Microsoft Tells Business to Uninstall Copilot, Remap the Copilot Key

The new Copilot for Windows app doesn’t work with Entra ID accounts, so Microsoft now has some curious advice for managed organizations.

Welcome to Bizarro World.

“The Copilot key was originally intended to invoke Copilot in Windows, [but] this has shifted as we’ve evolved Microsoft Copilot experiences on Windows to better address your feedback and needs,” Microsoft’s Reanne Wong explains. “As we’ve previously shared, Copilot in Windows has been removed, and the Microsoft Copilot app is now only available to consumer users authenticating with a Microsoft account. It will not work for commercial users authenticating with a Microsoft Entra account.”

In January, Microsoft announced the Copilot key for new Windows 11 PCs. It’s appeared on most new PCs from major PC makers ever since, and pressing it has always launched the Copilot app that Microsoft bundles with Windows 11. But the Copilot experience in Windows has changed multiple times this past year. In November, Microsoft updated Windows 11 so that users could remap the Copilot key to run other apps. And then it announced a new “native” Copilot app for Windows that’s now making its way through the Insider Program. And this version of the app is only for consumers. It doesn’t work with Entra ID accounts.

A Microsoft Learn article explains why this is changing so dramatically. And, yes, it’s all about security.

“The Copilot experience on Windows is changing to enhance data security, privacy, compliance, and simplify the user experience, for users signed in with a Microsoft Entra work or school account,” it reads. “Microsoft Copilot will offer enterprise data protection at no additional cost and redirect users to a new simplified interface designed for work and education.”

That’s good, of course: Enterprise data protection (EDP) secures customer data with encryption, protects against AI security risks, and provides access controls via IT policies. But it also means that IT pros will have some work to do if they’ve rolled out PCs in which Copilot in Windows 11 is enabled.

Microsoft recommends that organizations remap the Copilot PC on new PCs to open the Microsoft 365 app because it can authenticate against Entra ID and provides access to Copilot capabilities. It also recommends pinning that app to the Windows 11 Taskbar if it was removed previously.

Furthermore, it also recommends that organizations uninstall the Copilot app that comes with Windows 11 to avoid confusion and to use AppLocker to prevent employees from reinstalling it later.

If an organization explicitly disables Copilot to begin with, they’re all set. The new Copilot app will never work, and the Copilot key, if present, will simply run Search as before.

What a mess.