Settings app contains Gaming which contains Xbox Game Bar, Captures, Game Mode, Xbox Networking related configuration settings. Most of the organizations I have worked with have configured to hide Gaming under Settings app on Windows 10 or Windows 11 devices. In this blog post, I will show you 2 ways using which you can disable this option.
First option is by using Intune Device Configuration Profile -> Device restrictions Template type and Second option is by using Device Configuration Profile -> Custom Template type which uses OMA-URI settings. Both the options hide Gaming under Settings app.
But the first one also disables Focus Assist under Settings -> System and When we use Custom profile and target specific settings using OMA-URI, Focus Assist is not impacted. There are a lot of users in my organization wanted to use Focus Assist settings but also want to hide Gaming options in the Settings App.
| If your requirement is to show Gaming under Settings app but to block Game mode then you can check my other blog post on this: Disable Game Mode on Windows devices using Intune. |
1. Hide Gaming using Intune Device Configuration Profile
We will create a Device Configuration Profile – Device restrictions on Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center to configure Gaming option.
- Login on Microsoft Intune admin center
- Click on Devices
- Click on Configuration Profiles
- Click on +Create Profile
- Select Platform: Windows 10 and later
- Profile type: Templates
- Template Name: Device restrictions
On the Configuration Settings Page, you can search for a settings group called Control Panel and Settings and on the bottom of the list you will find Gaming. Toggle it to Block which will hide Gaming option in Settings.
Using Assignments Tab you can assign it to either all users or all devices or an Azure AD Security Group as well. After you create and assign this Deployment configuration profile.
When the Device check-in process starts, You can open Settings app on any of the targeted devices and check the Gaming option. It will not show and will be blocked as per the configuration profile.
Please note that if you block Gaming option like this, it will also hide Focus Assist option from System under Settings App. Therefore, if you want to keep Focus Assist enabled and also hide Gaming options, you can use OMA-URI method which is shown in the next section of this blog post.
2. Hide Gaming using Intune Device Configuration Profile (OMA-URI settings)
In the second option, we will still create a Device configuration profile but this time we will create choose a Template type as Custom and use OMA-URI settings to hide Gaming in Settings app. Let’s see how to create this device configuration profile and which OMA-URI Settings will be needed.
Create Custom Device Configuration Profile
- Login on Microsoft Intune admin center
- Click on Devices.
- Click on Configuration Profiles
- Click on +Create Profile
- Select Platform: Windows 10 and later
- Profile type: Templates
- Template Name: Custom
- Click Create
Basics Tab
- Name: Hide Gaming Option – Settings App Restrictions
- Description: Using this Custom Device Configuration Profile, Gaming Options under Settings will not be hidden.
Configuration Tab
Click on Add to add OMA-URI Settings
- Name: Hide Gaming
- Description: Hide Gaming Under Settings App
- OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Settings/PageVisibilityList
- Data type: String
- Value: hide:gaming-gamebar;gaming-gamedvr;gaming-broadcasting;gaming-gamemode;gaming-xboxnetworking
Assignments Tab
Create an Azure AD Security group which contains users or devices where this device configuration profile needs to be deployed. Please note that if you add users into the list, it will deploy this profile on all of the users devices joined to Azure and Enrolled into Intune. If you want to deploy the profile to specific devices then you should add devices in the Azure AD security group not users.
Make sure to add it to the Required section which will deploy this profile on users system as soon as possible.
Required: Select the groups for which you want to make this app required. Required apps are installed automatically on enrolled devices. Some platforms may have additional prompts for the end user to acknowledge before app installation begins.
Review + Create
Next tab is for Review + Create. Click on Create to create to create and Deploy this Device Configuration Profile.
Intune Policy Refresh Cycle
The Device will Sync / Check in and download / intstall the profile on target device. It may take some time for the process to start. Therefore, if you are testing it on a test device, you can force initiate Intune refresh cycle on the device which will speed up the policy download and installation process.
Also, you can restart the device first before force initiating the sync. Manual sync is not mandatory on user’s devices as the device check-in process happens automatically. But if you are testing it on a test device then this can speed up your testing and can save some time.
End User Experience
You can login on a target device and open Settings app. Under the settings app, you will not find Gaming option. As you can see the Settings App screenshot from one of the target device. Device Configuration profile using OMA-URI settings has been applied successfully.
Hiding Gaming Options using Custom Device configuration profile with OMA-URI settings will not impact Focus Assist Settings which can be found under Settings App -> System. As you can see that even after Gaming options are disabled Focus Assist is still available and working fine. But if you use Option – 1 to Block Gaming then Focus Assist setting will not show.
Conclusion
Gaming option is not required in most of the organizations and therefore this can be easily disabled using Intune. I have shown you two options to disable Gaming. Option -1 which uses Device Configuration Profile – Device Restrictions Template type and Option – 2 which uses Device Configuration Profile – Custom Template type. Both of these Device Configuration Profiles will work fine. However, as I have explained earlier in Option – 2 Focus Assist setting is not impacted but in Option – 1 Focus Assist setting is Impacted. Therefore, you can decide on which option to use for your organization.