Group Policy settings not taking effect in W11 after reboot or gpupdate /force

Based on my knowledge, to reliably hide Recommendations, I think you can try the following approaches:

1. Group Policy (Preferred):

• Open gpedit.msc → User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Start Menu and Taskbar → Remove Recommendations → set to Enabled.
• Run gpupdate /force in an elevated Command Prompt and sign out/sign back in.

2. Registry (Reliable if Group Policy alone doesn’t work):

• Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
• Create a DWORD (32-bit) Value named NoRecommendations and set it to 1.
• Sign out/sign in or restart.

3. Quick Script Option:

@echo off
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer" /v NoRecommendations /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
echo Recommendations section should now be hidden. Please sign out and sign back in.
pause

• Save as .bat → Run as Administrator → sign out and back in.

=> Note: Some Windows 11 builds may briefly show Recommendations even after applying these settings; a full restart usually ensures the section is removed.

=> These methods cover both the standard Group Policy approach and a more reliable Registry/script approach in case the policy doesn’t take effect immediately.

I can confirm this is also an issue on Server 2025 as of build 24H2 (OS Build 26100.6584). I tried both the GPO and registry tweaks and the recommended section is still appearing even after a reboot