“The Copilot key isn’t connected to an action. Choose what you’d like to happen when you press the Copilot key”

6 min read.

So about a year ago, I paid (or made my employer pay) 4000 USD to get an AI-PC. That laptop had no AI features whatsoever, so its NPU is still in brand new condition. Great savings abound if I ever end up selling it! 😜

But about 6 months later, that pc got its first AI feature – the standalone Copilot app. I mean, I never got the fabled native app that actually integrated with Windows. Mine was always just a wrapper around “Bing Chat”, and didn’t use the NPU in any way – but hey, it still counts, right?

Now, all that was true for about 6 months. Or more accurately, until yesterday.

This article explains where your (or at least mine) Copilot went, speculation on why it did that, and how to get it back.

Background

Yesterday (at the time of writing – 10.3.2025), my Copilot ceased to exist.

Why do I know?

Because paying thousands of dollars yielded me something that most people still don’t know they need: a dedicated Copilot-key. And after months of working without major issues, the key suddenly stopped working.

I actually use that key and it’s a bummer if it doesn’t work.

It’s only the second time that happens (first one was when Microsoft first rolled out the option to select what that key does, and also apparently set it to “null”), so I am not yet used to the button not doing anything again.

Checking the configuration in Control Panel Settings, it looks like there’s nothing bound to the key and nothing I even could bind to it:

What’s up with this now?

Where did my Copilot go?

The official story is that the March 2025 Security Patch for Windows 11 and Windows 10 removes the Copilot app (and of course unpins it from your task bar, too). So in a way, it’s to be expected.

Microsoft puts it like this:

We’re aware of an issue with the Microsoft Copilot app affecting some devices. The app is unintentionally uninstalled and unpinned from the taskbar.

Note: This issue has not been observed with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

The KB numbers for different flavors of the Operating System are:

  • Windows 11 24H2 – KB5053598
  • Windows 11 23H2 – KB5053602
  • Windows 11 22H2 – not affected (I guess this is the most stable variant of Win 11?)
  • Windows 10 – KB5053606, KB5053596, KB5053594 and KB5053618.

However – I have not gotten my March update yet. My Copilot was not uninstalled by Windows update. I’m still on the February 2025 Patch level (the latest one to require a reinstall of my machine ❀)
 So I don’t think they have the whole picture here.

Anyway. We come to a conclusion: Your Copilot is gone because either Windows Update removed it, or it removed itself.

Investigation

So my Copilot wasn’t gone because of Windows Update. I want to know where it went, so I dug into the Application logs in Event Viewer – and literally the only line about Copilot was the one below:

No day in the Windows world without some new excitement, it seems!

So CopilotNative.exe experienced a classic case of “application hang”, around the time Windows uninstalled it. Let’s take a look at the path “C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.Copilot_1.25014.121.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\CopilotNative.exe” – What’s in that directory?

Let’s give it a go!

Oh? Nothing?

And when trying to navigate to C:\Program Files\WindowsApps


Ah, this again.

I decided to check the permissions for the folder:

Now, not only am I a user of this glorious 4000 USD can of bugs and spaghetti, but I also happen to be an administrator. So I should be able to list folder contents, read and execute the directory contents.

But alas, I can not.

Why? Because “the access control is corrupt”.

Great.

So let me read that out for you once more:

“This access control entry is corrupt. Delete it and create a new one.”

Okay then. Windows Update has just absolutely and completely fucked up again and the permissions are now broken.

On a 1-month old installation of Windows 11.

Just another day in the Windows world. And the kicker? This is apparently a a well-known and recurring issue at least since 2016. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/access-control-entry-is-corrupt/4e3d5500-5c7d-4839-be4f-c269705561ca

But since the rest of my “Windows Apps” seem to work fine, I’ll have to just assume that “This access control entry is corrupt. Delete it and create a new one.” actually just means “This is fine. đŸ¶â˜•đŸ”„â€

I’m not going to go down the path of fixing whatever is wrong with “Windows Apps” directory now. Besides, it’s not worth it – Windows Update would just break it soon again anyway.

Fixing my missing Copilot

This is going to be the boring part.

It doesn’t matter what greater power decided you don’t need the Copilot app anymore. You can simply defy fate by reinstalling the app. And since it’s just a “native” wrapper of a web app, you’re not losing any data, either!

So we’ll just reinstall Microsoft Copilot (Bing Chat) (Copilot) (New) by either running this in terminal:

winget install "Microsoft Copilot" --source msstore

Or navigating to the store page to install it: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NHT9RB2F4HD?hl=en-us&gl=CA&ocid=pdpshare

That’s it! If you just wanted to fix your Copilot, you’re good to go.

Rant: If my Copilot bails out, I’m going to start having trust issues

From a strategic point of view, this feels like a bit of a blunder from Microsoft.

If you want people to use your apps, don’t ship Windows updates that uninstall them. And even more so, don’t make the apps randomly disappear.

If that keeps happening – and it has happened before – users might start to have some trust issues with your apps.

And the fact that the first indication I got of Windows having fucked up was Control Panel popping up when I hit the Copilot key
 Disappointing.

But hey! After reinstalling the app, I now have something called “CopilotNative.exe”. That’s a native Copilot app, right? So it should be able to use native features of my pc – my NPU, and control my Windows, right?

Putting that NPU to use!

I wanted to check Copilot on some tips on how to use the NPU – and of course, check whether the “Copilot Native” app is using my NPU.

It definitely is not. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised 😅

The app is “native” as in, it supports alt+space as a keyboard shortcut, and it’s not a PWA, but a real app (that just happens to only be a wrapper around copilot.microsoft.com).

So I guess it can’t do anything with my machine?

Or the classic:

Ah well. Time for some gaslighting then.


 yeah, that’s the state of “native” software development on Windows in 2025.

That said, having an NPU in my laptop is of course super helpful for the future. The future, where you need a subscription to be able to use your local hardware, that is! Like with Paint.

You need a subscription to use Paint Image Creator - even if you already pay for Copilot.
You need a subscription to use Paint Image Creator – even if you already pay for Copilot.

Since I already pay for E5 and Copilot licenses, I felt like I should maybe, just maybe, be able to use my local NPU for free in apps that support it, like Notepad and Paint
 But I guess that’s too much to ask for.

So far, the only way to use my NPU that I’ve found, is to use Windows Studio Effects on my built-in webcam. You know, the one that I don’t use, because I have a real webcam? Although I’ve got to admit, the automatic zoom-in effect up your nostrils is fantastic, and I’m sure it’ll find plenty of use in some circles!

I’m not saying the AI space wouldn’t be incredibly exciting. Because it is!

But sometimes the teething issues feel more like “crapping your nappy” issues, and it feels really dismissive of Microsoft to think that I am not yet dealing with enough shit in my life, and should take some from my Copilot, too.

I mean, come on – it’s called Copilot, not “crybaby that can make funny pictures and take meeting notes“.

Ehh, that’s a lame way to end an article. So here’s an AI-powered upscaling of the face of the copilot from the illustration of this article, so we can end on a high note instead.

mm
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