Win11Debloat User Guide

Win11Debloat is a lightweight PowerShell script that declutters and customizes Windows 11 (and Windows 10). It removes pre-installed bloatware apps, disables telemetry and advertising, strips intrusive interface elements, and applies dozens of quality-of-life tweaks — all from a single graphical window or command-line session, without you having to dig through Settings or uninstall apps one at a time.

This guide shows you how to install and run the tool, walks through every option in the interface, documents every command-line parameter and tweak, and explains how to revert any change you make.

Note

Win11Debloat works by applying Windows registry changes (shipped as .reg files), removing app packages, and toggling optional Windows features. It does not install anything in the background, phone home, or require an internet connection beyond the initial download.

1. Quick Start

The fastest way to run Win11Debloat is to launch it directly from PowerShell.

1. Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal — preferably as an Administrator.
2. Paste this command and press Enter:

& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://debloat.raphi.re/")))

3. Wait a few seconds while the script downloads.
4. Accept the Administrator (UAC) prompt if asked.
5. Read the on-screen options and follow along.

             Win11Debloat is launching...
               Leave this window open

That's it. The graphical window opens (or the text menu, if your system can't display the window), and nothing is changed until you explicitly apply your selection.

Tip

If you are not running as Administrator, the script detects this and offers to relaunch itself elevated: Restart as Administrator? (y/n). Answer y to continue.

Important

Win11Debloat must run as Administrator. Without elevation it cannot modify the registry, remove provisioned apps, or apply changes for other users, and it will exit after printing Win11Debloat must be run as Administrator.

2. Requirements

Note

Win11Debloat checks for these prerequisites at startup. If WinGet is missing or outdated you'll see a warning (WinGet is not installed or outdated, this may prevent Win11Debloat from removing certain apps) and a prompt to continue anyway.

3. Installation & Launch

There are three ways to start the tool. All of them open the same interface.

Quick method (recommended)

Download and run automatically via PowerShell. This always fetches the latest version.

1. Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal, preferably as an Administrator.

2. Run:

   & ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://debloat.raphi.re/")))
   

3. Follow the on-screen instructions.

This method accepts command-line parameters — see Section 9.

Traditional method

Manually download and double-click to run.

1. Download the latest release and extract the .ZIP to a folder of your choice.
2. Open the Win11Debloat folder.
3. Double-click Run.bat.
4. Accept the Windows UAC prompt.

Run.bat launches the script in Windows Terminal if it is installed, otherwise in classic PowerShell, and always requests elevation for you.

Warning

If the console window opens and immediately closes with nothing happening, use the Advanced method below instead.

Advanced method

Manually download, then run the script directly. Recommended for power users.

1. Download the latest release and extract the .ZIP.

2. Open PowerShell or Windows Terminal as an Administrator.

3. Temporarily allow script execution for this session only:

   Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process -Force
   

4. Change to the folder you extracted to:

   cd C:\Win11Debloat
   

5. Run the script:

   .\Win11Debloat.ps1
   

This method also accepts command-line parameters — see Section 9.

Caution

Do not run Win11Debloat from inside the Windows Terminal app if you intend to remove Windows Terminal. Doing so closes the window that the script is running in and aborts it mid-process. Run it from classic PowerShell in that case.

4. How a Run Works

Whichever way you launch it, a Win11Debloat run follows the same safe sequence:

1. You choose what to remove and which tweaks to apply (via the window or the text menu).
2. You review a summary of pending changes. Nothing has changed yet.
3. You confirm (click Apply in the GUI, or press Enter in the CLI).
4. Win11Debloat creates a registry backup of every value it is about to touch (saved to a Backups folder next to the script).
5. If you asked for it, a System Restore point is created.
6. Each selected change is applied, with live progress.
7. File Explorer is restarted so the changes take effect immediately (you may see your screen flicker).

Important

Changes are only made after you confirm. Up to that point you can close the window or press CTRL+C to quit without modifying anything.

Tip

Every registry tweak ships with a matching "undo" file, and Win11Debloat saves a backup of the prior state before applying. See Section 11 — Reverting Changes to roll anything back.

5. Using the Graphical Interface

When you launch Win11Debloat normally (no parameters), it opens a window titled Win11Debloat with four tabs and a menu in the title bar.

┌─ Win11Debloat ─────────────────────────────── [Menu] ─ _ □ X ─┐
│  [ Home ] [ App Removal ] [ Tweaks ] [ Deployment Settings ]   │
│                                                                │
│   ...tab content...                                            │
│                                              [ Apply changes ] │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

5.1 The tabs

5.2 The title-bar menu

5.3 App recommendation dots

In the App Removal tab, each app carries a recommendation that tells you how safe it is to remove:

Warning

Removing a 🔴 unsafe app can have side effects. For example, removing Xbox Identity Provider can prevent signing into a Microsoft or Xbox account, and removing Microsoft Store makes it very hard to reinstall other apps later. Read the description before checking these.

Note

If the WPF window cannot load (for example on Windows Server core or a restricted environment), Win11Debloat automatically falls back to the command-line menu described next: Unable to load WPF GUI (not supported in this environment), falling back to CLI mode.

6. Using the Command-Line Menu

When you run with a deployment parameter, or when the graphical window can't load, Win11Debloat presents a text menu:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Win11Debloat Script - Menu (User: YourName)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Default mode: Quickly apply the recommended changes
(2) App removal mode: Select & remove apps, without making other changes
(3) Quickly apply your last used settings

6.1 Default mode app choices

After choosing Default mode you're asked which apps to remove:

Options:
 (n) Don't remove any apps
 (1) Only remove the default selection of apps
 (2) Manually select which apps to remove
Do you want to remove any apps? Apps will be removed for all users (n/1/2)

• n — apply tweaks only, keep all apps.
• 1 — remove the curated default app list (includes Teams, Spotify, Sticky Notes, OEM bloat, and more).
• 2 — open the app picker to choose exactly what gets removed.

6.2 Reviewing pending changes

Before anything is applied, Win11Debloat prints the full list and waits for you:

Win11Debloat will make the following changes:
- Create a system restore point
- Remove 23 apps:
  ...
- Disable telemetry, tracking & targeted ads
- Disable tips, tricks & suggested content throughout Windows
...

Press enter to execute the script or press CTRL+C to quit...

Tip

Pressing CTRL+C at this prompt exits without changing anything. This is your last chance to back out.

7. Choosing Which Apps to Remove

Win11Debloat ships with a curated catalog of removable apps in its Config/Apps.json file. You select from this catalog in the App Removal tab/picker, or target it from the command line.

7.1 The default selection

When you choose "default" app removal, the apps marked as default in the catalog are removed. This includes Microsoft first-party bloat, sponsored third-party apps, OEM tools, and games. Notable defaults include:

• Microsoft / Bing: Clipchamp, Cortana, all Bing apps (News, Weather, Finance, etc.), Copilot, Microsoft Teams (old & new), Office Hub, Power Automate, Solitaire Collection, Sticky Notes, Mixed Reality Portal, 3D Builder/Viewer, Sway, To Do, Get Started, Feedback Hub, Maps, Sound Recorder, Movies & TV, Family Safety, Quick Assist, PC Manager.
• Third-party / sponsored: Spotify, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X), LinkedIn, Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Disney, Candy Crush (all), Spotify, Adobe Photoshop Express, Amazon, Disney Magic Kingdoms, and many casual games.

7.2 Apps NOT removed by default

These are kept unless you explicitly select them, because many people use them:

Calculator, Camera, Notepad, Paint, Photos, Snipping Tool, Media Player, Phone Link, Remote Desktop, Whiteboard, Outlook for Windows, OneDrive, Mail & Calendar, People, Bing Search, Xbox Gaming App, the Xbox overlays, OEM apps from HP/Dell/Lenovo, and others. (See the full recommendation in the App Removal tab.)

7.3 App removal presets

The catalog defines convenience presets you can apply with one click in the App Removal tab:

7.4 Built-in app-removal shortcuts

These are exposed both as command-line switches and (where relevant) buttons. Each removes a fixed group of apps:

Note

OneDrive and Microsoft Edge are special: they are removed using WinGet (not as normal app packages). If WinGet can't remove Edge, Win11Debloat offers a forceful uninstall as a last resort — see the Edge FAQ.

8. Tweaks Reference

Every tweak below can be toggled in the Tweaks tab or applied directly with the matching command-line switch (Section 9). Tweaks are grouped exactly as they appear in the interface. Tweaks that require a specific Windows version only appear when your build supports them.

8.1 Privacy & Suggested Content

8.2 AI

8.3 Start Menu & Search

8.4 Taskbar

8.5 System

8.6 File Explorer

Note

Hide3dObjects, HideMusic, and the HideIncludeInLibrary/HideGiveAccessTo/HideShare context-menu tweaks apply to Windows 10 (build ≤ 21999) only.

8.7 Appearance, Multi-tasking, Updates, Optional Features & Other

9. Running From the Command Line

Every interface option maps to a command-line parameter, so you can run Win11Debloat fully unattended — ideal for repeat installs or scripting. Pass parameters after the script name (Advanced method) or after the download one-liner (Quick method).

# Advanced method
.\Win11Debloat.ps1 -RunDefaults -Silent

# Quick method (parameters go after the closing parenthesis)
& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://debloat.raphi.re/"))) -RunDefaults -Silent

9.1 Mode & control parameters

9.2 App-removal parameters

9.3 Tweak parameters

Every tweak in Section 8 is also a switch. For example:

.\Win11Debloat.ps1 -DisableTelemetry -DisableBing -EnableDarkMode -ShowKnownFileExt -TaskbarAlignLeft -Silent

Two tweaks take a value:

Tip

If you pass -RemoveApps without -Apps, the curated default list is used automatically.

Note

Tweaks that don't apply to your Windows build are silently skipped. For example, -DisableCopilot is ignored on builds older than 22621.

10. Automation & Repeatable Configs

For setting up many machines the same way, export your choices once and re-apply them anywhere.

10.1 Export and import a config (GUI)

1. Make all your selections across the tabs.
2. Open the title-bar menu → Export config → save a .json file.
3. On another machine, open the menu → Import config → choose the file. All selections are restored.

10.2 Apply a config from the command line

.\Win11Debloat.ps1 -Config "C:\Setup\my-debloat.json" -Silent

A config file (version 1.0) has up to three sections:

{
  "Apps":   ["Microsoft.BingNews", "Microsoft.ZuneVideo", "Clipchamp.Clipchamp"],
  "Tweaks": [
    { "Name": "DisableTelemetry", "Value": true },
    { "Name": "EnableDarkMode",   "Value": true }
  ],
  "Deployment": [
    { "Name": "CreateRestorePoint",   "Value": true },
    { "Name": "RestartExplorer",      "Value": true },
    { "Name": "AppRemovalScopeIndex", "Value": 0 }
  ]
}

• Apps — app IDs to remove.
• Tweaks — tweak switches to enable (only true values are applied; build-incompatible tweaks are skipped).
• Deployment — run options: restore point, whether to restart Explorer, who changes apply to, and app-removal scope.

Tip

The easiest way to build a config file is to design it in the GUI and use Export config — you don't have to write the JSON by hand.

10.3 Quick presets without a config file

# Recommended tweaks + default app removal, no prompts
.\Win11Debloat.ps1 -RunDefaults -Silent

# Recommended tweaks only, keep all apps
.\Win11Debloat.ps1 -RunDefaultsLite -Silent

# Re-run exactly what you did last time
.\Win11Debloat.ps1 -RunSavedSettings -Silent

11. Applying Changes to Other Users (Advanced)

Win11Debloat can apply changes beyond the account you're signed into.

Important

The target user for -User must be signed out. If they are logged in, Win11Debloat refuses: User '<name>' is currently logged in. Please sign out that user first. You also can't target your own account this way — use the Current User option instead.

Note

In -User and -Sysprep modes, Explorer is not restarted automatically. Reboot to apply all changes. OneDrive/Edge removal is deferred via a scheduled task that runs for the target user.

Warning

-Sysprep mode is not supported on Windows 10 and will exit with an error on those builds.

12. Reverting Changes

Almost everything Win11Debloat does can be undone.

12.1 Restore a registry backup (recommended)

Before applying registry tweaks, Win11Debloat saves a JSON snapshot of the exact values it's about to change into a Backups folder next to the script (named Win11Debloat-RegistryBackup-<timestamp>.json).

• In the GUI: title-bar menu → Restore backup → pick a backup → confirm.

This restores the registry to its state from before that run.

12.2 Use a System Restore point

If you enabled Create a system restore point (or passed -CreateRestorePoint), you can roll the whole system back via Windows' System Restore.

Note

Windows only allows one automatic restore point per 24 hours. If a recent restore point already exists, Win11Debloat reports A recent restore point already exists, no new restore point was created and does not create another. This is expected Windows behavior, not an error.

12.3 Reinstall removed apps

Almost all removed apps can be reinstalled from the Microsoft Store. Tweaks can be reverted individually by re-running Win11Debloat and selecting the opposite option (for example, choosing a light theme, or re-showing the search box) — each tweak ships with a matching undo.

Tip

A full guide to reverting specific changes is maintained on the project wiki.

13. Troubleshooting

Format: the error or symptom, its cause, and what to do. These are drawn from real reported issues.

Symptom: Win11Debloat must be run as Administrator.

Cause: The script was started without elevation. Solution: Answer y to the Restart as Administrator? prompt, or relaunch PowerShell as Administrator. Run.bat requests elevation automatically.

Error: powershell execution is restricted by security policies

Cause: PowerShell is running in Constrained Language Mode (locked down by policy or AppLocker/WDAC). Solution: Run on a system without that restriction, or have an administrator relax the policy. Win11Debloat cannot run in this mode.

Error: Failed importing registry file '<name>.reg'. Exit code: 1 (or 并未将所有数据都成功写入到注册表中)

Cause: A registry key was locked by Windows or another process, or your account lacked permission for one value. (The message is the localized "not all data was written to the registry" error.) Solution: Win11Debloat automatically retries with a built-in fallback writer, so most of these self-recover. If a change didn't stick, reboot and re-run that single tweak. Check Logs\Win11Debloat.log for which key failed.

Issue #600: Removing Windows Terminal crashes the script mid-run

Cause: You launched Win11Debloat inside Windows Terminal and then removed Windows Terminal — which closed the window the script was running in. Solution: Run the script from classic PowerShell (not Windows Terminal) if you intend to remove Windows Terminal. Win11Debloat warns about this before removing it.

Issue #537: Can't sign into a Microsoft or Xbox account after running

Cause: A required Xbox framework app (such as Xbox Identity Provider, marked unsafe) was removed. Solution: Reinstall the missing Xbox apps from the Microsoft Store. Avoid removing apps with a 🔴 unsafe recommendation unless you're sure.

Issue #535: Unable to load list of installed apps via WinGet

Cause: WinGet is missing, outdated, or timed out listing apps. Solution: Update App Installer from the Microsoft Store (this provides WinGet), then re-run. App removal still works without WinGet for everything except OneDrive and Edge.

Issue #584 / #576: Restore point creation failed / "Lost my restore points"

Cause: System Restore was disabled, or Windows throttled restore-point creation (max one per 24 h). Solution: Win11Debloat offers to enable System Restore and asks whether to continue without a restore point. To force a fresh one, create older points manually first or wait 24 hours. This does not delete existing restore points.

Issue #579: Cannot convert value "-2147483647" to type "System.UInt32"

Cause: An edge case parsing a registry value during a tweak. Solution: This has been addressed in current releases — make sure you're running the latest version via the Quick method. Report it if it recurs.

Symptom: Console window opens then immediately closes (Run.bat)

Cause: An environment issue prevented the script from launching in the chosen terminal. Solution: Use the Advanced method (Section 3) to run Win11Debloat.ps1 directly and see the actual error.

Symptom: A tweak you selected didn't seem to apply

Cause: Some tweaks only take effect after a reboot, and some require a specific Windows build. Solution: Reboot. Tweaks marked "requires reboot" (e.g. disabling animations, mouse acceleration) need it. Build-gated tweaks are skipped on unsupported versions.

14. FAQ

Q: Is Win11Debloat safe? Will it break Windows? Great care is taken to avoid breaking OS functionality, and changes are reversible via the automatic registry backup and System Restore. That said, use it at your own risk, and read the warnings on unsafe apps.

Q: Do I need to be online? Only for the initial download with the Quick method. Once the files are on disk (Traditional/Advanced method), the script runs fully offline.

Q: Can I undo everything later? Yes — use Restore backup in the menu, a System Restore point, or re-run and pick the opposite tweak. Removed apps reinstall from the Microsoft Store.

Q: Why does my screen flicker at the end? Win11Debloat restarts File Explorer so changes take effect immediately. This is normal. Use -NoRestartExplorer to skip it and reboot instead.

Q: How do I remove Microsoft Edge? Select Edge in the App Removal tab (it's marked unsafe). It's removed via WinGet. If WinGet can't remove it, you'll be offered a forceful uninstall (-ForceRemoveEdge) — this is not recommended because it can affect Windows Sandbox and other apps that rely on Edge.

Q: Can I set up several PCs identically? Yes. Export a config in the GUI, then run -Config <file> -Silent on each machine, or use -Sysprep so every new user gets the changes.

Q: What's the difference between Default mode and Default Lite? Default mode applies the recommended tweaks and removes the default app selection. Default Lite applies the tweaks but leaves all apps installed.

Q: It says WinGet isn't installed — should I continue? You can. Everything works except removing OneDrive and Edge. Install App Installer from the Microsoft Store to enable those.

Q: Where are the logs? In the Logs folder next to the script (Win11Debloat.log), also reachable from the title-bar menu → Logs.

Q: Does removing an app delete my files? No. Removing an app uninstalls the program, not your documents, photos, or other personal files.