How to Turn Off Xbox Game Bar in Windows 11 or 10

The Game Bar overlay appears when you press Win + G or tap the Xbox button on a controller. You can quiet it in Settings or remove it for your account. On Windows 11 the Settings route leaves Win + G working, while removal ends it. Here are both routes for Windows 11 and 10, plus the way to reinstall it after a removal.

Stop Game Bar running in the Windows 11 Settings app

Two switches matter here: the background permission and the controller button. Change both.

1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Go to System and then System Components, and find Xbox Game Bar in the list.
3. Select the three dots next to it and choose Advanced options.
4. Under Background component permissions, set the drop-down to Never.
5. Scroll down and select Terminate to end anything it is running now.
6. Back in Settings, open Gaming and then Xbox Game Bar.
7. Turn off Open Xbox Game Bar using this button on a controller.

Turn Game Bar off in Windows 10

Windows 10 puts the main switch beside the controller option, so one visit covers it.

1. Press Win + I to open Settings and select Gaming.
2. Choose Xbox Game Bar in the left pane.
3. Turn off the main switch at the top of the page (older builds label it Use Game Bar for recording game clips, screenshots, and broadcasts).
4. Clear the Open Xbox Game Bar using this button on a controller option if it is still ticked.

What changes after switching it off in Windows 10

With the switch off, Win + G and a connected controller’s Xbox button no longer open the overlay.

Remove Game Bar with PowerShell

Windows 11 does not offer an uninstall button for Game Bar in Settings or Control Panel, so removal goes through PowerShell. Press Win + R, type PowerShell, and press Enter. That opens a normal window, which removes the app for your account only.

Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay | Remove-AppxPackage

What you lose when Game Bar is removed

Once the app is gone, Win + G, the Win + Alt + R screen recording shortcut and the built-in performance monitor stop working. A later Windows update may bring some built-in parts back. If you still record clips now and then, the Settings route above is the safer choice. If Capture is greyed out instead, the greyed-out Capture fix applies.

Reinstall Game Bar through the Microsoft Store app

Removal can be undone. First make sure the Store itself works: press Win + S, type Microsoft Store, and press Enter. If it opens, continue.

1. Open the Xbox Game Bar page in the Microsoft Store.
2. Select Install and wait for it to finish.
3. Press Win + G and confirm the overlay opens.

If Game Bar will not reinstall after PowerShell removal

When the Store install fails with error 0x80073CF6, clear the Store’s cache and register the package again. Try these in order and retry the install after each one.

1. Optional: open Command Prompt and run wsreset.exe to reset the Store cache.
2. Open PowerShell as administrator and run the command shown below to register the Game Bar package again.
3. Restart the PC, then try the Store install again.
4. Or: run Get-AppxPackage | ForEach-Object { Add-AppxPackage -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode } in an administrator window. It re-registers every app package, takes two to three minutes, and prints red text you can ignore. Restart and try again.

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay* | ForEach-Object {Add-AppxPackage -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppxManifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode}