How to Remove the Weather Widget on Windows 11

The weather widget, as the name suggests, tells you the weather with an icon, the temperature, and the weather description. When you hover over it, it shows you your personalized feed. This was already present in Windows 10, but Microsoft bought the weather widget more prominently in the taskbar when it rolled out its Windows 11 update.

Although it tells you the weather, its placement is a bit weird, and you might not want it because it clutters up your taskbar. The weather widget can be off putting because all it takes is a simple hover to trigger the widget.

Although the widget weather can be useful, it can be an annoyance for some users. The weather widget can also sometimes put you off because all it takes is a simple hover to trigger the widget, and that can be unnerving.

The good thing is you can easily remove the weather widget. Below are several methods to remove the weather widget from your Windows 11 PC.

Method #1: Turn off widgets from Taskbar Settings

The quickest way to remove the weather widget is to remove the widget feature itself from the taskbar settings. Note that this step will remove all widgets from your taskbar. This is a temporary method since you can quickly bring the widget back by toggling the weather widget option.

Follow these steps:

1. Press the keyboard shortcut Win + I to launch Settings.
2. On the left panel, click on Personalization and navigate to the Taskbar option.

   

3. Under Taskbar items, you’ll find Widgets. Click on the Widgets toggle to turn it off. If it’s not colored, that means you’ve already turned it off.

   

   You will not see the weather widget in the taskbar anymore!

   

Method #2: Adjust the Group Policy

You would’ve noticed that the above method is temporary. If you’re looking for something more permanent, you can edit the group policy. This will disable the Widget settings, and you’ll have to edit it again to bring the widget back.

Follow the steps below to remove the weather widget by editing Windows group policy:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run command.
2. Enter gpedit.msc and click OK.

   

3. Navigate to the following location: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Widgets.Here, you will find the Allow widgets option.

   

4. Double-click Allow widgets – this will open up a dialog box. Click on the Disabled radio button and select Apply.

   

   The weather widget will no longer show. To bring the widget back, follow the steps above, but select Not Configured instead of Disabled.

Method #3: Modify the Registry

Modifying the registry to remove the weather widget is an effective way to permanently remove it from your system. This will also disable Widget settings preventing anyone else from enabling it.

Note: modifying the registry involves risks such as data loss or performance problems. Proceed carefully.

1. Press the Win + R key combination to open the Run command.
2. To open the registry editor, enter regedit and hit OK.

   

3. Navigate to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoft.
4. Right-click on the Microsoft folder and click New, followed by Key.

   

5. Name the new key Dsh.

   

6. Right-click on the newly created Dsh key and select New, followed by DWORD (32-bit) Value.

   

7. Name the new value AllowNewsAndInterests.

   

8. Right-click on AllowNewsAndInterests and select Modify.

   

9. In the Value data field, enter 0 and click OK.

   

10. Close the registry and restart your computer.Congratulations! You’ve successfully removed the weather widget from your taskbar by editing your computer’s registry.If you want the widget back, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoft and delete the Dsh key.