How to enable Windows Copilot in Windows 11 (Build 23493+)

Starting in Windows 11 Build 23493, Microsoft ships the Copilot feature with the OS. It is the latest Dev channel build as of this writing. Microsoft rolls-out the new functionality gradually, so you may have no access to it right away. Here's how to enable it and give it a try. 

The company first announced Windows Copilot during the Build 2023 event. It is the first AI-powered assistant tool integrated deeply with the operating system. It is capable to analyze the screen content and provide recommendations based on what is currently open, running, and what you are browsing for online.

Besides, Copilot is able to change Windows options, launch apps, and even perform text extraction from images. It will serve as in-place Cortana replacement by becoming your daily personal assistant.

As of Build 23493, Windows Copilot is in A/B testing, so not everyone is seeing it. But you can activate it with help of the open-source app ViVeTool. Also, make sure that you have the latest version of Microsoft Edge browser. Currently, you need to use either Stable or Dev version of the browser. For some reason, Copilot doesn't work with Edge Beta and Canary.

To enable Windows Copilot on Windows 11, do the following.

Enable Copilot in Windows 11

1. Download ViVeTool from the GitHub.
2. Extract it to the c:\vivetool folder.
3. Now, right-click the Start button with the Windows icon in the taskbar, and select Terminal (Admin).
4. In the Terminal, type the following command: c:\vivetool\vivetool /enable /id:44774629,44850061,44776738,42105254,41655236.
5. After you see "Successfully set feature configuration(s)", close the Terminal and restart Windows 11.
6. You will now have a new button next to the search box. Clicking it opens Copilot in a sidebar on the right.

That's it!

Using Windows Copilot

In addition to the icon in the tasbkar, you can quickly bring up the Copilot with the Win + C hotkey. It is powered by the Bing Chat, so the dialog mode is the first what you can interact with. You can directly type your question, and it will try to find an answer for you using the Internet and its trained learning model. It is also possible to specify what kind of answers you would like to receive. For that, there are buttons More Creative, More Balanced, and More Precise that adjust the bot dialog style.

You can also make it change some settings for you. For example, you can type "enable dark theme", and it will prompt to switch the theme for you. Once you click "Yes", Windows 11 will go dark.

Thought this functionality is pretty limited. Here it failed to open the recycle bin or launch File Explorer. Instead of the direct action, it just shows a brief guide it found on the Internet. Microsoft says this will be improved over time, since Copilot is a work-in-progress.

Besides the Copilot, Windows 11 Build 23493 comes with plenty of other new features and improvements. You will find an improved Volume Mixer that supports global hotkeys and allows changing the sound volume per app directly from the tray. There's also a new Home page in Settings. Finally, it is the first build of Windows 11 that natively supports 7z, rar, and tar archives. Check out the new features here.

Thanks to Xeno and Rafael Rivera