Turn off Application Compatibility Engine
Verified with Windows 11 25H2 — updated on July 30, 2026
Supported on: At least Windows Server 2003
Path in the GPO console
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Application Compatibility Description
This policy controls the state of the application compatibility engine in the system. The engine is part of the loader and looks through a compatibility database every time an application is started on the system. If a match for the application is found it provides either run-time solutions or compatibility fixes, or displays an Application Help message if the application has a know problem. Turning off the application compatibility engine will boost system performance. However, this will degrade the compatibility of many popular legacy applications, and will not block known incompatible applications from installing. (For Instance: This may result in a blue screen if an old anti-virus application is installed.) The Windows Resource Protection and User Account Control features of Windows use the application compatibility engine to provide mitigations for application problems. If the engine is turned off, these mitigations will not be applied to applications and their installers and these applications may fail to install or run properly. This option is useful to server administrators who require faster performance and are aware of the compatibility of the applications they are using. It is particularly useful for a web server where applications may be launched several hundred times a second, and the performance of the loader is essential. NOTE: Many system processes cache the value of this setting for performance reasons. If you make changes to this setting, please reboot to ensure that your system accurately reflects those changes.
Registry
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppCompat Value name: DisableEngine
MDM / Intune (CSP)
./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_AppCompat/AppCompatTurnOffEngine Microsoft Learn documentation Mapping data: Microsoft Learn (CC BY 4.0)
Export Builder
BETAConfigure the state, scope and options, then generate .reg, PowerShell, Intune and SCCM outputs — or add the setting to a multi-setting collection.
These exports write the registry — this is not a managed GPO. ⓘ
.reg file
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
; Exported from gporais.com
; Policy: Turn off Application Compatibility Engine
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows Server 2003
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppCompat]
"DisableEngine"=dword:00000001More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)
PowerShell
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn off Application Compatibility Engine
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2003
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppCompat'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DisableEngine' -Value 1 -Type DWordIntune XML
OMA-URI: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/ADMX_AppCompat/AppCompatTurnOffEngine
Data type: String
Value:
<enabled/>Intune Remediation
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn off Application Compatibility Engine
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2003
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppCompat' -Name 'DisableEngine' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn off Application Compatibility Engine
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2003
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppCompat'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DisableEngine' -Value 1 -Type DWordSCCM scripts
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn off Application Compatibility Engine
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2003
# SCCM Configuration Item guidance:
# Create a Configuration Item of type "Setting: Script".
# Discovery script: use the Detection script below.
# Remediation script: use the Remediation script below.
# Compliance rule: the Discovery script output equals 'Compliant'.
# === Detection script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn off Application Compatibility Engine
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2003
function Test-RegistryValue {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Path,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Name,
[object]$Expected,
[ValidateSet('String', 'DWord', 'MultiString')][string]$Kind = 'String',
[switch]$Absent
)
try {
$item = Get-ItemProperty -LiteralPath $Path -Name $Name -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
return $Absent.IsPresent
}
if ($Absent.IsPresent) { return $false }
$actual = $item.$Name
if ($Kind -eq 'DWord') { return ([int64]$actual) -eq ([int64]$Expected) }
if ($Kind -eq 'MultiString') {
$actualValues = @($actual)
$expectedValues = @($Expected)
if ($actualValues.Count -ne $expectedValues.Count) { return $false }
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $expectedValues.Count; $i++) {
if ([string]$actualValues[$i] -ne [string]$expectedValues[$i]) { return $false }
}
return $true
}
return [string]$actual -eq [string]$Expected
}
$checks = @(
(Test-RegistryValue -Path 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppCompat' -Name 'DisableEngine' -Expected 1 -Kind DWord)
)
if ($checks -notcontains $false) {
Write-Output 'Compliant'
exit 0
}
Write-Output 'Non-compliant'
exit 1
# === Remediation script ===
# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Turn off Application Compatibility Engine
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2003
$path = 'HKLM:\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\AppCompat'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'DisableEngine' -Value 1 -Type DWordBuilding a multi-setting collection? Add this setting and generate combined .reg / PowerShell / GPO scripts.