How to remove Start’s Recommended section on Windows 11

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Although Microsoft has added a new setting to increase or decrease the number of items that appear in the Recommended section of the Start menu on Windows 11, you still don’t have an option to remove the feature.

However, it was just a matter of time until someone figured out a workaround to resolve this problem.  On Reddit, User “hat Windows Guy” has created a batch file that disables the “Recommend” items section in the Start menu.

It’s not perfect since it only works on the latest preview build of Windows 11 in the Dev Channel, you will need to install the Debugging Tools for Windows to run the script, and restarting the computer will restore the original settings, but it’s a start until there is a permanent fix.

In this guide, you will learn the steps to run a custom script to remove the Recommended section in the Windows 11 Start menu.

Important: Although it’s possible to modify the Start menu layout, this is not a recommended method to use. If you decide to try this out, do it at your own risk and make sure to back up your computer in case you need to roll back.

Remove Recommended section in Start on Windows 11

To completely remove the Recommended section in the Start menu on Windows 11, use these steps:

1. Open Windows SDK page.

2. Click the Download the Installer button to save the file on the computer.

   

3. Double-click the WindowsSDKSetup.exe.

4. Click the Next button.

5. Click the Next button again.

6. Click the Accept button.

7. Clear all the features.

   .Windows_Software_Technology-Big-343 { display:inline-block; width: 300px; height: 600px; } @media(min-width: 500px) { .Windows_Software_Technology-Big-343 { width: 300px; height: 600px;} }

8. Check the Debugging Tools for Windows option.

   

9. Click the Install button.

10. Click the Finish button.

11. Open Start.

12. Search for Notepad and click the top result to open the app.

13. Open Reddit.

14. Select and copy the latest version of the script from the Reddit post.

    

15. Paste the script into the text file.

    

16. Click the File menu and select the Save as option.

17. Confirm a name for the files with a .bat file extension – for example, remove-start-recommended.bat.

18. Select a folder location.

19. Click the Save button.

20. Double-click the newly created batch file.

Once you complete the steps, the Recommended section will no longer be available in the Start menu.

When using this script, restarting the computer will restore the original Start menu settings. However, you can overcome this limitation by creating a scheduled task that runs on startup to execute the script every time you sign in to your account.