How to Hide Gaming Features in Windows Settings Using Microsoft Intune

Start by logging into the Microsoft Intune admin center where you'll configure the gaming restrictions.

Open your web browser and navigate to https://intune.microsoft.com. Sign in with your administrator credentials that have Intune management permissions.

Once logged in, you'll see the main dashboard. Navigate to Devices in the left sidebar, then select Windows from the submenu. Click on Configuration to access the policy management area.

This is the quickest method but comes with a caveat for Windows 11 22H2+ devices.

Click + Create and select New Policy. Set the following configuration:

• Platform: Windows 10 and later
• Profile type: Templates > Device restrictions

On the Basics page, enter these details:

Name: Hide Gaming Features - Device Restrictions
Description: Blocks gaming section in Windows Settings app

Click Next to proceed to configuration settings.

Under Configuration settings, expand the Control Panel and Settings section. Locate the Gaming option and set it to Block.

Click Next through the remaining pages, assign to your target device groups, and click Create.

This method provides granular control and avoids the notification settings issue on Windows 11 22H2+.

Create a new policy with these settings:

• Platform: Windows 10 and later
• Profile type: Settings Catalog

On the Basics page, configure:

Name: Hide Gaming Features - Settings Catalog
Description: Granular gaming restrictions without affecting notifications

Click Next to reach the Configuration settings page. Click + Add settings and search for PageVisibilityList.

Select Control Panel and Settings > Page Visibility List from the results. This will add the PageVisibilityList setting to your policy.

In the PageVisibilityList field, enter the gaming pages you want to hide:

gaming-gamebar;gaming-gamedvr;gaming-gamemode;gaming-trueplay;

This configuration hides Game Bar, Game DVR, Game Mode, and TruePlay while preserving access to notification settings.

Complete the policy creation by clicking Next, assigning to target groups, and clicking Create.

For maximum flexibility and direct CSP control, use the custom OMA-URI method.

Create a new policy with these parameters:

• Platform: Windows 10 and later
• Profile type: Custom

Configure the basics:

Name: Hide Gaming Features - OMA-URI
Description: Custom OMA-URI policy for gaming restrictions

On the Configuration settings page, click + Add to create a new OMA-URI setting with these values:

Name: Hide Gaming Pages
Description: Custom CSP configuration for gaming visibility
OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Settings/PageVisibilityList
Data type: String
Value: hide:gaming-gamebar;gaming-gamedvr;gaming-gamemode;

This OMA-URI directly configures the PageVisibilityList Configuration Service Provider (CSP) to hide specific gaming features.

You can also use a more comprehensive value to hide all gaming features:

Value: hide:gaming;

Complete the policy assignment and creation process.

Proper policy assignment ensures your gaming restrictions apply to the correct devices and users.

For any of the three methods above, during the policy creation process, you'll reach the Assignments page. Here you can configure:

Include groups: Select the Azure AD groups containing devices or users that should receive this policy. Common options include:

• Corporate devices group
• Specific department groups (HR, Finance, etc.)
• All devices (for organization-wide restrictions)

Exclude groups: Optionally exclude specific groups, such as:

• IT administrators group
• Executive devices group
• Test devices group

Example assignment configuration:

Include: "Corporate-Windows-Devices" group
Exclude: "IT-Admin-Devices" group

Click Next to proceed to the review page, then Create to deploy the policy.

Track the deployment status and ensure your gaming restrictions are working correctly across all target devices.

In the Microsoft Intune admin center, navigate to Devices > Monitor > Device compliance. Here you can view:

• Policy deployment status
• Devices that have successfully applied the policy
• Any devices with policy conflicts or errors

For detailed monitoring, go to Devices > All devices and select a specific device. Click on Device compliance to see the status of your gaming restriction policy.

You can also use PowerShell on target devices to verify the policy application:

# Check if PageVisibilityList registry key exists
Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Settings" -Name "PageVisibilityList" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# View Windows Event Logs for policy application
Get-WinEvent -LogName "Microsoft-Windows-DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider/Admin" | Where-Object {$_.Id -eq 814} | Select-Object TimeCreated, Message

Address the most common problems that occur when implementing gaming restrictions through Intune.

Issue 1: Notification Settings Hidden (Windows 11 22H2+)

If you used the Device Restrictions method and users can't access notification settings, extract the policy string from Event Viewer:

# View the applied PageVisibilityList string
Get-WinEvent -LogName "Microsoft-Windows-DeviceManagement-Enterprise-Diagnostics-Provider/Admin" | Where-Object {$_.Id -eq 814 -and $_.Message -like "*PageVisibilityList*"} | Select-Object -First 1 | Format-List Message

Copy the string from the event message, remove quietmomentsgame; from it, and redeploy using Settings Catalog method.

Issue 2: Policy Not Applying

Force a manual sync on the target device:

# Trigger Intune policy sync
Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock {Get-ScheduledTask | Where-Object {$_.TaskName -eq "PushLaunch"} | Start-ScheduledTask}

Issue 3: Gaming Section Still Visible

Check policy assignment and device group membership:

# Verify device Azure AD group membership
dsregcmd /status
# Look for "AzureAdJoined : YES" and note the device ID