Windows 11 Search Is Getting a Native Toggle to Kill Bing

For years, turning off Bing in Windows 11 Search required navigating the registry editor, manually creating a DWORD entry, and hoping the next feature update didn’t silently reset it. Microsoft is now building the alternative: a native Settings toggle that shuts off Bing results, MSN suggestions, and Microsoft Store app listings from Windows Search, making local-only mode a one-switch Settings option. The feature was previewed at a private Windows Insider meetup in San Francisco on June 1, ahead of Microsoft Build 2026, and Windows Latest independently confirmed it is in active testing.

European Economic Area users got official search opt-out rights in 2024, when Microsoft’s compliance with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA, the bloc’s regulation imposing interoperability and choice requirements on large online platforms) pushed those controls into Windows. The toggle now in testing extends that logic to all Windows 11 users, with no regulatory requirement behind it.

The Registry Workaround Windows Updates Could Undo

Two Registry Paths, Neither Guaranteed

Since Windows 11’s launch in October 2021, the standard community fix for Bing appearing in Start menu searches was a registry edit. The method circulated quickly across forums and how-to guides: under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search, setting a DWORD named BingSearchEnabled to zero stopped local queries from simultaneously querying Microsoft’s servers. That method worked reliably on Windows 10 and early Windows 11 builds. On newer 24H2 and 25H2 systems, Microsoft had shifted the relevant policy layer, and the same key often had no effect at all, something users only discovered after a reboot.

The more consistent workaround on current builds was DisableSearchBoxSuggestions under HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer. Neither method carried any long-term guarantee. Major Windows feature updates could clear user-set registry values without notice, restoring the web search integration after an automated install. Users on community forums documented this pattern for years: edit the registry, confirm the search experience quieted down, receive a new build, start over.

Three routes Windows users have relied on to suppress web results in Search:

• Set BingSearchEnabled = 0 at HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search (worked on older builds, often ineffective on 24H2 and 25H2)
• Set DisableSearchBoxSuggestions = 1 at HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer (more consistent on current builds)
• Group Policy editor via Computer Configuration > Windows Components > Search (available on Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise only; Home edition lacks Group Policy access by default)

Third-Party Tools Fill the Gap

The registry’s fragility created demand for community tools. Wintoys, a free app in the Microsoft Store, added a toggle that modified the Windows policy JSON Microsoft uses internally to switch on EU-required features, enabling the same search controls European users received under DMA compliance. Several widely-used Windows configuration scripts accumulated Bing-suppression options around the same time, treating the removal as a standard first-run step for new installations.

For anyone on Windows 11 Home wanting a local-only Start menu search, the Group Policy editor wasn’t available and the Settings app offered no equivalent option.

Brussels Moved First

The March 2024 Compliance Deadline

The DMA’s compliance deadline for designated gatekeepers was March 6, 2024. Microsoft, designated as a gatekeeper for Windows and LinkedIn, published its compliance steps and began rolling out DMA-compliant Windows builds to EEA users from that date, completing the rollout to all EEA devices by early April 2024. Changes hit Windows Insider preview builds first, then reached retail through standard Windows Update channels.

For Windows Search specifically, the compliance push let EEA users install third-party search providers, including DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, into the taskbar search experience, appearing alongside or replacing the default results. Ongoing DMA updates documented by the Windows Insider Blog later changed how Windows Search handles web links in the EEA: clicking a result now opens in the user’s chosen browser rather than Edge, a change that finished rolling out to European retail builds in June 2025.

EEA Users vs. the Global Default

Outside the EEA, none of those controls arrived. Users in the United States, the United Kingdom (outside the DMA’s reach post-Brexit), and most international markets kept the pre-2024 defaults intact: web search results mixed into the Start menu, Edge as the web-result handler, and no official toggle in privacy settings.

The scope of that gap prompted community guides to document a DeviceRegion registry switch and a system policy JSON file that Windows consults to decide whether to apply EEA rules, turning regional enforcement logic into a manual unlock for determined users worldwide.

What the Toggle Cuts From Search

Windows Latest, which independently confirmed the feature is in testing, reports that Microsoft is building two separate controls in a single settings area. Both live under Settings > Privacy & security > Search, in a section called “Show suggested search results.” The first switch disables all Bing-powered web results from appearing in Windows Search, along with MSN content, Copilot-adjacent suggestions, and Microsoft Rewards prompts. Switch it off and the search box queries only local storage.

The second control handles Microsoft Store listings for uninstalled apps. Search for an app you don’t have and Windows currently returns a listing with a “Get” button that initiates a store download. Users can suppress those listings independently from the web results switch, keeping the search pane limited to software already on the device.

The toggle doesn’t uninstall the Microsoft search app, and it doesn’t route the taskbar search through third-party providers the way the DMA compliance path does for EEA users. Someone in the United States who wants DuckDuckGo or Ecosia feeding results into the taskbar search won’t get that through this toggle. The control suppresses web results; routing them through a different engine remains an EEA-only feature under the existing compliance architecture. Users outside Europe who want that full replacement still need either the EEA compliance configuration or a manual registry route.

The Settings placement inside Privacy & security puts the new switch in the same list as the advertising ID, optional diagnostic data, and activity history controls, positioning it in front of users who are already there to manage outbound data.

The Search Overhaul Already Shipping

The toggle announcement sits on top of a broader search rebuild already in motion. In late May 2026, the optional preview update KB5089573 brought search performance improvements to Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, accelerating app launch and core shell areas including Start and the action center. Windows Insider builds 26300.8553 and 26220.8544 separately added substring matching for compound file names, letting users find files by any word in the name rather than only by the first characters. That change addressed years of complaints that Windows Search struggled to surface locally stored files with compound or multi-word names.

A new local-confidence scoring model now surfaces installed apps and frequently accessed files above web suggestions when the query matches something local closely. Previously, typing “Calculator” could show the app briefly before a web suggestion for “Calculator download” displaced it toward the top slot, a behavior consistent enough that guides documented it as expected rather than a bug. The updated ranking gives a close local match priority, with web suggestions appearing only when no strong local threshold is met. Combined with the two-character minimum now triggering local search, the bar behaves more predictably for anyone looking for installed software or saved files rather than web content.

A Regional Fix Going Global

As of June 7, the toggle hasn’t appeared in any public Windows Insider Program channel. Windows Latest reports the feature is expected to reach upcoming preview builds in the coming weeks. Once it lands in the Canary or Dev Channel, external testers can verify whether the two controls work as described and whether the rollout covers global users or begins as another EEA-limited addition.

The reporting on the San Francisco preview notes that European legislative requirements initially prompted the changes, and that local search without forced web results is expected to become available to a wider audience over time. Microsoft hasn’t announced a timeline for stable channel availability. The company’s track record on search improvements shows multi-month gaps between Insider preview and general release: the substring matching work seeded in early Insider builds took several months before approaching any broad rollout, and the local-first ranking model followed a similar timeline from Canary Channel testing to optional update availability.

EEA users still hold advantages the new toggle won’t replicate elsewhere. Uninstalling the search app entirely, routing the taskbar through DuckDuckGo or Ecosia, and the full set of third-party provider controls all remain tied to the existing compliance framework. Those features stay exclusive to European users under the DMA architecture.

The toggle is expected to hit public Windows Insider builds in the coming weeks.