What Is Windows Recall and How to Disable It

What Recall records and what protects it

Recall is exclusive to Copilot+ PCs — machines with an NPU rated at 40 TOPS or higher, such as Snapdragon X, Core Ultra Series 2 and Ryzen AI 300 laptops, paired with 16 GB of RAM and a 256 GB drive. When enabled, it takes a snapshot whenever the screen changes materially — in practice every few seconds while you work — runs text and image recognition on the NPU, and files the result into a local index you can search semantically. Microsoft states that the store is encrypted with BitLocker device encryption, that access is gated behind Windows Hello, and that snapshots stay on the device: the search runs locally, and nothing is uploaded by default.

The snapshot budget is capped at roughly 25 GB of disk by default, with the oldest snapshots evicted as it fills, and you can pause capture, exclude specific apps and sites, or trim the stored range at any time. The honest risk profile: snapshots are local, but they form a searchable recording of everything you did — banking, medical results, private chats — readable by anyone who can unlock your session. InPrivate browser windows and DRM-protected content are filtered out by Recall's own rules, and app exclusions are opt-out, not automatic.

• Copilot+ PCs only: NPU at 40 TOPS or higher, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB drive
• Snapshots every few seconds of active use — a visual diary, not video
• Stored locally, encrypted with device encryption, opened with Windows Hello
• Roughly 25 GB default budget; the oldest snapshots are trimmed automatically
• Opt-in and off by default since the 2024 rework
• On ordinary PCs the feature simply does not exist — nothing to remove

Turning Recall off and wiping what it saved

Open Settings > Privacy & security > Recall & snapshots — the page only exists where the hardware qualifies. Switch Save snapshots off, which stops capture immediately, then use Delete all snapshots under the delete options to erase the store together with its search index. Deleting snapshots alone, without flipping the switch, lets Windows start collecting again, so do both in that order. While you are there, review the app and site exclusion list, or use the pause control on the Recall icon in the system tray when you only need a temporary blackout.

Do not go hunting through the file system: the snapshot store is managed by Windows, and the delete button is the supported route. If the page says Recall is managed by your organization, a policy described below has already done the work. And if your PC is not a Copilot+ machine, there is nothing to switch off — guides that promise to uninstall Recall on any PC are describing third-party scripts, not a Windows feature your hardware actually has.

Locking it down for a fleet

On Pro and Enterprise editions, Group Policy carries a dedicated switch: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows AI > Turn Off Saving Snapshots for Windows Recall. Set to Enabled, it blocks snapshot saving for every user on the device; the same effect comes from the registry — DWORD DisableAIDataAnalysis set to 1 under HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsAI — which is the form most deployment scripts and MDM policies use. Note that policy stops collection but does not delete retroactively: machines that ran Recall before the policy still need one manual Delete all snapshots, so pair the rollout with a check.

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