January Windows 10 preview update force installs new Outlook

Microsoft has started force-installing the new Outlook email client on Windows 10 systems for users who deploy this month's KB5050081 non-security preview update.

This was first announced on January 9 when Redmond revealed that its new email client would be automatically installed for all Windows 10 users installing the February Windows security updates.

The new Outlook will run alongside the classic Outlook app and will not modify user defaults or configurations.

"You now have the new Outlook for Windows app. A new app icon appears in the Apps section on the Start menu, near classic Outlook. There are no changes to any settings or defaults," Microsoft says in an advisory published this Tuesday.

"This will help simplify the transition to Windows 11 as Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025," the company added.

As Redmond also announced in December, new Microsoft 365 desktop client app installations on Windows devices will include the new Outlook in addition to the classic Outlook client.

"Classic Outlook and new Outlook are turned on in the new default configuration, and new Outlook will be added as 'on' for existing configurations unless administrators edit to exclude it," Microsoft says in an admin center message updated yesterday.

"In case new Outlook is not needed yet, administrators need to specifically edit their configurations to exclude the new Outlook app in the configuration before new installations."

How to remove and block the new Outlook client

To remove it from your Windows device, you can use the Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage cmdlet with the PackageName parameter value Microsoft.OutlookForWindows.

This can be done by running the following command from a Windows PowerShell prompt:

Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -AllUsers -Online -PackageName (Get-AppxPackage Microsoft.OutlookForWindows).PackageFullName

As explained in an M365 Admin Center message, administrators can also block it from being installed as part of this Windows 10 update by adding the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\Orchestrator\UScheduler_Oobe and a REG_SZ registry setting, named BlockedOobeUpdaters, with a ["MS_Outlook"] value.

You can find more information on blocking users from connecting to new Outlook and controlling other capabilities like connecting personal accounts to new Outlook on the company's support website.