How to Configure Advanced Diagnostic Data Upload Schedules in Windows 11

Diagnostic Data Levels and Their Impact on Upload Frequencies

The diagnostic data level decides how much information your computer sends to Microsoft. That in turn affects how often and how much it uploads. Moving between required and optional telemetry changes the size of the data packets queued for transmission, which affects both your network bandwidth and your privacy position.

• OffDisables optional and required diagnostic data collection, so routine telemetry generation stops. Basic security reporting may still function depending on enterprise configuration. This level is normally only available through policy on Enterprise and Education editions, so it does not appear as a choice in Settings on Home or Pro.
• Required Diagnostic DataGathers basic device information, settings, capabilities, and whether apps are performing correctly. This tier produces smaller payloads and less frequent upload queues.
• Optional Diagnostic DataIncludes deeper device telemetry, website activity, enhanced error reporting, and crash dumps. This setting generates significantly larger data packets that need more frequent or larger upload windows.

Because each tier changes how much data is waiting to go out, a higher setting needs stricter scheduling. Without it, background uploads can saturate the connection during peak business hours.

How Microsoft Handles Diagnostic Data Transmission

Windows sends diagnostic data as encrypted logs over secure HTTPS connections to Microsoft’s official data collection endpoints. The Connected User Experiences and Telemetry service manages these payloads in the background. It holds them locally until your device has an active internet connection.

Managing this transmission lifecycle prevents network congestion. In enterprise and high-security environments, administrators often pair custom upload schedules with proxy server configurations and URL exclusions. That way telemetry traffic goes through specific gateways and does not expose internal network topology.

Diagnostic Data Settings in 🪟 Windows 11

Before you build an advanced schedule, set the core diagnostic data level to match your privacy and operational requirements. This can be done on a single machine through the Settings app, or enforced across many machines with centralized management tools.

If a policy is enforced, the Settings app usually shows the option greyed out with a note that some settings are managed by your organization. In that case, change the policy rather than the toggle.

Configuring Diagnostic Data via the Settings App

The Settings app lets you switch between required and optional diagnostic data using the built-in menus. No advanced tools are needed, and this works on Home, Pro, Enterprise and Education, provided you are signed in as an administrator. You can reverse the change at any time by repeating the steps and choosing the other setting. No restart is required.

1. Press Win+I to open Settings.

   

2. Click Privacy & security in the left-hand navigation pane.

   

3. Scroll down the main window and select Diagnostics & feedback.

   

4. Expand the Diagnostic data section. The diagnostic data options appear listed under it.
5. Choose between Send optional diagnostic data and the required-only setting by switching the option on or off. In current Windows 11 builds this is a toggle: turning Send optional diagnostic data off leaves you on required diagnostic data. On an older build you may see radio buttons instead.

Use Group Policy to Manage Diagnostic Data Collection

Group Policy lets you enforce a specific diagnostic data state using the Local Group Policy Editor. This administrator tool locks the telemetry level so standard users cannot change it in the Settings app. It requires Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise or Education and an administrator account. The Local Group Policy Editor is not included in Windows 11 Home. If gpedit.msc is not found when you search for it, you are most likely on Home and should use the Settings app instead.

1. Open the Start menu, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter. The Local Group Policy Editor opens.
2. In the left directory tree, go to Computer Configuration › Administrative Templates › Windows Components › Data Collection and Preview Builds. The policies for that folder appear in the central pane.
3. Double-click the policy named Allow Diagnostic Data in the central pane. The policy configuration window opens.

   

4. Select Enabled in the top-left corner of the window. The Options area becomes active.
5. Open the Options drop-down list and select your desired telemetry level, such as Send required diagnostic data or Send optional diagnostic data.
6. Click Apply, then OK, to save your changes.

To undo this, reopen the policy and select Not Configured. Policy changes normally apply within a short time, and a restart is not usually needed. If you want to be sure, restart the PC.

Use Group Policy to Manage Optional Diagnostic Data Collection

The same Group Policy Editor location lets you restrict or permit extra telemetry transmission. Locate the right policy under the administrative templates to control whether optional data leaves your machine. Policy names differ between Windows 11 builds, so read the description text in each policy window before you change anything. As with the previous section, this needs Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise or Education.

1. Open the Start menu, type gpedit.msc in the search🔍 box, and press Enter. This requires an administrator account.
2. Go to Computer Configuration › Administrative Templates › Windows Components › Data Collection and Preview Builds.
3. Locate and double-click the policy titled Disable OneSettings Auditing, or look for advanced telemetry throttling policies, depending on your exact Windows 11 build. If a policy is not listed on your build, it is not available there.

   

4. Set the policy state to Enabled or Disabled, based on whether you want to permit supplementary data uploads. The description box in the policy window explains what each state does for that specific policy.
5. Click Apply, then click OK.

To reverse the change, set the policy back to Not Configured.

Advanced Diagnostic Data Scheduling and Throttling (Unique Expert Strategy)

Advanced scheduling and throttling use Task Scheduler together with background service restrictions to control upload times and bandwidth use. Windows normally handles these bursts automatically, but you can adjust the underlying tasks for tighter control.

This requires administrator privileges. Note down the original trigger and condition values before you change them, so you can restore them later.

1. Open the Start menu, type Task Scheduler, and press Enter. Approve the User Account Control prompt if one appears.
2. In the left pane, expand the tree to Task Scheduler Library › Microsoft › Windows › Customer Experience Improvement Program. The tasks in that folder appear in the top-middle pane.
3. Click individual tasks such as Consolidator or UsbCeip to view their properties in the lower pane.
4. Switch to the Triggers tab to see when the task is scheduled to run.
5. Double-click an active trigger to open its edit window, then change the start time to off-peak hours, such as midnight or weekends.
6. Switch to the Conditions tab and select Start the task only if the computer is idle.
7. On the same tab, select Start only if the following network connection is available. In the connection drop-down, pick the specific unmetered network you want rather than Any connection, so the task does not run on a metered link and use data unintentionally.
8. Click OK to save the modified task schedule.

A metered connection is a network that Windows treats as having a data limit or a per-use cost. Windows only knows a link is metered if it is marked that way. Mobile hotspots are often detected automatically, but a home or office connection with a data cap usually is not. To mark one yourself:

1. Open Settings and go to Network & internet.
2. Select Wi-Fi📶 or Ethernet, depending on how the PC connects.
3. For Wi-Fi📶, click the properties page of the connected network. For Ethernet, the connection’s properties page opens directly.
4. Switch the Metered connection toggle to On. Windows now limits some background data use on that connection.

Marking a link as metered reduces background traffic, but it does not guarantee that every diagnostic upload stops. Switch the toggle back to Off to undo it.

Some of these tasks are owned by the system, and feature updates may reset your edits, so recheck them after a major update. Changing these tasks also does not necessarily change when the Connected User Experiences and Telemetry service itself uploads, which is why the verification steps below matter. To undo, restore the trigger and condition values you noted earlier.

Validating Diagnostic Data Configurations

Validation confirms that your custom schedules and policy changes are being applied by the operating system. Start with the telemetry operational logs in Event Viewer.

1. Open the Start menu, type Event Viewer, and press Enter.
2. In the left sidebar, expand Applications and Services Logs › Microsoft › Windows and look for the telemetry-related folder with an Operational log inside it.
3. Open the Microsoft-Windows-Telemetry/Operational log and review the events for successful uploads, transmission errors, and schedule execution receipts. If this log is missing or empty on your build, telemetry activity may not be logged there. Rely on the Task Scheduler history and policy checks instead.
4. Compare the event timestamps with the off-peak schedule you set in Task Scheduler. Uploads that land outside your window mean something else is triggering them.

Settings also offers two tools for checking the data itself. Go to Settings › Privacy & security › Diagnostics & feedback and look for these options:

• Diagnostic Data ViewerLets you inspect the diagnostic data your PC sends to Microsoft. Turn it on there, then open it to browse the events. It runs as a separate app that Windows may need to download from the Microsoft Store.
• Delete diagnostic dataClears the diagnostic data Microsoft has collected from this device. Use it after you lower the diagnostic data level if you want older data removed. Deleting does not stop future collection, so the level you chose still applies.

If this didn’t work

If your settings do not stick, check whether domain-level Group Policies or MDM overrides are overwriting your local settings. MDM means mobile device management, the tool many organizations use to control PCs remotely. A Resultant Set of Policy report, run from the command line, shows which policy source wins for each setting and helps isolate conflicts. Once your configuration applies cleanly, the next steps are to monitor network bandwidth utilization or to add advanced firewall rules that further isolate diagnostic traffic endpoints.