Disabling Microsoft Store on Windows 11 is good if you never use it. This way, Microsoft Store will never run in the background and won’t use RAM or internet data.

So, if you are looking for ways to allow or block access to the Microsoft Store in Windows 11, here’s what you need to do.

Important: Microsoft doesn’t offer any direct option to disable the Microsoft Store. Hence, we will edit the Group Policy and Registry file of Windows 11 to block access to the Microsoft Store. Therefore, back up your Windows 11 PC before following the steps.

Allow or Block Access to Microsoft Store via Local Group Policy

We will use the Local Group Policy Editor to enable or disable access to the Microsoft Store. Here are some simple steps to follow.

1. Click on the Windows 11 search and type in Local Group Policy Editor. Next, open the Local Group Policy Editor from the list.

2. On the Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the following path:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Store

3. On the right pane, find and double click on the Turn off the Store application policy.

4. On the next screen, select Enabled to turn off access to the Microsoft Store. Once you’ve done this, click the Apply button.

5. If you wish to enable the Microsoft Store again, select not configured on the above step and click the Apply button.

Allow or Block Access to Microsoft Store via Registry Editor

You can even use the Registry Editor to allow or block access to the Microsoft Store. Here’s what you need to do.

1. First, click on the Windows 11 search and type in Registry. Next, open the Registry Editor from the list of matching results.

2. On the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoft

3. Next, right-click on the Microsoft Folder and select New > Key.

4. Name the new key as WindowsStore.

5. Next, right-click on the Windows Store and select New > DWORD (32-Bit) Value.

6. Name the new REG-DWORD key as RemoveWindowsStore.

7. Now, double click on the RemoveWindowsStore. On the Value data field, enter 1 to disable the Microsoft Store. Once done, click on the Ok button.

8. To allow access to the Microsoft store, enter 0 in the Value data field of RemoveWindowsStore.

That’s how you can allow or block access to Microsoft Store in Windows 11. If you don’t use Microsoft Store and want to prevent unwanted or unauthorized app installation on your Windows 11, you should block access to Microsoft Store. You can implement the same methods on your Windows 10 to allow or block access to Microsoft Store.