Windows has shipped with pre-installed apps for years. We have seen various de-bloating approaches, but the most popular has long been using an approved app list and removing everything else via PowerShell.
But by using the “old” way of uninstalling built in apps doesn’t automatically block the removed apps from being re-installed by an admin or user. This is where the new RemoveDefaultMicrosoftStorePackages comes into play! Let’s see what it does and why every Windows admin should use this approach over PowerShell.
RemoveDefaultMicrosoftStorePackages
I have tested this on Windows 11-25H2 with great results!
- Open: Intune portal -> Devices -> Configuration -> Create a new policy (Settings Catalog)
- Expand: Administrative templates -> Windows components -> App package deployment
- Pick: Remove Default Microsoft Store packages from the system
- Switch it to Enabled
Now all we need to do is set the apps we want to be removed to true and they will be uninstalled from the system.
💡Not all apps are available, Microsoft is adding more over time.
💡Any app with double asterixes (**) is the default handler of common file types and protocols. Test thoroughly before removing these apps.
Removing these apps are not recommended by Microsoft, see example marked in red below.
Block reinstallation of removed apps
Below registry key holds information of our built in apps: HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Appx\RemoveDefaultMicrosoftStorePackages
RemoveDefaultMicrosoftStorePackages key holds an Enabled value which will be set to ‘1’ once the policy is applied to our device. 
Once the policy has hit our device we will get a list of apps and each app has a corresponding RemovePackage value. A value of ‘1’ indicates this app has been managed and removed by our policy and it cannot be reinstalled, even with admin privileges. 
This is extremely useful and it makes total sense. I really appreciate this new function as it is no longer just a one-off, we actually remove the app and make sure it cannot be reinstalled again, unless we allow it 👍👍