How to Hide or Show Cortana Button on Taskbar in Windows 10


Cortana is your cloud-based personal assistant that works across your devices and other Microsoft services. Depending on the capabilities of your device and the version of Cortana you’re using, Cortana can provide a range of features, some of which are personalized. Cortana on Windows is available in certain regions and languages. If Cortana isn’t available for your Windows device, you can still search for files on your device in the search box on the taskbar. Cortana is also available on other platforms, such as Android and iOS, in select markets.

Starting with Windows 10 build 18305.1003, Microsoft separated the Search and Cortana UI by giving them individual buttons and flyouts on the taskbar. The separate Search and Cortana features are currently only available for some Windows Insiders using A/B testing. If you have been included in this A/B testing, you can now select to hide or show the separate Search and Cortana buttons on the taskbar.

Starting with Windows 10 build 18317, Microsoft will be decoupling Search and Cortana in the taskbar. This will enable each experience to innovate independently to best serve their target audiences and use cases. Some Insiders have had this update for a few weeks now. For those new to this update, when it rolls out to you, you’ll find clicking the search box in the taskbar now launches our experience focused on giving you the best in house search experience and clicking the Cortana icon will launch you straight into our voice-first digital assistant experience.

This tutorial will show you how to hide or show the separate Cortana button on the taskbar for your account in Windows 10.

Contents

• Option One: Hide or Show Cortana Button on Taskbar from Taskbar Context Menu
• Option Two: Hide or Show Cortana Button on Taskbar using a REG file

EXAMPLE: Separate Search and Cortana buttons on taskbar

OPTION ONE

Hide or Show Cortana Button on Taskbar from Taskbar Context Menu

1 Right click or press and hold on the taskbar.

2 Click/tap on Show Cortana button to check (show - default) or uncheck (hide) it for what you want. (see screenshot below)

OPTION TWO

Hide or Show Cortana Button on Taskbar using a REG file

The downloadable .reg files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

ShowCortanaButton DWORD

0 = Hide
1 = Show

1 Do step 2 (show) or step 3 (hide) below for what you would like to do.

2 To Show Cortana Button on Taskbar

This is the default setting.

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Show_Cortana_button_on_taskbar.reg

Download

3 To Hide Cortana Button on Taskbar

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Hide_Cortana_button_on_taskbar.reg

Download

4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7 Either restart the explorer process or sign out and sign in to apply.

8 If you like, you can now delete the downloaded .reg file.

That's it,
Shawn

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