When you purchase a brand-new Windows 11 computer or perform a clean installation of the operating system, you will quickly discover that Microsoft has pre-loaded the system with dozens of “bloatware” applications. Apps like the Xbox Console Companion, 3D Builder, Windows Maps, and Microsoft Zune Video consume valuable hard drive space and heavily clutter your Start Menu. If you attempt to remove them using the standard Settings > Apps menu, you will find that the “Uninstall” button is completely greyed out. Microsoft aggressively protects these core applications.
To forcefully eradicate these baked-in apps from your computer, you must bypass the graphical interface and use Microsoft PowerShell.
Launching PowerShell as an Administrator
Because you are attempting to remove system-level applications, you need elevated privileges.
- Click the Start Button or press the Windows key on your keyboard.
- Type the word PowerShell into the search bar.
- Do not just press Enter. In the search results, right-click on Windows PowerShell and select Run as administrator.
- Click Yes on the User Account Control warning prompt.
Using the Remove-AppxPackage Command
You will now be staring at a blue, text-based command prompt. We will use a command that searches for the specific app package and pipes it directly into the uninstall command.
- To completely remove the Xbox App, carefully type the following command exactly as it appears (or copy and paste it):
Get-AppxPackage *xboxapp* | Remove-AppxPackage- Press the Enter key.
A brief progress bar will flash across the top of the PowerShell window. The Xbox app is now completely eradicated from your system.
You can use this exact same syntax to remove other stubborn apps by replacing the word between the asterisks. For example, to remove the 3D Builder app, you would type Get-AppxPackage *3dbuilder* | Remove-AppxPackage. This method gives you ultimate control over your machine’s hard drive space.