Windows 11 displays a weather widget at the bottom left of the taskbar. When connected to the internet, it displays real-time weather conditions in your area. If there is no internet connection, it will display the default Windows widget icon. If you think the weather widget is cluttering up your taskbar, you can turn it off from the taskbar settings. You can also use group policy editor and registry editor to disable weather widget option in Windows 11. In this guide, we are going to tell you how to remove weather widget from Windows 11 taskbar .
Disable Weather Widget in Windows Settings
An easy way to hide the weather widget is to disable the widget item in the taskbar settings. As you might have guessed, this will completely remove widget functionality, so you won’t be able to use other widgets as well.
To disable the weather widget in Windows Settings:
- To push on Win + I to open the panel Settings.
- Then open the tab Personalization in the left pane.
- In the right pane, scroll down and click Pub tasks.
- Under taskbar items, toggle the button switch for widgets for the disable.
That’s it. The widget item will now disappear from your taskbar and will also remove the weather widget.
Alternatively, you can also quickly enable or disable the widget app from the taskbar. To do this, right-click on the taskbar and select Settings from the taskbar. This will open the tab Personalization in Windows Settings. From where you can enable or disable taskbar items.
How to remove weather widget using registry editor
If you want to prevent others from enabling the weather widget on your PC, you can edit the Windows Registry to permanently disable it. This will gray out the Widget option in Windows Settings, preventing others from turning it on or off.
Note that modifying registry entries is risky. make sure you create a restore point before proceeding with the steps below.
To remove the weather widget using Registry Editor:
- To push on Win+R to open Run.
- Type regedit and click on okay to open Registry Editor.
- In Registry Editor, navigate to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoft
- Right click on the Microsoft key and select New > Key. Rename key to dsh.
- Select new key dsh. Right click on it and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Rename the new value to AllowNewsAndInterests.
- Right-click on the value AllowNewsAndInterests and select To modify.
- Enter 0 in the field Value data and click okay to save changes.
Close Registry Editor and restart your PC. After restarting, the weather widget will no longer appear. Also, if you go to Settings>Personalization>Taskbar, you will find that the Widget option is grayed out.
To restore the Widget option, open Registry Editor and delete the key dsh located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoft.
Conclusion
The Windows 11 weather widget is a convenient way to display weather information for your area. Hover your mouse over the weather widget and it will expand to show other widgets.
That said, if you prefer a minimal look for your taskbar, you can easily disable the feature using the taskbar settings, group policy editor, and registry editor.
If you have any questions or suggestions, let us know in the comments. Also consult this guide if you want to learn how to change taskbar color.
