Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program and Resulting Internet Communication in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2

In this section

Purposes of the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program

Overview: Using the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program in a managed environment

How the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program communicates with a site on the Internet

Procedures for controlling the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program

This section 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

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 computer. 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.

Overview: Using the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program in a managed environment

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 computers 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. For more information, see Procedures for controlling the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program later in this section.

How the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program 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 computer 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 computer 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.

• 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 computer 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 computer by using the procedure described later in this section.

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 computer.

• 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.

To view or change the Windows CEIP setting on a computer running Windows 7

1. Click Start, select Control Panel, and click the Action Center.

2. In the left pane, click Change Action Center settings.

3. Under Related settings, click Customer Experience Improvement Program settings.

4. 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.

Following are two procedures that you can use to view or change the Windows CEIP setting on a computer 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

1. Under Update This Server, click Enable automatic updating and feedback.

2. Click Manually configure settings.

3. Under Customer Experience Improvement Program, click Change Setting.

4. 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

1. 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.)

2. In Server Manager, make sure Resources and Support is expanded.

3. Click Participate in CEIP or Configure CEIP—whichever is currently displayed.

4. 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 computer 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

1. 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 computer 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).

2. Expand Computer Configuration, expand Policies (if present), expand Administrative Templates, expand System, expand Internet Communication Management, and then click Internet Communication settings.

3. 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

1. 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.

2. 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

1. 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.

2. 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 computer 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).

3. Expand Computer Configuration, expand Policies (if present), expand Administrative Templates, expand Windows Components, and then click Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program.

4. 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.