Any help to eliminate Start Menu "Store suggested apps" in 25H2?

On 26200.7171 and never seen any app suggestions only using NTL.
I've removed Store Experience Host and Start Experiences (inbox App) and disabled anything related to apps in Settings.
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There isn't a specific fix known at the moment. If you disable all search results from the web, then no Store apps are promoted.

But right now, you can't have both web results and no Store suggestions. Maybe someone will figure it out, or it gets released later as a GPO.
 
Or could be the reg invoked <File>D:\Ege\Programlar\Kokteyl\SystemEdits\Tweaks\Regs\StartAllBack.reg</File>
 
I disable web results. idk what is wrong really, will test Store Experience Host and Start Experiences on a vm and report back when I find something.
(startisback is safe from these settings, its a custom reg that only includes UI options and not actually included in this setup right now.)

1763277253039.png

1763277394244.png
 
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In real machine I use webview since i use imageglass software for image viewer. but for test purposes I removed it, but ads are still there. Also;

I tested with start experiences inbox and store experience host removed. and ads blocking reg applied... no luck ads are still there.

as for 3rd test, removed microsoft store. and ads are gone, I already knew they were coming from store but I hoped there would be a way to disable them instead of removing store. for now there is none.
 
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francis11 said:
On 26200.7171 and never seen any app suggestions only using NTL.
I've removed Store Experience Host and Start Experiences (inbox App) and disabled anything related to apps in Settings.
Click to expand...

since u said you have no ads like that, can you share your preset? I would like to check diffs and also test your config on a fresh windows. as far as I understand I think you might be mistaken

garlin can you also double check web result thing since its disabled on my end? u really don't have those ads? they are not exactly from web tho, they are microsoft store search results. prompted ads by the store.
 
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DisableSearchBoxSuggestions is the one suggested by some users. Other folks think it might be related to the new Start Menu that's being gradually rolled out, or it's based on your market region (ie. inside or outside of the EEA).
 
I think its about new microsoft store and start menu. the ads are not affected by any setting right now.
 
I keep paint, calculator and so on without any gamingcrap, but use a customized startmenu with an LayoutModification.json and still keep MS Store and updates for the apps keept.
I've 933 removals contra your attached preset say 71 removals.
 
Your startmenu is probably broken or missing some features thats why you don't have store ads, I don't edit that heavy everything works in my end but I can assure u its about store
 
Nope as for now. Store apps as paint, calculator, snipping tool is working. Don't care about gaming apps maybe why it's working.
Waiting the new startmenu layout from MS comming to 25H2 and see if it change anything as i havn't received it yet.
 
Thanks but I did my tests, I know its not about gaming app and its about store app, don't care about your broken OS / test environment since I found the problem on fresh VM. Your apps ofc work since they are standalone packages.

You don't need to wait for new startmenu its been here for approx more than 3 months with the final form from canary build.
vivetool /enable /id:47205210
a bit useless makeover if u don't use phone app if u ask me.
 
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Maybe you are right, but also a bold statement, since you are testing in a future scenario that is not publicly available to the average person.
But that does not characterize your preset, since your post shows Windows 11 Core 24H2 x64 - 10.0.26100.4351, which is already available, if you know where.
And BTW, it is common knowledge that MS rolls out new features country by country for guinea pigs.
If you want to find errors - you can always do so and sound like a complainer.
As far as I know, NTL is concentrated around Windows installed on a PC/Laptop and has nothing to do with those who mortgaged their brains to mobile besides using it as a phone, as it was intended when the turntable was invented to dial a number.
 
It started to look cool, I mean looks like a bit rainmeter theme if u ask me, with a touch of ntlite and some tweaks i'm ok about how it looks. Only missing thing if u ask me a native way to apply ExplorerBlurMica to the OS. right now its a bit buggy prevents some apps to run...

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With LayoutModification.json modified it's up to you.
It look cool on my side too - congrats you nailed it.

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Kind of a solution

QUOTE:

These specific Microsoft Store app ads in the Windows 11 Start Menu search results were added in May 2025. Unlike the many previous iterations of Start Menu ads, they cannot currently be blocked by O&O ShutUp10 2.1.1015, Winaero Tweaker 1.64, Group Policies, registry edits such as disabling web search or recommended apps in the Start Menu (DisableSearchBoxSuggestions or Start_IrisRecommendations), or any other techniques anyone else has posted on the Internet that I've been able to find so far.


Instead, what you can do is delete the state on disk and try to prevent it from being repopulated.


  1. Download DB Browser for SQLite (the x64 .zip file is sufficient)
  2. Run DB Browser for SQLite.exe
  3. Open the SQLite database file
    %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsStore_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\store.db<br>
  4. In the Execute SQL tab, run the following query by pasting it into the text editor and then pressing the ▶️ button
  5. <span>DELETE</span> <span>FROM</span> SearchProducts<br>
  6. Save the database by clicking the Write Changes button
  7. Use filesystem ACLs to set the database file to read-only
    1. Right-click store.db and go to Properties › Security › Advanced
    2. Disable permissions inheritance, and choose to convert inheritable permissions to explicit ones
    3. Edit each principal, removing the Write permission

Changes take effect immediately, without restarting the computer or killing any processes. The Microsoft Store app is still functional with this change, and you can still use it do things like update installed apps.



Caveat: I don't know when Windows tries to update the database file, and I can't trigger an update to test the effectiveness of this read-only technique. It's working for me so far on multiple computers as of 2025-12-05, and I will update this answer if it breaks, but this fix will need more time to tell how durable it is. I'm currently running Windows 11 25H2 26200.7171.
 
for now running this at start will prevent results, it just resets windows store and cache...

powershell -Command "Get-AppxPackage *Microsoft.WindowsStore* | Reset-AppxPackage"
 
Easy to keep the old menu with LayoutModification invented.

{
"pinnedList": [
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Denne pc.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\C (C).lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\D (D).lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\E (E).lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\CCleaner2ool.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\GoodSync2GoPortable.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\AppData.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Administrative Tools\\dfrgui.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Administrative Tools\\Disk Cleanup.lnk"
},
{
"packagedAppId": "Microsoft.ScreenSketch_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App"
},
{
"packagedAppId": "Microsoft.WindowsCalculator_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Accessibility\\Magnify.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Diverse.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\FDS.lnk"
},
{
"packagedAppId": "Microsoft.WindowsStore_8wekyb3d8bbwe!App"
},
{
"packagedAppId": "Microsoft.SecHealthUI_8wekyb3d8bbwe!SecHealthUI"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%APPDATA%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Administrative Tools.lnk"
},
{
"desktopAppLink": "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Start Menu\\Programs\\Accessories\\Windows Media Center.lnk"
}
]
}
 
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