In Windows 11, when you search for something in the Start Menu search, it not only does a system-wide search but also performs a Bing search and shows the search results from the internet alongside files and folders on your PC. The web results will try to match your search terms and show you recommended options based on the keywords you have entered.

This could’ve been very useful but the implementation is not quite there. First of all, the suggestions coming from Bing are rarely relevant or match what you are trying to find. Secondly, if you are looking for private files or work files, you really do not want those filenames to go on the internet. Lastly, getting listed alongside local files and folders just makes the search result view more cluttered and harder for you to find what you actually need.

Thus, it is best that you disable this feature on your computer and never deal with it again. This guide will show you how you can easily disable ‘Search the Web’ results in the Start Menu search on your Windows 11 computer.

Disable ‘Search the Web’ in Windows Search Using the Registry Editor

The Registry Editor feature in Windows 11 can be used to create a new registry that will disable the ‘Search The Web’ in the Start Menu search feature.

First, open the Registry editor by searching for it in the Start Menu search and selecting it from the search results.

After the Registry Editor window opens up, copy & paste the following text inside the address bar located near the top of the window.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows

Now, from the left panel, right-click on ‘Windows’ then select ‘New’, and after that select ‘Key’.

Name the new key ‘Explorer’ and press ‘Enter’ to save.

After that, right-click on the new ‘Explorer’ key and then select ‘New’ and then ‘DWORD (32-bit) Value’.

Rename the new registry to ‘DisableSearchBoxSuggestions’ and press ‘Enter’. This will create the registry entry which will disable the feature.

Now, double-click on the registry, and when a small dialog box comes up, set the ‘Value data’ to 1 and click on ‘OK’. This will enable the registry and make it active.

All that is left to do is restart your computer and the change will take effect. After you have restarted your computer, search for anything in the Start Menu search. If it is not present on your computer, it will show ‘No results found for…..’.


Disable Web Search in Start Menu via Group Policy Editor

To open the Group Policy Editor, first, open up the Run window by pressing Windows+r on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can right-click on the Start Menu icon and select ‘Run’.

After the Run window opens up, type gpedit.msc inside the command line and click on ‘OK’.

After the Local Group Policy Editor opens up, you need to navigate to a specific directory.

Go to ‘User Configuration’ → ‘Administrative templates’ → ‘Windows Components’ → ‘File Explorer’ folder.

Once you have ‘File Explorer’ directory selected, you’ll see the ‘Turn off display of recent search entries in the File Explorer..’ option in the right panel.

Now, double click on the ‘Turn off display of recent search entries in the File Explorer..’ option, and a new window will appear. By default ‘Not configured’ toggle will be selected. Change it to ‘Enabled’ and then click on ‘OK’.

After that, restart your computer for the changes to take effect.


Use these methods to disable the ‘Search the Web’ results in the Windows Search feature on your Windows 11 PC.