14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is working at full speed on getting the Windows 10 Creators Update ready for the public launch, but according to a new discussion on reddit, the company might have made a change that many users didn’t actually expect.
A post that went live this morning reveals that the uninstall option is no longer available for some apps that come pre-loaded with Windows 10 even though the same option was there before the latest Creators Update builds.
User jantari reveals that he can no longer uninstall many of the pre-loaded Microsoft apps with a right-click in the Start menu because the “Uninstall” option is no longer there, while in the Apps & Features section of the Settings app, the same “Uninstall” button is grayed out and cannot be clicked.
Other users who responded to this thread confirm that the uninstall option is gone and many of the apps that are part of build 15014 can no longer be removed.
We’ve compared options that exist in build 15014 with the ones in the stable version of Windows 10 Anniversary Update (14393.693), but the uninstall feature is available for the same apps on both versions. We’ve contacted Microsoft to ask for more information and determine whether a change has indeed been implemented, and we’ll let you know when an answer is provided.
Removing apps with PowerShell in Windows 10
In the meantime, there’s no need to panic because even if the uninstall option is missing, you can still turn to PowerShell to remove apps that come with Windows 10.
To do this, simply launch PowerShell with admin privileges (right-click the Start button and click PowerShell Admin) and run the following command:
Get-AppxPackage
This command lets you see the installed apps on your Windows 10 device, and in order to remove one of them, use the following command along with the package name:
Get-AppxPackage *InsertPackageNameHere* | Remove-AppxPackage
The Creators Update is due in April, so we should learn more about Microsoft’s options for removing pre-loaded apps in Windows 10 by then.