Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program, Commercial Data Opt-in and Resulting Internet Communication in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2
This topic describes how the Windows® Customer Experience Improvement Program communicates across the Internet, and it explains steps to take to limit, control, or prevent that communication in an organization with many users.
Purposes of the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program and Commercial Data Opt-in setting
The Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) in Windows 7 and Windows Server® 2008 R2 is a voluntary program that collects information about how people use Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It collects details about the problems that people encounter without interrupting the users in their tasks at the device. The information that is collected helps Microsoft® improve the features that are used most often in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and create solutions to common problems.
Regardless of whether a device is enrolled in Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program, if the Commercial Data Opt-in setting on the device is enabled, the same information that would normally be collected via the Customer Experience Improvement Program (plus an organizational identifier) is collected by Microsoft and shared with the organization that manages the device via Windows Analytics so the organization can manage the device, for example, by determining its capability to update to a newer version of Windows.
Learn more about how to enable the Commercial Data Opt-in here, and Windows Analytics here.
Overview: Using the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program and Commercial Data Opt-in setting in a managed environment and sharing that data with the organization via Windows Analytics
In a managed environment, the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program runs only if an administrator chooses to participate. You might decide to disable the program on all devices running Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. You can do this by using Group Policy or by using an answer file with an unattended installation. You can also use Group Policy to redirect data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program to a server on your network running System Center Operations Manager 2007 or similar software that is designed to collect data from the Windows Customer Experience Program. You can also enable the Commercial Data Opt-in setting to allow your organization to derive insights from the same types of information normally collected under the Customer Experience Improvement Program via the Windows Analytics product. For more information, see Procedures for controlling the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program and Commercial Data Opt-in setting later in this topic.
An organization may enable the “Commercial Data Opt-in” on a computer to enable the collection of information by Microsoft related to computer, application, and driver compatibility, and share that data with the organization via the Windows Analytics product, for example so the organization can determine which computers in an organization are capable of upgrading to a newer version of Windows.
Note
You can also view or change the setting for the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program on an individual device running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.
How the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program and Commercial Data Opt-in communicates with a site on the Internet
The Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program communicates with a site on the Internet as follows:
Specific information sent: The information that is sent includes details about the device hardware configuration (such as the number of processors and screen resolution), performance and reliability (such as how quickly a program responds when you click a button), and information about use of the system (such as how many folders a user typically creates on the desktop). It also includes information about the use of features in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (such as Event Viewer and Remote Assistance). For additional details, see the link to the privacy statement later in this list.
Default setting: By default, the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program is turned off.
When Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are installed and the device is started for the first time, the Initial Configuration Tasks interface appears, displaying a variety of tasks including Enable automatic updating and feedback. In this task, you can choose to enable the default level of automatic updating and feedback, or you can manually configure settings. If you enable automatic updating and feedback, you turn on the Customer Experience Improvement Program. If you manually configure settings, you can choose whether to turn on the program. In Windows Server 2008 R2 you also have the option to provide information about your organization, such as the approximate number of servers your organization has worldwide.
Regardless of whether a device is enrolled in Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program, if the Commercial Data Opt-in setting on the device is enabled, the same information that would normally be collected via the Customer Experience Improvement Program (plus an organizational identifier) is collected by Microsoft and shared with the organization that manages the device via Windows Analytics so the organization can manage the device, for example, by determining its capability to update to a newer version of Windows.
Learn more about how to enable the Commercial Data Opt-in here, and Windows Analytics here.
Note
In Windows 7, accepting the default recommendations for Initial Configuration Tasks also turns on the Customer Experience Improvement Program.
Triggers: Data for the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program is collected over time and sent periodically. However, data is not collected or sent if the server is on battery power, and no attempt to send data is made if the server is not connected to a network.
User notification: After an administrator chooses to participate in the program, there are no notifications. You are not prompted or interrupted in any way when data is collected or sent.
Logging: Events are logged in Event Viewer in Windows Logs\Application.
Encryption: The data about software usage is encrypted during transmission by using HTTPS (that is, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) with HTTP).
Access and privacy: Data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program is stored on servers in Microsoft-controlled facilities. Microsoft uses the data to identify trends and usage patterns in Microsoft software and to improve Microsoft products and services. For additional information, see the Privacy Statement for the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program.
Transmission protocol and port: The transmission protocol is HTTPS and the port is 443.
Ability to disable: You can disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program on an individual device running Windows Server 2008 R2 by using Initial Configuration Tasks or Server Manager. You can also disable it by using Group Policy, an answer file with an unattended installation, and on an individual device by using the procedure described later in this topic.
Procedures for controlling the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program
The following procedures explain how to:
View or change the Windows CEIP setting on an individual device.
Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program by using Group Policy.
Disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program by using an answer file with unattended installation.
Redirect data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program to a server on your network running System Center Operations Manager or similar software designed to collect data from the Windows Customer Experience Program.
Note
To change Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program settings, you must be logged on as an administrator.
To view or change the Windows CEIP setting on a device running Windows 7
Click Start, select Control Panel, and click the Action Center.
In the left pane, click Change Action Center settings.
Under Related settings, click Customer Experience Improvement Program settings.
If you want to turn off the Windows CEIP, select No, I don't want to participate in the program, and then click Save Changes.
If you want to turn on the Windows CEIP, select Yes, I want to participate in the program, and then click Save Changes.
Following are two procedures that you can use to view or change the Windows CEIP setting on a device running Windows Server 2008 R2:
Use Initial Configuration Tasks. (Use this procedure if you recently installed Windows Server 2008 R2, and the Initial Configuration Tasks interface is displayed.)
Use Server Manager.
To view or change the Windows CEIP setting on a server running Windows Server 2008 R2 by using Initial Configuration Tasks
Under Update This Server, click Enable automatic updating and feedback.
Click Manually configure settings.
Under Customer Experience Improvement Program, click Change Setting.
In the resulting dialog box, view or change the settings.
To view or change the Windows CEIP setting on a server running Windows Server 2008 R2 by using Server Manager
If the Initial Configuration Tasks interface is not displayed and Server Manager is not running, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. (If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.)
In Server Manager, make sure Resources and Support is expanded.
Click Participate in CEIP or Configure CEIP—whichever is currently displayed.
In the resulting dialog box, view or change the settings.
Following are two procedures that you can use to disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program on a device running Windows Server 2008 R2 (with the Group Policy Management feature installed) or in Windows 7:
Use Group Policy.
Use an answer file with an unattended installation.
To disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program by using Group Policy
See Appendix B: Resources for Learning About Group Policy for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for information about using Group Policy. Using an account with domain administrative credentials, log on to a device running Windows Server 2008 R2 (with the Group Policy Management feature installed) or Windows 7. Then open Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) by running gpmc.msc and edit an appropriate Group Policy Object (GPO).
Expand Computer Configuration, expand Policies (if present), expand Administrative Templates, expand System, expand Internet Communication Management, and then click Internet Communication settings.
In the details pane, double-click Turn off Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program, and then click Enabled.
When you enable this setting, all administrators and users to which the Group Policy Object applies are opted out of the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program.
You can also restrict Internet access for this and a number of other features by applying the Restrict Internet communication policy setting, which is located in Computer Configuration under Policies (if present), in Administrative Templates\System\Internet Communication Management. For more information about this Group Policy and the policies that it controls, see Appendix C: Group Policy Settings Listed Under the Internet Communication Management Category in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
To disable the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program by using an answer file with an unattended installation
Using the methods you prefer for an unattended installation or a remote installation, create an answer file. For more information about unattended and remote installations, see Appendix A: Resources for Learning About Automated Installation and Deployment for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
Confirm that your answer file includes the following line:
<CEIPEnabled>0</CEIPEnabled>
To redirect data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program to a server on your network
Make sure that the server to which you want to redirect data is running System Center Operations Manager 2007 or similar software that is designed to collect data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program. For information, see System Center Operations Manager on the Microsoft Web site.
See Appendix B: Resources for Learning About Group Policy for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 for information about using Group Policy. Using an account with domain administrative credentials, log on to a device running Windows Server 2008 R2 (with the Group Policy Management feature installed) or Windows 7. Then open Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) by running gpmc.msc and edit an appropriate Group Policy Object (GPO).
Note
You must perform this procedure by using GPMC on a device running Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7.
Expand Computer Configuration, expand Policies (if present), expand Administrative Templates, expand Windows Components, and then click Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program.
In the details pane, double-click Allow Corporate redirection of Customer Experience Improvement uploads, click Enabled, and then for Corporate SQM URL, specify the URL of the server that the data should be redirected to.
To redirect data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program to your organization via Windows Analytics using the Commercial Data Opt-in setting
If CDO or CEIP is enabled, then data will be collected from your device. Controlling if that data is copied to Windows Analytics is done via the CommercialID registry key, as described in the Windows Analytics enrollment topic.
To control data from the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program reaching Windows Analytics using the Commercial Data Opt-in setting
The Windows Commercial Data Opt-in (CDO) is an optional setting for enterprise-managed devices that is controlled by the following admin-protected registry key:
| Key | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\DataCollection |
| Value Name | CommercialDataOptIn |
| Value Type | DWORD |
| Value Data | 0 – Windows Commercial Data Opt-in is disabled 1 – Windows Commercial Data Opt-in is enabled |
CDO can be disabled by either removing CommercialDataOptIn or setting the Value to 0. To stop data from being copied to Windows Analytics, you can remove “CommercialID” from this same registry key.