Allow Windows 11 to archive apps you don't use

On a typical Windows 11 installation, you could have multiple apps installed at a time. These apps could take few MBs to several GBs of storage on your system. When you have a lot of apps on your Windows 11 system, possibly there are always some apps which you may not be using frequently. In order to save storage and Internet bandwidth, Windows 11 can help you to archive those apps. In this article, we will see how you can allow Windows 11 to archive apps you don’t use.

When you archive an app you are not using frequently, the files and data on that app will be saved on your device. The only difference will be that when you opt to use that app next time, Windows 11 will have to download that app from the Internet or Store, provided that app is available from its vendor. In windows 11 you can enable archiving apps for your or any other specific user account present on the system.

Here’s how to archive apps on your Windows 11.

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Allow Windows 11 to archive apps you don’t use

Method 1: Using Settings app

1. Press + I keys to open Settings app.

2. Go to Apps > Advanced app settings > Archive apps.

3. Under Archive apps, you can set this option to On to allow Windows 11 to archiving apps you don’t use.

Allow Windows 11 to archive apps you don't use

You can then close Settings app and return to your work. The setting you configured above is only applicable to your current account from which it is configured. For any other account, you have to log in that account first and then configure this setting apply.

Method 2: Using Registry

Registry Disclaimer: It is recommended to create a System Restore point first, if you’re not familiar with registry manipulation.

1. Run regedit command to open Registry Editor.

2. In left pane of Registry Editor window, navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\InstallService\Stubification

Allow Windows 11 to archive apps you don't use

3. Under Stubification, locate your account’s Security Identifier (SID) based registry sub-key. In the right pane of this sub-key, create EnableAppOffloading registry DWORD (REG_DWORD) and set it to 1 to enable archiving apps for the account which holds the SID.

4. Close Registry Editor and reboot the system to make changes effective.

That’s it!