How to Remove the Xbox Game Bar with Powershell on Windows 10

remove-gamebar-powershell-win10.md

You've probably stumbled upon this researching how to remove the Xbox Game Bar. This gist includes a few different methods you can try. Please note that some of these first options are probably not be available unless you are running an older version of Windows 10.

Uninstalling/Removing the Game Bar (old Windows 10 build GUI options)

(this is no longer an option on any recent Windows 10 build)

1. Press Windows Key or click on the Start menu.
2. Start typing Xbox or Game Bar, until you get the Xbox Game Bar app to appear in the results.
3. Right-click on the app and pick Uninstall. Answer Yes to the prompt, and wait for the process to finish.

Windows Build 19H1 (uninstall moved into Settings)

You might not have an Uninstall option in the right-click context menu. Try drilling into Settings and looking there.

1. Press Windows Key or click on the Start menu.
2. Start typing Xbox or Game Bar, until you get the Xbox Game Bar app.
3. Right click on Xbox Game Bar and click Settings
4. Scroll down and click Uninstall. Wait for the process to finish.

Windows Build 19H1/19H2 (uninstall button is now grayed out)

On my machine running Windows Build 10.0.18362 the uninstall button is grayed out. The button I'm referring to is here: Xbox Game Bar > Right Click > App Settings > Uninstall.

Game Bar Settings

Depending on why you're trying to remove the Game bar, you might also try changing the Game bar settings.

Go to Search > "game bar settings".

1. For the option that says Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcasting using Game Bar move the slider to the Off position. This should stop the default Win+G shortcut from opening the Game bar.

2. If you need Win+G for a different application (I ran into this), you should be able to change the shortcut, and you're done! Go to Search > "game bar settings" > Game bar > Keyboard shortcuts. I verified this on my Surface Pro 1903/19H1/18362.

Removing Microsoft.Xbox* AppXPackage using PowerShell and DISM (short version)

Can't find a way to uninstall the Game Bar using the GUI? The DISM tool and PowerShell might do the trick.

DISM is a Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool. You can use DISM from an elevated (admin) PowerShell prompt.

1. Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator (Windows Key > Start typing "PowerShell" > CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER)

2. First run dism /Online /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages | Select-String PackageName | Select-String xbox to see what xbox packages are actually on your system.

 dism /Online /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages | Select-String PackageName | Select-String xbox

You can try to run the following command which will get the AppXPackages matching on xbox and attempt to remove them. There are several commands stringed together (thanks @bashenk for your help on this).

You can try this through DISM, or PowerShell. Either one should do the trick, pick one.

3a. DISM version:

dism /Online /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages | `
Select-String PackageName | `
Select-String xbox | `
ForEach-Object {$_.Line.Split(':')[1].Trim()} | `
ForEach-Object { dism /Online /Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage /PackageName:$_}

3b. PowerShell cmdlet version:

Get-ProvisionedAppxPackage -Online | `
Where-Object { $_.PackageName -match "xbox" } | `
ForEach-Object { Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage -Online -PackageName $_.PackageName }

If you want to remove packages for other users, you will need to pass in the -allusers parameter like so:

Get-ProvisionedAppxPackage -Online | `
Where-Object { $_.PackageName -match "xbox" } | `
ForEach-Object { Remove-ProvisionedAppxPackage -Online -AllUsers -PackageName $_.PackageName }

4. Verify

Ok - let's see if the xbox packages are still there. Search for the xbox packages again. If there are no results, the respective appxpackages were removed.

dism /Online /Get-ProvisionedAppxPackages | Select-String PackageName | Select-String xbox

You may need to reboot after.

Struggling removing certain Xbox packages like the XboxGamingOverlay?

@Svenster64 commented that they had issues on build 1909 removing the XboxGamingOverlay. Here is the PowerShell command that helped them:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay | Remove-AppxPackage

Removing Microsoft.Xbox* AppXPackage using PowerShell and DISM (long and manual version)

This section expands on the short versions. It goes through separate commands instead of stringing commands together. Read this if you're interested in what all the commands do.

Step 1. Remove AppxPackages from current user.

Open PowerShell as your current user (not as an administrator).

Identify user by running $env:Username:

PS C:\Users\josh> $env:Username
josh

Get list of xbox AppxPackages using Get-AppxPackage:

PS C:\Users\josh>  Get-AppxPackage | select-string xbox

Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI_1.24.10001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.18362.449.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_3.34.15002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

Step 2. Build your remove script using package names discovered in Step 1.

Which might look something like this:

Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI_1.24.10001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.18362.449.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_3.34.15002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

Run:

PS C:\Users\josh> Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI_1.24.10001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
PS C:\Users\josh> Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
PS C:\Users\josh> Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.18362.449.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Remove-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CFA, Removal failed. Please contact your software vendor.
(Exception from HRESULT: 0x80073CFA)
error 0x80070032: AppX Deployment Remove operation on package
Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.18362.449.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy from:
C:\WINDOWS\SystemApps\Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_cw5n1h2txyewy failed. This app is part of Windows and cannot be
uninstalled on a per-user basis. An administrator can attempt to remove the app from the computer using Turn Windows
Features on or off. However, it may not be possible to uninstall the app.
NOTE: For additional information, look for [ActivityId] 1e9e759c-9d2e-0000-74d3-a31e2e9dd501 in the Event Log or use
the command line Get-AppPackageLog -ActivityID 1e9e759c-9d2e-0000-74d3-a31e2e9dd501
At line:1 char:1
+ Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.18362.449.0_neut ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (Microsoft.XboxG...l_cw5n1h2txyewy:String) [Remove-AppxPackage], IOException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DeploymentError,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.RemoveAppxPackageCommand

PS C:\Users\josh> Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
PS C:\Users\josh> Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_3.34.15002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
PS C:\Users\josh> Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

You may notice one or more attempts to remove a package failed. We can clean that up using PowerShell as an administrator.

If your administrator account is a different account, you may need to use the -AllUsers parameter with certain commands.

Step 3. Check AppxPackage list again

PS C:\Users\josh> Get-AppxPackage | select-string xbox

Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.18362.449.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy

Step 4. Launch PowerShell as an administrator

Now that we have an elevated command prompt. Let's look at the AppxPackage list again. We may see a few more:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-AppxPackage | Select-String xbox

Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.15063.0.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

Note: if you want to remove for multiple users, you need to run with the -AllUsers parameter: Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers.

Let's remove them:

Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.15063.0.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

Results:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.15063.0.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy
Remove-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073D19, An error occurred because a user was logged off.
error 0x80070032: AppX Deployment Remove operation on package
Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.15063.0.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy from:
C:\Windows\SystemApps\Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_cw5n1h2txyewy failed. This app is part of Windows and cannot be
uninstalled on a per-user basis. An administrator can attempt to remove the app from the computer using Turn Windows
Features on or off. However, it may not be possible to uninstall the app.
NOTE: For additional information, look for [ActivityId] 1e9e759c-9d2e-0001-5455-a21e2e9dd501 in the Event Log or use
the command line Get-AppPackageLog -ActivityID 1e9e759c-9d2e-0001-5455-a21e2e9dd501
At line:1 char:1
+ Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.15063.0.0_neutra ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (Microsoft.XboxG...l_cw5n1h2txyewy:String) [Remove-AppxPackage], Exception
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DeploymentError,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.RemoveAppxPackageCommand

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

We see one failed. Let's try to use DISM to remove them.

Step 5: Get a list of DISM packages that match on xbox

Search provisioned packages, you might see more packages than what you found via the Remove-AppxPackage cmdlet.

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism /online /get-provisionedappxpackages | select-string packagename | select-string xbox | ForEach-Object {$_.Line.Split(':')[1]}
 Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
 Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_3.34.15002.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
 Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
 Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Step 6: Remove the DISM packages that match on xbox

Build your script based on output found in step 5.

dism /online /remove-provisionedappxpackage /packagename:Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
dism /online /remove-provisionedappxpackage /packagename:Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_3.34.15002.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
dism /online /remove-provisionedappxpackage /packagename:Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe
dism /online /remove-provisionedappxpackage /packagename:Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Example Result:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism /online /remove-provisionedappxpackage /packagename:Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_1.47.14001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.476

The operation completed successfully.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism /online /remove-provisionedappxpackage /packagename:Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_3.34.15002.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.476

The operation completed successfully.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism /online /remove-provisionedappxpackage /packagename:Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider_12.58.1001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.476

The operation completed successfully.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> dism /online /remove-provisionedappxpackage /packagename:Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay_1.21.13002.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1

Image Version: 10.0.18362.476

The operation completed successfully.

Step 7. Verify

Run DISM as an administrator:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>  dism /online /get-provisionedappxpackages | select-string packagename | select-string xbox
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>

Run AppXPackage as a normal user:

PS C:\Users\josh> Get-AppxPackage | select-string xbox

Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.18362.449.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy

Run AppXPackage as an elevated user:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-AppxPackage | Select-String xbox

Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.15063.0.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy

In this example, I had difficulty removing the XboxGameCallableUI package.

Appendix

Did something different to remove the Game bar? Please comment and let us know (except via apps like CCleaner).

I'll try to keep this gist updated to help other folks stumbling onto this gist.

Cheers!

Thanks for the example @haikalshiddiq this worked perfectly on Windows 10 21H1

Reading LOTS of guides/tips about removing Appx/UWP/Xbox etc., I've finally got and understood the proper method, tried on different Windows versions and they all worked perfectly. Think I'd share here:

1. System App and essential framework, runtime components.

a) There is an Appx type that shouldn't be removed - System App. You can find some "hackable" method to remove System Apps, and I won't mention them here as we're focusing on the supported and proper method of removing normal Appx packages. A System App usually has some properties such as:

• installed in Windows\SystemApps,
• package name ends with/PublisherID is "cw5n1h2txyewy" (instead of "8wekyb3d8bbwe" for normal apps)
• has properties 'SignatureKind' set as 'System' (since v1709), 'NonRemovable' set as 'True' (since v1809) (from command Get-AppxPackage)

Now you have the idea why the package Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.18362.449.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy got the error and shouldn't be removed.

b) ".NET Framework", "VCLibs" etc. are essential framework, runtime components. As they're dependencies for many other apps, you can't remove them first and they shouldn't be removed. However, as they're still removable, so if you want to experiment, you can remove other apps first and you will eventually be able to remove these components.

2. Bundle

By defaults, the command Get-AppxPackage will only retrieve/list packages of Main and Framework types. But the type you should really notice is Bundle. Compare the two commands:

PS C:\Windows\system32> get-appxpackage -allusers *xboxgaming* | select Name, PackageFullName, IsBundle, ResourceId

Name                        PackageFullName                                             IsBundle ResourceId
----                        ---------------                                             -------- ----------
Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_2.34.28001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe    False

vs

PS C:\Windows\system32> get-appxpackage -allusers -packagetypefilter all *xboxgaming* | select Name, PackageFullName, IsBundle, ResourceId

Name                        PackageFullName                                                                IsBundle ResourceId
----                        ---------------                                                                -------- ----------
Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_2.34.28001.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe                   True ~
Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_2.34.28001.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe                       False
Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_2.34.28001.0_neutral_split.scale-100_8wekyb3d8bbwe    False split.scale-100

A Bundle type appx package usually has some properties:

• package name contains ~ character
• has property 'IsBundle' set as "True"

a) And the MAGIC thing is: if you remove the Bundle-type package via Remove-AppxPackage, it will also remove all of its "sibling" packages (which have same App Name and PackageFamilyName) COMPLETELY AND CLEANLY, no remnants whatsoever. It will also remove the package from the Provisioned packages list (as seen via Get-AppxProvisionedPackage).

b) Note: If you remove the Bundle-type package via Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage first, it will only remove the package from the Provisioned packages list! By defaults, there are about 5 Apps that are listed in the Provisioned packages list and don't have their Bundle-type package - you need to run both "removal" commands on those Apps.

3. -AllUsers

In order to remove packages for ALL users, add -AllUsers parameter to "removal" commands. Yes, both Remove-AppxPackage and Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage

I bet you must have seen at least one tutorial saying that following piped commands would work:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers APP/PACKAGE-TO-BE-REMOVED | Remove-AppxPackage
but in facts, the correct piped commands would be:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers APP/PACKAGE-TO-BE-REMOVED | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

Summary

So, in summary, the proper steps are:

• Avoid System Apps (unless you're a super advanced user, obviously). Essential framework, runtime components such as ".NET Framework", "VCLibs" etc. can be removed if they're the last packages to be removed.
• Check if an App has a Bundle-type package, find the correct package name (for manual removal), and remove it first via Remove-AppxPackage
• For apps that don't have Bundle-type packages but are listed on Get-AppxProvisionedPackage output: it is suggested to remove them via Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage first and via Remove-AppxPackage later.
• Add -AllUsers parameter to the "removal" commands.

Examples:
a) Remove XboxGamingOverlay:
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -PackageTypeFilter Bundle *xboxgaming* | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

b) Remove all Xbox-related apps and packages and avoid its System-type package:
For old Windows 10 versions (before v1709):
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -PackageTypeFilter Bundle *xbox* | where InstallLocation -match 'WindowsApps' | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

For new Windows 10 versions (since v1709):
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -PackageTypeFilter Bundle *xbox* | where SignatureKind -ne 'System' | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

b) Remove HEIFImageExtension (doesn't have Bundle package, listed on Provisioned list):

Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online | where DisplayName -match 'HEIFI' | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -AllUsers -Online
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers *HEIFI* | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

Credit: this tutorial is based on the awesome research of Mark0 on TenForums: https://www.tenforums.com/software-apps/165584-completely-uninstall-provisioned-apps-how-detailed-explanation.html

Thanks for that nmhung1985! It appears to have worked on my newly installed Windows 11.

I should add that I was able to remove at least part of the Xbox package beforehand through the standard 'Apps & Features' interface. I was skeptical that it removed ALL of the package and so also used this method.

By some reason it doesn't work for me:

PS C:\Users\myname\Documents\PowerShell> Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers -PackageTypeFilter Bundle xbox | where SignatureKind -ne 'System' | Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers

PS C:\Users\myname\Documents\PowerShell> Get-AppxPackage | select-string xbox

Microsoft.XboxGameCallableUI_1000.19041.1023.0_neutral_neutral_cw5n1h2txyewy

Thank you dude

Does this work for win11 as of now? Anyone knows?

I don't want to uninstall it clean, I Wont to destroy it, making it unfixable

easiest command is just to Get-AppxPackage | select-string xbox | Remove-AppxPackage

Does this work for win11 as of now? Anyone knows?

Running these commands will bring up an annoying popup message whenever a game is opened that says "Get an app to open ms-gamingoverlay". So probably not worth it.

Running these commands will bring up an annoying popup message whenever a game is opened that says "Get an app to open ms-gamingoverlay". So probably not worth it.

Trust me, its worth it, its almost so I wanna go away from Windows because of it and run the windows apps thru WINE