How to remove Widgets icon from Taskbar on Windows 11

To remove the Widgets icon from the Taskbar on Windows 11, open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and turn off the “Widgets” toggle switch.

On Windows 11, the “Widgets” icon can show the weather as well as notifications for sports, finance, and breaking news. Also, as you hover over the icon, the Widgets dashboard opens, similar to the “news and internets” widget available on Windows 10.

Although this feature might be useful for some, it’s not for everyone since it adds unnecessary distractions, and you can end up accidentally opening it as you hover over it. (You can now disable this behavior). If you don’t want the weather or any other information it provides in the Taskbar, Windows 11 includes an option to remove the icon through the “Taskbar” settings page. Also, you can turn off the feature from the Registry or Local Group Policy Editor.

In this guide, I will teach you the steps to add or remove the Widgets icon from the Taskbar on Windows 11.

Warning: It’s important to note that modifying the Registry can cause serious problems if not used properly. It’s assumed you know what you’re doing and have created a full backup of your system before proceeding.

Remove Widgets icon from Taskbar on Windows 11

If you don’t find Widgets useful, you have multiple ways to remove the icon from the Taskbar using the Settings app, Registry, or Group Policy.

1. From Settings

To remove the Widgets (weather) icon from the Taskbar on Windows 11, use these steps:

Open Settings on Windows 11.
Click on Personalization.
Click the Taskbar page on the right side.
Turn off the Widgets toggle switch under the “Taskbar items” section.
(Optional) Turn on the Widgets toggle switch to enable the feature.

Once you complete the steps, the Widgets icon with the weather, sports, finance, and news information on the left side will be removed from the Taskbar.

2. From Registry

To use the Registry to remove the Widgets icon from the Taskbar, use these steps:

Open Start on Windows 11.
Search for regedit and click the top result to open the Registry.

Navigate to the following path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Right-click the TaskbarDa DWORD and select the Modify option.
Change the value from 1 to 0.
Click the OK button.

After you complete the steps, the icon will no longer be available in the Taskbar.

If you change your mind, you can undo the changes with the same instructions, but in step 5, change the DWORD value from 0 to 1.

3. From Group Policy

If the computer has Windows 11 Pro, Education, or Enterprise, you can use the Local Group Policy Editor to disable widgets in the Taskbar.

To use Group Policy to remove the Widgets icon in the Taskbar, use these steps:

Open Start.
Search for gpedit, and click the top result to open the Local Group Policy Editor.

Browse the following path:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Template> Windows components > Widgets

Double-click the “Allow widgets” policy on the right side.
Select the Disabled option.
Click the Apply button.
Click the OK button.

After you complete the steps, Widgets will no longer appear in the Windows 11 Taskbar.

You can always revert the change to re-enable User Account Control with the same instructions, but in step 5, change the setting to “Not Configured.”

Either option will remove the icon from the Taskbar, but you can still access the dashboard using the “Windows key + W” keyboard shortcut since these instructions do not disable or uninstall the Widgets feature.

Update February 14, 2024: This guide has been updated to ensure accuracy and reflect changes to the process.