

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