How to Turn Off the Advertising ID in Windows 11

What the advertising ID actually is

The advertising ID is a random, per-user identifier that Windows maintains for ad personalization: apps that display Microsoft-network ads read it to sort their audience into interest segments. Regular desktop programs don't use it — it serves the Store-app and Microsoft-ad ecosystem. The ID is stored per user in the registry under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AdvertisingInfo, and resetting it (toggle off, then on again) issues a fresh one, cutting the old identifier's history loose from your profile.

Two things it is not: it is not a master off-switch for advertising — ads keep appearing, just untailored — and it is not your browser's tracking mechanism. Web tracking runs on cookies, fingerprinting and accounts, which is a browser-side problem. Windows also offers a related toggle called Tailored experiences, which controls whether Microsoft may use your diagnostic data to personalize tips and suggestions — worth switching off in the same visit.

• A random, unique identifier generated per user account, not per device
• Used by Microsoft Store apps and Microsoft's ad partners for interest-based targeting
• Stored in the registry under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AdvertisingInfo
• Turning it off stops ad personalization — the ads themselves keep coming
• Separate from browser cookies, from telemetry, and from the Tailored experiences setting

Turning it off: Settings, registry, Group Policy

On every Windows 11 machine, open Settings > Privacy & security > General and set the first toggle — Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID — to Off. While you're on that page, turn off Tailored experiences and, if you dislike nags, the suggested-content toggles too. In the European Economic Area, recent Windows 11 releases ship with some privacy toggles already off under the Digital Markets Act, so check the switch state rather than assuming.

For fleets and scripted setups, the same setting is a pair of registry values. Set Enabled (DWORD) to 0 under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AdvertisingInfo to kill the ID, and TailoredExperiencesWithDiagnosticDataEnabled (DWORD) to 0 under HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Privacy to stop tailored experiences. On Pro and Enterprise editions, the Group Policy editor offers the same control at Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > User Profiles, with the policy that turns off the advertising ID — a policy that sticks for every user who signs in.

What changes after you turn it off

Expect the same number of ads in Store apps and Windows surfaces, only generic ones: no interest segments keyed to your ID, and the old identifier's history stops following you once it's reset. The change doesn't touch the web side — tracking there runs on cookies and accounts, so clearing browser data regularly does more for ad privacy than any Windows toggle. Recheck both toggles after each Windows feature update, since big upgrades occasionally walk privacy settings back toward their defaults. And if your goal is to shrink what leaves the machine at all, the diagnostic data settings are the next stop.

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