Gaming Services always running

DrFell · Jan 1, 2022

I have disabled all the xbox-related services I could find, and uninstalled the app (we shall see whether it remains uninstalled). But there is still a Gaming Services which is always running, quickly restarts if I close it, and can't be disabled. How do I get rid of it? It's completely redundant, as far as I'm concerned, and it's just cluttering up my Task Manager list.

Why on earth would Microsoft make services of this kind so hard to disable? Is it just to infuriate the customer base?

Incidentally, I found a previous discussion of this issue from last year; the advice then was that the service would not run except when it was called by some game. This is apparently not true now, so I take it that the answer there is out-of-date.

:)

Jesse E'

Hello, My name is Jesse. I'm an Independent Advisor and a member of the Microsoft community and I'd love to assist you today.

To remove Gaming Services from the device; Launch Powershell as an administrator, then copy and paste the following command:

get-appxpackage Microsoft.GamingServices | remove-AppxPackage -allusers

Obsessive Power

I found a previous discussion of this issue from last year; the advice then was that the service would not run except when it was called by some game. This is apparently not true now, so I take it that the answer there is out-of-date.

It may be 'running' in the background as do many other 'services' from Microsoft or other third parties in Windows do. It doesn't mean it's using any precious CPU cycles or RAM that you would actually notice and slowing down your device. Is this what you're concerned about, or is it something else?

Farscape247

you have windows for free, you agree to the terms Microsoft have set when signing into windows, all Xbox and gaming services use little to no resources and they are part of the windows environment, your Microsoft account is your email, Xbox account too.

if you remove any services they will be reinstalled on the next update.

don't forget windows is no longer a simple operating system, it is a service hence why it is free.

If this is not to your liking and you disagree then as per the terms you must uninstall and not use windows, you may be better off with a linux distro which you are free to customise and stop anything running on.

Nursemorph

If I had to guess, I'd say it's related to being signed in to something, whether it's the Microsoft acocunt or something. Don't forget that Microsoft and Xbox GamerTags are basically the same account.

As to cluttering your task Manager list, does it matter that much? I have just looked and nothing Xbox related in my Task Manager is using Resources and there's like 50+ entries on the TM so it wouldn't be noticeable anyway. Sorry, I was just curious that's all...I could understand it if it was using resources that were needed elsewhere,

Gaming Services is a part of Windows...apparently it can be uninstalled via Powershell but not guaranteed to stay uninstalled (well, unless you never updated anything on the machine in future of course but that's definitely not recommended):

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/xbox/forum/all/how-to-uninstall-gaming-services/

XBF Erick C

Hey there teddy!

Sorry to hear you run into problems with the Xbox Live Services, Currently all our services are up and running, you can always get the exact Service status by visiting

support.xbox.com/xbox-live-status.

I hope this helps!

Gaming Services always running