I have updated the script I use to uninstall built in apps in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Windows 11 22H2 has some changes when it comes to removing built-in apps. Is uninstalling built-in apps still a thing, yes it is. Teams Personal is one example of a similar app to Teams that causes unnecessary helpdesk calls and confusion for the end-users.
Attack vector is also a thing built-in apps have vulnerabilities and some apps are being abused like Power Automate and Quick Assist. I wrote a post on Quick Assist before, https://ccmexec.com/2021/09/windows-11-customizations-a-first-look/ It is maybe a good enough solution but for small companies maybe ok, but I still think it should be removed.
What is new in Windows 11 22H2?
Quick Assist – is no longer a Windows Capability it is now a built-in app instead of a capability.
ClipChamp – video editor, requires a Microsoft Account. Cannot see it being used in an enterprise.
I have updated the remove apps PowerShell script so it can be run without a capabilities file as we no longer need to remove Quick Assist as a capability. It can be downloaded from Github here: https://github.com/Ccmexec/MEMCM-OSD-Scripts/tree/master/Windows11
The download contains the following files.
The Apps+buildnr.txt contains a list will all apps that should be removed.
Capabilitites+buildnr.txt contains a list of the capabilities that should be removed. As Quick Assist no longer is a capability it is not needed anymore in Windows 11 22H2.
More on how to use the script can be found here: https://ccmexec.com/2018/04/windows-10-remove-builtin-apps-script-with-multiple-version-support/
Isn’t Quick Assist the tool MS Support uses to end-user-diagnose? If I recall correctly I have had MS support ask me to use that tool in diagnosing/Displaying AzureAD /Intune Issues?!
Yes, but they have other options as well. And they should never support your en-users.
Regards,
Jörgen
I’m using a slightly different script to remove both MicrosoftTeams and microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps during an IPU task sequence. That script runs the same commands as your script here and has worked well in the past for Windows 10. While microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps stays gone, MicrosoftTeams comes back and I can’t seem to figure out how or why. Is this some new Microsoft trick?!
I’m also having an issue removing Teams. The log file shows that it is unable to find the package or the provisioned package for MicrosoftTeams, but a get-appxpackage command shows it as present.
Hi, Personal Teams requires a different approach. https://ccmexec.com/2023/09/powershell-script-to-keep-personal-teams-away-in-windows-11/
Regards,
Jörgen
Thank you – dropping that script into my reference image build worked perfectly!