How to Disable Bing Search in the Windows Start Menu

Tech & Gaming
1

By default, typing in the Windows Start menu searches both your local PC and the web via Bing, mixing web results into what many people just want to use as an app launcher. Here’s how to turn off the web search component.

Windows 11

The setting is in Settings > Privacy & Security > Search permissions > scroll to “Cloud content search” – turn off both “Microsoft account” and “Work or school account.” Also scroll up to find “Show search highlights” and disable that if you don’t want the rotating content in the search panel.

For a more complete web search removal, the Registry method is more reliable:

  1. Open Registry Editor (search “regedit” > run as administrator)
  2. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
  3. If the Explorer key doesn’t exist, right-click Windows > New > Key and name it Explorer
  4. Right-click in the right pane > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value
  5. Name it DisableSearchBoxSuggestions
  6. Double-click it and set the value to 1
  7. Restart or sign out and back in

This disables web suggestions in the Start menu search completely.

Windows 10

Settings > Search > Searching Windows > scroll to “Safe Search” and the web results section > turn off “Show search highlights” and adjust “SafeSearch” to Off if you want no filtering, or use the more direct approach:

Settings > Search > Permissions & History > uncheck “SafeSearch” and cloud content options.

For the Registry approach on Windows 10, the path is the same: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer with the same DisableSearchBoxSuggestions DWORD set to 1.

What this changes

With web search disabled, the Start menu search only shows:

  • Installed apps
  • Files on your PC
  • Settings
  • Control Panel items

It no longer shows Bing web results, news, or “search the web” suggestions. The search becomes a fast local launcher rather than a hybrid local/web search.

What it doesn’t change

This doesn’t change your default browser search engine or affect Edge. It only affects the Windows Start menu search behavior. Your browser search continues to work however you’ve configured it.

2

the registry method is more reliable than the settings toggle in my experience. the settings option sometimes re-enables itself after windows updates. setting the registry key sticks across updates. the DisableSearchBoxSuggestions dword is the right approach for a permanent fix.

3

this is one of the first things i do on any new windows install. start menu search showing bing results for local queries is annoying. you type an app name and get web results mixed in with the app you were looking for. disabling it makes the search behave like what most people actually want – a fast local app launcher.

4

Worth backing up the registry before editing it as a general habit. The export to a dated file takes thirty seconds and gives you a restore point if something goes wrong. For a single DWORD change the risk is minimal but it’s a good practice to build.

5

The distinction between this setting and browser search is important to clarify for less technical users. Disabling Bing in the Start menu doesn’t affect how their browser searches work. I’ve had people hesitate to make this change thinking it would break Google search in their browser, which it absolutely doesn’t.

6

Windows 11 made the web search integration more prominent than Windows 10, which is probably why more people are looking for this fix now. The search highlights and rotating content in the search panel are especially intrusive. The Settings path gets most of it, the registry key gets the rest.