I just want to try to help someone here as I have been helped here by such generous people. Some have most likely removed Cortana in this way ? I was unable to find a thread here to remove Cortana like this. 1) First copy original C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy to desktop before doing this to be able to enable Cortana again if I wish. 2) Renamed Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy folder in C:\Windows\SystemApps to - Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewyXXXX 3) End task Cortana in task manager Now search 'ask me anything' (which I can deal with ok) is not working & Cortana is no longer in task mgr. To enable Cortana - Copy saved Cortana original folder from desktop to C:\windows\system apps\admin permission click continue. Now Cortana is installed and "ask me anything' is working & Cortana is in in task mgr so no harm done it seems. If this already has been posted I apologize. ========== Edit copied from my post #11- Removed Cortana as in post #1 , removed Edge as in post #1, deleted OneDrive in safemode(saved original to desktop) C:\users\accountName\appdata\local\microsoft\onedrive Haven't searched registry for anything leftover yet , but, all 3 removed and OS works great! re- enabled (copied folders to original locations) all (3) and all worked as they did before changes ..no harm done that I see. Code is way beyond my knowledge. Kind of inhumane how I did this with a hammer and chisel but it worked for me. Do these (3) changes at your own risk.
This is a terrible way to kill off cortana. The proper way would be to remove from SystemApps, System32, Registry, then do some dll hacking. Also gotta make sure the service side is matched up so you don't cause any issues with the OS. I was gonna try this out but I'm looking at silent install of firefox addons atm. Also abbodi1406 is correct nlite is dead. I mean it is like super dead...
Why, removing the exe is the simplest way and it works. There is no reason to bother with leftovers, especially if someone wants to re-enable it later.
w10 2.4gb here w7 1.1gb and its rock solid stable and ive gone over what is possible with ntlite too nlite is not dead while xp(and related os) are still being used
nlte/vlite is not NTLite And like all tools, those who use them without any basic knowledge on what they exaxtly do has no idea what he actually is doing or what the tool does to accomplish it.
i know my onions i dont care how it does it, i know the end result, 1.1gb installed and rock solid stable
I disagree to put it simply. If your going to remove a portion that is integrated into the windows operating system then you have to do so completely. Also if your going to run tools that say they remove Cortana from Windows then I wanna see the source code. I love lited copies of Windows because they cut bloat from the operating system however NTlite is not the way to make this happen and it died with windows XP. I believe people should be empowered by knowledge in what they are doing to an operating system when they start cutting corners. Some of those corners are good to cut some not so much like ripping a DVD only in English.
Removed Cortana as in post #1 , removed Edge as in post #1, deleted OneDrive in safemode(saved original to desktop) C:\users\accountName\appdata\local\microsoft\onedrive Haven't searched registry for anything leftover yet , but, all 3 removed and OS works great! re- enabled (copied folders to original locations) all (3) and all worked as they did before changes ..no harm done that I see. Code is way beyond my knowledge. Kind of inhumane how I did this with a hammer and chisel but it worked for me. Do these (3) changes at your own risk.
Perhaps you could show us how this is done in detail with a one click tool that you created and isn't so terrible in removing Cortana , Edge and OneDrive ? A link to your tool as I was unable to find it. That would be great! thanks
But you still did not answer why. I do not like removing more than necessary because of crazy dependencies in 10 and changing registry and system DLL might result in BSOD due to security features. The only side effect I have noticed are two entries in event log at startup saying, that Cortana failed to run.
This is actually easy to do with install_wim_tweak. Use it to remove Edge and Cortana, and then toss in some one-liners to clean up OneDrive. If all of that is in one batch file, and assuming UAC is enabled, it'll take 3 clicks As to which packages to remove for Edge and Cortana specifically, I forget. I think Edge is Microsoft-Windows-Internet-Browser-Package, and Cortana is either one of 4 different Search-related packages, or it's own package. If you don't care about Search at all (like me), you can just nuke all of them to be sure
No thanks, but real happy you are so pleased with your hammer & chisel, Now what in Windows 10 does not work correctly because of your chopping. Let me ask you a question, if 4 missiles were headed towards Washington, DC, each capable of destroying the city, what would be accomplished by stopping 3.