I've just installed windows 10 and cortana doesn't seem to be working. It won't let me turn cortana on, and it says that cortana is disabled by company policy. I don't understand this and I'm not signed into any company accounts. Is there any way to fix this? Thanks in advance.

• Edited by Celaena Sardothien Wednesday, July 29, 2015 3:36 PM

and another

really strange. I have one device - its fine (UK settings) , another one where it only works if the language / region and display settings all say US (not if UK), and another desktop where nothing works - company policy. This latter one has a home version so 'policy' settings ??

Hi All,

Please follow these steps:

1. Run Registry Editor. (regedit.exe)

2. Go to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search

3. In the right pane, do you see a value named "AllowCortana"? If Yes, is it set to 0x00000000?

When this value is there and if it is set to 0, the symptom will occur.

To resolve this:

1. Delete this value and restart the computer. Then check whether Cortana works.

2. If it still does not work, check if the registry value has been re-created and set to 0 again.

3. If the value is created and set as 0 again, it is normally caused by Group Policies or local policy.

If this machine is in a Domain, check with the Company IT to verify about the group policy settings.

Otherwise, please check the local policy:

a. Run GPEDIT.MSC (Press Win+R, type GPEDIT.MSC and press Enter).

b. Locate:  Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search

c. In the right pane, find the setting "Allow Cortana".

d. Double click it and change it to "Enabled".

e. Restart and see how it goes.

Let me know if it helps.

Regards,
Bennie Chen

Hey Bennie

Thanks for the info, I followed your steps but unfortunately I wasn't able to find the "Windows Search" in the registry, it doesn't exist in my Windows 10 and when I looked for GPEDIT.MSC tool, it doesn't exist

Just to confirm I am using Windows 10 Home,

Version 10.0.10240 Build 10240

Regards

Thanks for the info also Bennie...

I have just updated my Windows 8.1 Pro (Dell OEM)  to Windows 10.....

I am fully activated and have the Cortana "disabled" policy issue.. followed your advice, thank you... but it didn't help fix the issue.

My only thought is that the Dell image on my computer was all EN-US. Not UK. I have had to install the speech language packs (etc.) via Win Update.

Other than that, the only changes I have are a Local Policy to disable the power button at the lock screen (in order to stop people messing with my laptop while its on my desk).

more strangeness - after a while flipping the various settings from region to region - I got a setting things up message ... ...

Then rebooted with region, language and speech all set to English (UK), came back and Cortana is now there.

For some reason she is now 'Thinking...' and not 'Listening ..' though :-)

Hi,

I just make a supplement. Firstly, please follow Bennie's suggestion to check Group Policy and make sure Cortana was allowed.

After that, open CMD with administrator, type gpupdate /force Press Enter. In the end, restart the system to check if problem persists.

If that it is, import the registry key below:

Copy it to notepad, save as .reg file, then double click it to import to registry.

Hi all,

What's the current status of this issue?

Firstly, please configure correct region and language. Please refer to the following article:

Why isn't Cortana in my region or language?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/cortana-is-not-available-in-your-region-or-language

What's more, this may be a known issue of Windows 10, please be patient our engineers are working on. If there is any update, I will inform here.

Regards,

Lany Zhang