Microsoft has a long history of trying to keep forcing Bing on its users. Windows 11, too, has been following this approach like its predecessors and incorporated Bing Search into the Search menu. Now, most users prefer to use Search to find files and apps on their system. But instead, they end up with a cluttered search window that shows results from Bing Search as well.

Even though Bing AI has changed the search game for Bing completely, that doesn’t mean you want it in the Search menu. And while it’s easy enough to switch from Bing to Google or other search engines in a browser, the same courtesy is not extended to Windows Search. You’ll find that there is no option in the operating system’s settings to disable it. The only way you can disable Bing Search is by editing the Registry. Let’s see how to do it.

Disable Bing Search using the Registry Editor

Editing the Registry is a critical task and needs to be treated with utmost care. Changing or deleting any values randomly can make the programs or the operating system itself unstable. You should follow the instructions below exactly to edit the Registry to disable Bing Search in Windows 11. Before editing the registry, you should also create a backup just in case you make any mistakes.

Open the Search menu on your Windows 11 system and type ‘Registry Editor’ in the search bar. Then, select the first search result to open the app that lets you view and edit the Windows Registry. If a UAC window appears, click ‘Yes’ to proceed.

Now, to backup the registry, go to the ‘File’ menu option and select ‘Export’ from the menu.

Then, select a location for the file, enter a name, and click ‘Save’.

Now, onto the task at hand; navigate to the following folder either manually or by pasting the below code in the address bar of the Registry Editor: 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer

If entering the above path doesn’t return anything, enter the code only till Windows, i.e.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

Now, you need to create an Explorer key; for users who already have the Explorer key, skip the next couple of steps and go directly to the step for creating the DWORD.

To create the Explorer key, right-click ‘Windows’ and hover over the ‘New’ option. Then, click on the ‘Key’ option from the sub-menu.

Enter Explorer in the name field and hit Enter.

Now, this step is the same for everyone. Right-click on the ‘Explorer’ option, go to ‘New’ in the menu, and select ‘DWORD (32-bit) Value’ from the sub-menu.

The DWORD will be created and it will be automatically selected, ready for you to name it; name the new value DisableSearchBoxSuggestions.

Double-click ‘DisableSearchBoxSuggestions’ to open its properties. In the value data field, set the value to 1 and click ‘OK’.

Now, to apply the changes, you need to restart the Windows Explorer. You can do this by opening the Task Manager and then restarting the Windows Explorer from the list of processes. Or, you can simply restart your PC.

After the restart, you’ll find that Bing Search has been disabled in Windows 11.

Bing Search results can clutter the search menu but you can disable it with this simple registry hack. You can also enable it again at any time by following the same steps above and changing the DWORD value back to 0.