If you noticed Copilot is randomly unpinned from your taskbar and missing from your Windows machine, you’re not alone. Microsoft’s fancy new Copilot app is being “unintentionally uninstalled” on Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices during this month’s latest update.

While Microsoft is busy trying to add Copilot to every PC possible, its own updates are working against that goal. Earlier this month, the company started rolling out its long-awaited Windows 11 24H2 update for more devices. In an ironic turn of events, that update, which began on March 11th and is build KB5053598, removed the Copilot assistant for countless owners.

“We’re aware of an issue with the Microsoft Copilot app affecting some devices. The app is unintentionally uninstalled and unpinned from the taskbar,” said Microsoft in a support document for the update. Further mentioning that the issue isn’t problematic for those using the 365 Copilot app. Microsoft also confirmed some issues with the popular app Roblox, along with devices that have certain Citrix components installed that might be unable to complete the installation.

To make matters worse, Windows Latest reported it’s also happening on a recent 23H2 update for Windows 11, along with the Windows 10 update to build KB5053606. That’s three different builds removing the AI assistant. Basically, if you’ve been enjoying (or simply dealing with) the Windows Copilot app, and now it’s suddenly gone missing, this is why.

While this is clearly a bug in multiple updates rolling out over the last week or so, we expect Microsoft will issue another round of updates shortly to rectify things. So, what’s the fix? Well, Microsoft is busy trying to determine what’s actually happening with all of these updates. In the meantime, the company confirmed that “affected users can reinstall the app from the Microsoft Store and manually pin it to the taskbar.”

It’s interesting to see Microsoft telling users to manually install Copilot and pin the app back to their taskbar, considering that wasn’t an option in the beginning. Funny enough, several users on Reddit confirming the situation said they wished this was a feature and not an accident. They suggested they’d like to have the option to install Copilot rather than being forced on users.

If you’re upset about losing Copilot on your Windows 10 or Windows 11 machine, go redownload it from the Microsoft Store. Naturally, don’t forget to re-pin it to your taskbar. Otherwise, you can wait for another update, as we’re fairly confident it’ll be automatically added to PCs again as soon as possible.

Microsoft isn’t shying away from the fact that it wants Copilot everywhere. The company is busy rolling out a native version of its Copilot for Windows app following another redesign late last year. It’s making its way deeper into the Notepad app, and we recently learned that Xbox devices will also be getting a Copilot.

In addition, the latest Copilot update added a hotkey shortcut that reminds us of Cortana, letting users tap a key to talk to their Copilot assistant. And finally, the company is preparing for its big 50th Anniversary and Copilot event on April 4th, which will showcase years of innovation and probably a lot about its AI assistant. It’ll be interesting to see what we learn from the event, any changes, or about new and upcoming artificial intelligence features.

At the end of the day, we’re confident Microsoft will work to swiftly fix this little hiccup and return to pushing Copilot in all of its updates.

Source: Microsoft via Windows Latest