How to Completely Disable ‘Recall’ via Group Policy in Windows 11

Recall is an AI-powered feature introduced in Windows 11 (specifically for Copilot+ PCs) that takes constant snapshots of your screen to create a searchable, photographic memory of everything you have viewed or done on your device. While Microsoft highlights its utility for finding past activities, the privacy implications of continuously recording screen states—including potentially sensitive financial data, private communications, or proprietary enterprise information—are massive. For security-conscious users and strict enterprise environments, completely disabling this feature at the policy level is an absolute necessity.

This guide explains how to completely disable the Windows Recall feature via Group Policy in Windows 11, ensuring no snapshots are taken or stored.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure you have:

• Administrative access to the Windows 11 machine.
• Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, or Education edition (the Group Policy Editor is not available in the Home edition).

How to Disable ‘Recall’ via Group Policy

Follow these steps to lock down and disable the Recall feature across the operating system:

1. Press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter to open the Local Group Policy Editor.
3. In the left pane, navigate to the following path:
   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI
4. Locate the policy named Turn off Saving Snapshots for Windows (or simply “Turn off Recall” depending on the exact Windows 11 build).
5. Double-click the policy to edit it.
6. Select the Enabled radio button (enabling this policy turns off the snapshot saving functionality).
7. Click Apply and OK to save the changes.
8. Open an elevated Command Prompt and execute gpupdate /force to apply the policies immediately.

Verifying the Changes

To verify that Recall is disabled, navigate to Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots. The toggle for saving snapshots should be grayed out, turned off, and accompanied by a message stating that the setting is managed by your organization. Furthermore, any previously saved snapshots should be inaccessible, and no new screen state data will be captured.