How to Stop Remote Installation of Apps on Windows?

The Push to Install feature of Windows allows users to remotely install Microsoft Store applications on other devices. The users get the “Install on my devices” option when they are logged in with the same Microsoft account on more than one device. It is also a pretty useful feature for organizations that wants to install a specific store application on all of their computers. However, you can also disable this feature on some computers to stop the remote installation of Microsoft Store applications. The users can still use the “Install on my devices” option but the application will not actually get installed on remote system.

In this article, we are providing you the methods through which you can disable the Push to Install service for your computer. This specific setting can be found in the Group Policy Editor of your system. However, the Group Policy Editor isn’t available on all versions of the operating system, that is why we have also included the Registry Editor method.

Method 1: Using the Local Group Policy Editor

The Group Policy is a Windows feature that is used to control the working environment of the operating system. An administrator can use this tool to configure settings for multiple users and computers. It also contains a policy setting for turning off the Push to Install service. It is listed only under the Computer Configuration category. This setting is supported on at least Windows 10 and Windows 10 Server 2016.

The Group Policy Editor is only available on the Windows 10 Pro, Education, and Enterprise operating systems. If you are using one of the following versions of the operating system then follow the below steps to configure the setting:

1. Press the Windows + R key together on your keyboard to open a Run dialog. Now, you need to type “gpedit.msc” and press the Enter key or click on the Ok button. This will open up the Local Group Policy Editor window on your system.

   

2. In the Local Group Policy Editor window, go to the following path:
   Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Push To Install\

   

3. Now double-click on the policy named “Turn off Push To Install service” and it will open another window. Then choose the Enabled toggle option to disable the Push to Talk feature.

   

4. After that, click on the Apply and Ok buttons to save these changes.
5. Most of the time the Group Policy will automatically update this new configuration. If not, then you need to force the update for the group policy.
6. Search for Command Prompt in the Windows search feature and run it as an administrator. Now type the following command in Command Prompt (Admin) and press the Enter key. Another way to do this is by simply restarting the system.

   gpupdate /force

   

7. You can always revert back to the default settings by changing the toggle option to Not Configured or Disabled in step 3.

Method 2: Using the Registry Editor

Another method to stop the remote installation of apps is by using the Registry Editor. Whenever you configure a setting in the Group Policy Editor, it will automatically update your Windows Registry with a specific value. If you are using this method directly, then you can simply create that specific value for this setting and configure it. This is also the only method for the Windows Home users who do not have access to the Group Policy Editor. Always make sure to use the Registry Editor carefully without making any errors. We have also included the registry backup step in the below steps for safety:

1. First, open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows and R keys together on your keyboard. Then, you need to type “regedit” in the box and press the Enter key to open the Registry Editor. If prompted by the UAC (User Account Control) prompt, then click on the Yes button.

   

2. You can also create a Registry backup before making new changes. Click on the File menu and choose the Export option in the list. Select the location and name the file as you want. Finally, click on the Save button to create a Registry backup.

   

   Note: You can always recover a backup by clicking on the File menu and choosing the Import option. Then by choosing the backup file that you recently created.

3. In the Registry Editor window, navigate to the following location:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Policies\Microsoft\PushToInstall

4. If the PushToInstall key is missing, simply right-click on the Microsoft key, and choose the New > Key option. Then name the newly created key as “PushToInstall“.

   

5. Right-click on the right pane of the PushToInstall key and choose the New > DWORD (32-bit) Value option. Then rename the value as “DisablePushToInstall” and save it.

   

6. Double-click on the DisablePushToInstall value and it will open a small dialog. Now change the value data to 1, it will enable the value and disable the Push to Install feature.

   

7. Finally, close the Registry Editor window, and restart the system to apply these new changes.
8. You can always revert the setting back to default as they were by simply removing the DisablePushToInstall value from the Registry Editor.