Apps Enable or Disable Widgets Feature in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the widgets feature for all users in Windows 11.

Widgets in Windows are interactive elements that display dynamic content and provide quick access to various apps and features. You can view your location's current weather conditions directly on the taskbar and hover over the icon to see concise, scannable information on topics like sports, stocks, local news, and breaking headlines. Widgets are designed to help you staying informed and organized by presenting personalized information at a glance.

Widgets are displayed on the Widgets board, which contains a collection of cards, each representing a widget with relevant information and actions related to an app. On the Widgets board you can discover, pin, unpin, arrange, resize, and customize widgets to reflect your interests.

Through this policy, you can also disable or enable weather and more on the lock screen. If you leave the setting as “Not configured,” weather and more will be enabled by default. Disabling this setting turns off weather and more on the lock screen in addition to widgets on the taskbar.

Reference:

You must be signed in as an administrator to enable or disable the widgets feature in Windows 11.

If you disable this Allow widgets policy, it will remove the Lock screen Weather and more setting.

EXAMPLE: Widgets feature enabled and disabled

The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

All editions can use Option Two below.

1 Open the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).

2 Navigate to the policy location below in the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor. (see screenshot below)



3 In the right pane of Widgets, double click/tap on the Allow widgets policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4 Do step 5 (Enable) or step 6 (Disable) below for what you would like to do.

This is the default setting.

7 You can now close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.





1 Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.

This is the default setting.

(Contents of REG file for reference)





(Contents of REG file for reference)

4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5 If you have Smart App Control turned on, you will need to unblock the downloaded REG file.

6 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

7 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

8 Either restart explorer process, sign out and sign in, or restart the computer to apply.

9 You could now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink