Disable Eye Tracking in Windows via Regedit

Windows includes native eye tracking support for accessibility, allowing compatible peripheral hardware to control the cursor and interact with the operating system. If you do not use this feature, wish to enhance your privacy, or need to enforce a system-wide policy preventing gaze-tracking hardware from activating, you can completely turn it off using the Windows Registry Editor. This guide explains the exact registry keys and values required to disable eye tracking system-wide.

Step 1: Open the Registry Editor

  1. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog box.
  2. Type regedit into the field and press Enter or click OK.
  3. Select Yes if prompted by the User Account Control (UAC) to grant administrative privileges.

Step 2: Disable Eye Tracking via App Privacy Policies

Applying a policy restriction prevents Windows and installed applications from accessing eye-tracking hardware (gaze input).

  1. In the Registry Editor address bar, navigate to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
  2. Check if a sub-key named AppPrivacy exists under Windows.
    • If it does not exist, right-click on the Windows folder, select New > Key, and name it AppPrivacy.
  3. Select the AppPrivacy key.
  4. Right-click in the empty space on the right pane, choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and name the new value: LetAppsAccessGazeInput
  5. Double-click LetAppsAccessGazeInput to edit it.
  6. Set the Value data to 2 (which forces the system to deny access) and ensure the Base is set to Hexadecimal.
  7. Click OK to save the changes.

Step 3: Block Eye Tracking in the Capability Access Manager

To ensure gaze input is fully blocked at the user and device consent levels, update the system capability store.

  1. Navigate to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\gazeInput
  2. In the right-hand pane, locate the string value named Value.
    • If Value does not exist, right-click, select New > String Value, and name it Value.
  3. Double-click Value and set its Value data to Deny.
  4. Click OK.

Next, apply the same rule to the current user profile:

  1. Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\gazeInput
  2. Double-click the Value string (create it if missing) and set its Value data to Deny.
  3. Click OK.

Step 4: Apply the Changes

  1. Close the Registry Editor.
  2. Restart your computer to allow the new policies to take effect.

Once your system restarts, all gaze input capabilities and eye-tracking device communications will be completely disabled. To revert these changes in the future, return to these registry keys and delete the created values or set LetAppsAccessGazeInput to 0 (User in control) and Value back to Allow.