How to Disable Offline Maps Updates in Windows 10

Windows 10 comes with offline maps feature that allows you to use the Maps app in Windows 10 even when you are not connected to the internet. This is a great feature for mobile devices like tablets and smartphones running on Windows 10. But if you are using a desktop PC, then perhaps you will not really need to download any of these offline maps updates. These offline updates will only claim the storage space on your hard drive and are not really useful if your desktop PC is always connected to the internet.

If you don’t use the Maps app in Windows 10 or want to save the storage space, then you can disable the automatic updates for the offline use of the Maps app. Here is how:

  1. Click/tap on the start menu, then select the cogwheel icon to open Windows settings.
  2. In the Settings window, select System and then Offline Maps. You can also search for “offline maps” in the Settings as its location keeps changing after every update of Windows 10.Disable Windows 10 Maps Offline Download
  3. From the right side of the window, switch the setting for Automatically update maps to Off.

That’s it. From now Windows will no longer download and save the map files to your local storage devices. There is another method for completely disabling the Windows Maps offline updates using the Group Policy Editor:

  1. Press Win+R to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type gpedit.msc in the Run dialog and press Enter. This will open the Group Policy Editor.
  3. In the Group Policy Editor, select Computer Configuration, then Windows Components, and then Maps from the left side.Disable Windows 10 Maps Offline Download
  4. Double-click on the setting named Turn off Automatic Download and Update of Map Data.
  5. Select Enabled in the window that opens and click on the OK button.

The benefit of using Group Policy editor is that Maps update will be disabled for all the users and cannot be enabled from the Windows settings app.