Policy
Turn off Search Companion content file updates
Microsoft Windows
Policy overview
Key metadata and intent for this policy.
Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows7, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2003, WindowsServer2008, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016, WindowsVista, WindowsXP
This policy setting specifies whether Search Companion should automatically download content updates during local and Internet searches. When users search the local computer or the Internet, Search Companion occasionally connects to Microsoft to download an updated privacy policy and additional content files used to format and display results. If you enable this policy setting, Search Companion does not download content updates during searches. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, Search Companion downloads content updates unless the user is using Classic Search. Note: Internet searches still send the search text and information about the search to Microsoft and the chosen search provider. Choosing Classic Search turns off the Search Companion feature completely.
Registry values
How enabled and disabled states update the registry.
| Scope | Registry location | Type | Enabled value | Disabled value | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\SearchCompanion Value name DisableContentFileUpdates | REG_DWORD | HKLM 1 | HKLM 0 |
Policy elements
Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.
This policy has no additional user input fields.