Quick fix: Open Terminal (Admin) and run Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers — Cortana is uninstalled across every user profile in under 30 seconds.

Cortana is technically retired but still ships pre-installed on Windows 11. The standalone Cortana app appears in your installed apps list, may still launch at sign-in on some builds, and consumes about 70 MB of disk space for a feature you don’t use. PowerShell removes it cleanly while the Settings UI refuses to.

Symptom: Cortana installed, possibly running at startup, no Uninstall option in Settings → Apps.
Affects: Windows 11 versions 22H2 and later.
Fix time: ~2 minutes.

What causes this

Microsoft retired the standalone Cortana app in mid-2023 but didn’t remove the binary from pre-installed Windows 11 images. The package remains under the AppX deployment framework with a flag that hides the Uninstall button from Settings → Apps → Installed apps. PowerShell’s AppX cmdlets ignore that UI flag and remove the package directly.

Two related packages may also exist: the user-facing app and a system provisioning template that re-installs Cortana for new user accounts. Removing both is needed for a permanent uninstall.

Method 1: Remove Cortana for the current user and all users

The basic removal. Affects this PC’s existing user profiles.

Press Win + X and choose Terminal (Admin) (or PowerShell (Admin)).

Run the removal command:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

The cursor returns to the prompt with no output. Success is implied.
Verify the package is gone:
```
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10
```
Empty output confirms removal.
Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and confirm cortana.exe is absent from the Processes list.
Sign out and back in to clear Cortana from Start menu search results.

Cortana’s icon, search index entry, and background process are all gone.

Method 2: Remove the provisioned package so new accounts don’t reinstall it

Important if you have multiple user accounts or anticipate creating new ones (rare on personal PCs, common on shared family PCs).

Open Terminal (Admin).

Remove the system provisioning template:

Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online | Where-Object DisplayName -Like "*549981C3F5F10*" | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online

Verify the provisioning is removed:

Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online | Where-Object DisplayName -Like "*549981C3F5F10*"

Empty output confirms.

Now create a new user account (Settings → Accounts → Other users → Add account) and sign in. Confirm Cortana is not installed.
The combination of Methods 1 and 2 produces a permanent removal across the whole PC.

Without this step, new user accounts get Cortana freshly installed even though current accounts had it removed.

Method 3: Block Cortana via policy so it stays out even after feature updates

The most durable solution. Survives Windows 11 feature updates that sometimes re-provision Cortana.

Press Win + R, type regedit, press Enter.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search. Create the keys if missing.
Add a DWORD named AllowCortana with value 0.
For Windows 11 Pro/Enterprise, also configure via gpedit.msc: Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Search → Allow Cortana set to Disabled.
Open Terminal (Admin) and run gpupdate /force.
Reboot.

Verify by running:

Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search" -Name AllowCortana

Value should be 0.

With this policy in place, even a feature update reinstall of Cortana won’t produce a functioning Cortana — the binary may be on disk but cannot run because Search policy blocks it.

How to verify the fix worked

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 returns empty in PowerShell.
Get-Process -Name cortana -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue returns empty.
The Start menu search for “cortana” returns no app entry — only web results.
Task Manager → Startup apps shows no Cortana entry.

If none of these work

If Remove-AppxPackage fails with an error like Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CFA, the package is marked as a system component on certain OEM Windows 11 builds. Try the alternative removal approach: open Settings → Apps → Installed apps, find Cortana, click ⋯ → Advanced options. Scroll to Terminate and click it to kill any running instance. Then return to PowerShell and retry the removal command. On corporate-managed PCs, Cortana removal may be blocked by Intune policy — your IT admin needs to remove it from the provisioning policy. For the rare case where neither AppX removal nor Settings termination works, boot to Safe Mode and run Method 1’s command from there — fewer system locks are active.

Bottom line: Cortana is removable with one PowerShell command — combine the package removal with provisioning cleanup and the policy block for a permanent uninstall.