How can correctly upload photos and videos taken at High Efficiency to PC via iCloud for Windows, converting them to the most compatible format?

Have you ever encountered a situation where in the advanced settings of the iCloud application for Windows you found a setting for downloading in High Efficiency format that cannot be disabled? It seems that there is a choice, but in reality there is none - the check mark in the box cannot be removed: they are both gray.

   This means that if you took photos or videos in iOS 18 in High Efficiency (HEIF/HEVC) format, you will not be able to upload your content to your PC in the most compatible formats: JPEG for photos and H.264 for videos.

   And the most important thing is that photos and videos taken by iOS 18 in High Efficiency format, only converted to iCloud for Windows in the most compatible format, will load correctly to the PC - with thumbnails and metadata.

    Does anyone know how to solve this problem in Windows 11?

I've been looking for ways to get rid of the gray jackdaw for a long time, first on Windows 10... And finally realized that iCloud for Windows, if it detects that Microsoft's "HEVC Extension for Windows" is present on your PC, it forcibly enables the download of HEIF files/HEVC in the original format without the possibility of disabling. It's not at all clear why Apple did this, but that's exactly the problem.

   And you can solve this problem only by completely getting rid of this extension on your PC. That is, you need to delete it, log into iCloud for Windows again and see the new state there in the advanced settings - with a white square with a blue jackdaw (removable) or even clean, and then upload photos and videos with this state of settings.

   But the problem is that this method of getting rid of the gray jackdaw and the gray square only works in Windows 10. 

   You will not be able to get rid of it in Windows 11 in this way. Even if you do not have any HEIF/HEVC photo and video extension installed on your PC from the Microsoft Store, it is impossible to disable downloading these files in the original format. It's unclear then where iCloud for Windows hooks these codecs in Windows 11 to force them into its settings.… And how do I turn it off?