How to disable split screen in windows 8/8.1

Thank you for your thorough and prompt response. I accept that this functionality cannot be disabled.

I still recommend you be clearer in your response considering Windows 8 does NOT treat the split screen windows the same as regular desktop applications. You can only resize them horizontally and in proportion to one another. They cannot be moved in any way, or re-sized vertically. Nor can you switch between them in the traditional sense. Nor can they overlap.

In fact the interface is nothing like working with applications on your desktop. So what you are saying makes no sense and is confusing to anyone who owns a windows 8 machine. How can you even compare the split screen to working with regular applications? That's like saying the split screen functionality on an Android phone is exactlylike working with applications on your desktop. When it obviously isn't..

Anyways....

Thanks for getting back to me.

I get you, but there's no distinction in the system: it treats those just the same as regular windows and lets the user arrange them, and there's no setting that's ever existed to disable movement of windows.  It may look a little different (no border), but it treats it the same: as far as operating system is concerned it's still just a window, free to be moved or positioned. I 'm not defending it, just saying that's how it is built.  The best I can offer is, "if you don't want to split, don't do it."  You should never see the split you show above unless you intentionally do it.  Sorry I don't have any better advice.

If you're curious about what functions you can control via policy, here's a full list of all possibility controls. If you are controlling a PC without GPEDIT, this also includes the registry location of the setting.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/F/B/8FBD2E85-8852-45EC-8465-92756EBD9365/WindowsServer2012R2andWindows8.1GroupPolicySettings.xlsx

You are still not understanding the fundamental request here. Obviously you can't stop users from re-sizing applications in the desktop interface.

What I want to disable is the "docking" ability. The screenshot below shows how you can "dock" the desktop as if it is a single application. If you never use metro apps, this ability does not provide any value. You will never want to "dock" the desktop to split the screen with a metro app if you never use metro apps. This functionality is simply an annoyance.

Can this "docking" or "split screen functionality" be disabled?

Sorry but as far as I know there's not a way to stop users from opening more than one program and arranging them how they please, regardless of whether those apps are metro/desktop: the distinction doesn't matter because  they're both still just programs, and they both are allowed to be arranged, resized, or positioned by the user.  But if they don't use metro apps, they'll never see them.  Windows will never force a user into the metro environment: the user has to go there on their own if they want it.

This conversation ended without a resolution to the initial question. Windows 8 introduced a split screen functionality that is only useful if you use Metro apps (i.e. you can split the screen between the regular desktop and a metro app, or between two metro apps). Yes, Windows 8.1 made this feature less obtrusive, but it did not resolve the issue. Out of the hundreds of business users I support, no one uses any metro apps. Can you please provide a solution to disable the split screen feature?