How to Disable Background Apps on Windows 11 (Regedit)

Windows 11 tutorial for disabling background apps using Registry Editor registry modifications

To disable background apps on Windows 10 and 11 using the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy, create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named LetAppsRunInBackground, set its value data to 2, and restart your PC. Setting this policy to 2 denies every UWP and Microsoft Store app permission to run in the background system-wide, which frees up CPU, RAM, and battery.

Applies to: Windows 10 (22H2) and Windows 11 (23H2, 24H2, 25H2) | Last updated: May 15, 2026

How to Disable Background Apps in Windows 10 & 11 Using Registry Editor

Key Takeaways

  • The registry policy lives at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy — create the AppPrivacy key if it does not exist.
  • The DWORD value is LetAppsRunInBackground: set it to 2 to force-deny background activity for every UWP app, 1 to force-allow, or delete the value to return control to the user.
  • This is a per-machine policy under HKLM, which means it overrides the per-user toggles in Settings and applies to every account on the PC.
  • Affects UWP and Microsoft Store apps only — classic Win32 desktop applications (Chrome, Steam, Discord, etc.) are not affected. To control those, use Task Manager’s Startup tab or services.
  • Reboot required — the policy is read at user login, so the change does not take effect until you restart or sign out and back in.

Quick Steps

  1. Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
  2. Paste this path into the Registry Editor address bar: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy.
  3. If the AppPrivacy key does not exist, right-click the Windows key and choose New > Key, then name it AppPrivacy.
  4. Right-click in the empty space on the right pane and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name it LetAppsRunInBackground.
  5. Double-click the new value, set Base to Decimal, change Value data to 2, and click OK.
  6. Close the Registry Editor and restart your PC.

Prefer a one-liner? Run this from an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell and skip the manual editing:

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy" /v LetAppsRunInBackground /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f

Why Disable Background Apps in Windows?

Background apps are UWP and Microsoft Store apps that keep running after you close their window — Mail and Calendar polling for new messages, Weather refreshing forecasts, the Xbox app syncing achievements, Teams keeping its presence indicator alive, Spotify holding a websocket open. Each of them sips CPU cycles, holds RAM, and on laptops keeps the radios awake, which shortens battery life.

I spent over 10 years running a computer repair shop, and the single most common cause of “my PC feels slow” on lower-spec laptops was a stack of UWP apps running in the background. Disabling them as a group via this policy was usually the first thing I did on a tuneup, and the difference was visible immediately — quieter fans, lower idle CPU, and visibly faster wake-from-sleep.

The registry policy in this guide is more durable than the per-app Settings toggles because it sits under HKLM (per-machine, applies to every user) and Windows respects it as a Group Policy override. If you would rather get this and a long list of similar tweaks applied with a single click, Winhance bundles them into one UI — it is my free Windows optimization utility and it handles the registry edits for you.

How to Disable Background Apps via the Registry Editor

Step 1: Open the Registry Editor

Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog, type regedit, and press Enter. Click Yes when User Account Control prompts you to allow the Registry Editor to make changes.

Step 2: Navigate to the AppPrivacy Key

The fastest way to get to the right key is to paste the path directly into the Registry Editor’s address bar (the white bar at the top of the window):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy

If you land on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows and the AppPrivacy subkey is missing, you need to create it. Right-click the Windows key in the left sidebar, choose New > Key, and type AppPrivacy as the name. This is normal — the key only exists if a policy has already been written to it.

Step 3: Create the LetAppsRunInBackground DWORD

With the AppPrivacy key selected on the left, right-click anywhere in the empty white space on the right pane and choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new value exactly as shown — names are case-sensitive in some contexts and the policy only matches an exact spelling:

LetAppsRunInBackground

If the name does not match exactly, Windows ignores the value and your background apps will keep running.

Step 4: Set the Value Data to 2

Double-click the new LetAppsRunInBackground value to open its properties. Confirm that Base is set to Decimal, then change Value data from 0 to 2, and click OK.

The three values this policy accepts are:

  • 0 — the user decides per-app via Settings. This is also the effective behaviour if the value is missing.
  • 1 — force-allow all apps to run in the background. The per-app toggles in Settings are grayed out.
  • 2 — force-deny all apps from running in the background. This is the setting we want.

Step 5: Restart Your PC

The AppPrivacy policy is read by Windows at user logon, so the change does not take effect until you sign out and back in or restart. After the reboot, open Settings > Privacy & security > Background apps (Windows 10) or Settings > Apps > Installed apps > pick an app > Advanced options > Background apps permissions (Windows 11) and confirm the toggles are grayed out — that is your visual confirmation the policy is active.

The Faster Way: A Single Reg Add Command

If you prefer not to navigate the Registry Editor manually, the same change can be made with one command from an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell. Right-click the Start button, choose Terminal (Admin) or Windows PowerShell (Admin), and run:

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy" /v LetAppsRunInBackground /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f

This creates the AppPrivacy key if it does not exist, then writes the LetAppsRunInBackground DWORD with value 2. The /f flag forces an overwrite without a confirmation prompt. Restart afterwards for the policy to take effect.

How to Re-Enable Background Apps

If you change your mind, either delete the LetAppsRunInBackground value (right-click it in the Registry Editor and choose Delete) or change its data back to 0. The one-liner equivalent from an admin terminal is:

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy" /v LetAppsRunInBackground /f

Restart afterwards. Background apps will once again be controllable per-app through Settings.

Common Issues

The AppPrivacy key does not exist

This is normal on a clean Windows install. The AppPrivacy subkey only appears after a policy has written to it — Group Policy, an MDM profile, or a registry tweak like the one in this guide. Right-click the Windows parent key, choose New > Key, and name it AppPrivacy. Then proceed with Step 3.

An app I actually want is broken after applying this

Setting LetAppsRunInBackground to 2 is a hammer — it denies every UWP app, including ones that legitimately need background access. Mail will not poll for new messages, Calendar will not surface meeting reminders, Phone Link will not sync with your phone, and Cortana-style notifications will not fire. If you need one or two of those, delete the policy and use the per-app toggles in Settings > Apps > Installed apps instead.

The setting reverts after a Windows update

This is rare but not unheard of — feature updates occasionally reset policy keys. If it happens after a major Windows 11 cumulative or feature update, simply re-run the reg add one-liner above. If you find you are doing it often, see my guide on controlling Windows updates via the registry.

I do not want to edit the registry myself

Fair enough — registry editing can feel intimidating. I built Winhance precisely for this kind of situation. It exposes hundreds of registry-level tweaks (including this one) behind toggle switches, so you can apply them with one click and revert them just as easily.

Related Registry Tweaks for Optimizing Windows

If you found this guide useful, these other Registry Editor tweaks pair well with disabling background apps for a leaner Windows install:

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly are background apps in Windows?

Background apps are UWP and Microsoft Store apps that continue running after you close their window so they can receive notifications, poll for new data, or update tiles. Mail, Calendar, Weather, the Xbox app, Phone Link, and the Microsoft Store itself are all examples. Classic Win32 desktop applications like Chrome or Steam are not affected by this policy — they are managed through their own autostart entries.

Will this break Windows itself?

No. Core Windows services and the shell run outside the UWP background-apps framework and are unaffected. What you will lose is the ability for UWP/Store apps to do anything while closed — no push notifications from Mail, no Calendar reminders, no live tile updates. If any of those matter to you, leave the per-app toggles in Settings on instead of using this policy.

Does this work on both Windows 10 and Windows 11?

Yes. The HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppPrivacy\LetAppsRunInBackground policy works on Windows 10 22H2 and on every shipping Windows 11 build (23H2, 24H2, 25H2). It is a Group Policy-backed setting and is documented in the official Group Policy reference.

How much performance improvement will I actually see?

The improvement scales with how stripped-down or stocked-up your Windows install is. On a clean install with no extra UWP apps, the difference is small. On a typical laptop with a stock OEM image — which often ships with 15-30 UWP apps installed — you can recover several hundred megabytes of RAM and noticeably extend battery life. The biggest wins are on lower-end hardware with 4-8 GB of RAM.

Is it safe to edit the Windows Registry?

Yes, as long as you follow the path and value name exactly and only touch what the guide specifies. The change here is fully reversible — delete the value or set it to 0 and you are back where you started. If you are nervous, export the AppPrivacy key first (right-click the key, choose Export, save the .reg file) before making changes so you can double-click the export to restore it instantly.

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