Microsoft will soon let users disable Copilot key in Windows 11

Microsoft is testing a Windows 11 setting that lets users disable the Copilot hardware key with a new "Do nothing" option.

To say that Microsoft's integration of Copilot into its services and products has been controversial would be a gross understatement. Even recently, we reported that the company is inserting Copilot in more interaction surfaces in Windows 11, like File Explorer. However, it now appears that the company is deprioritizing Copilot in at least one area in Windows 11.

According to @phantomofearth on X, Microsoft has implemented a new Windows 11 setting in Experimental builds that allows users to essentially disable the Copilot hardware key on eligible PCs:

This "Do nothing" configuration is in addition to the other key mapping options which launch Microsoft 365 Copilot, Search, and custom configurations. Although a person in the comments to the original post has noted that they have had this setting in Bluetooth & devices > Keyboard for quite some time, we don't have it in our Experimental build, so it might be a part of Microsoft's staggered rollout strategy.

Regardless, Microsoft did hint at this change back in May when it essentially admitted that the physical Copilot key enforcement on "AI PCs" was a bad idea. It said that it would allow users to map the Copilot key back to Right Ctrl, with some caveats. Other third-party developers also implemented solutions like NoCopilotKey to get rid of the key-triggered Copilot launch as well.

Microsoft had initially encouraged PC OEMs to replace Right Ctrl with the Copilot key on Windows 11 AI PCs back in 2024. However, the Copilot brand just never took off in the way Redmond wanted it too, and the AI PC branding was too confusing by itself with many not knowing what it entailed or what made it distinct from other more powerful and standard PCs. In the past few months, the company has been scaling back on its AI ambitions, and at least having a software-based solution to disable the Copilot key is a step in the right direction.

Source

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Posted Saturday 25 July 2026 at 7:26 am AEST (my time).

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