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What Information Does Windows 11 Send to Microsoft?

Windows 11 diagnostic data can range from device and update-readiness details to optional app, browser, crash, and input-related categories. The exact data depends on settings, version, policy, region, and feature use.
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Windows 11 can send Microsoft diagnostic data about the device, its configuration, health, and update readiness. If optional diagnostic data is enabled, the documented categories can also cover app and feature use, performance and crashes, Microsoft browser activity, and input-related data. That is a description of what Microsoft says Windows may collect—not a claim that every listed field leaves every PC. The applicable data depends on Windows version, settings, device, policy, region, and features in use.

What does Windows 11 diagnostic data include?

Microsoft distinguishes required diagnostic data from optional diagnostic data. The required level is intended to provide information needed to keep Windows secure, current, and working as expected. Optional data includes the required level and adds further categories for troubleshooting and product improvement. Microsoft’s published catalogs describe event types and possible fields; they are not a packet capture or a complete record of transmissions from a particular computer.

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For Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2, Microsoft’s event catalog lists fields associated with named events and their purposes. Examples include the Windows version and build, locale, installation type and language, device characteristics, processor and memory information, disk size, TPM information, UEFI Secure Boot state, time zone, and compatibility decisions used in update-readiness checks. A field’s presence in the catalog does not mean it is sent continuously or applies to every device. Microsoft’s required diagnostic events and fields for Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2

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How do required and optional data differ?

Question Required diagnostic data Optional diagnostic data
Stated role Minimum signals Microsoft says it needs to help keep Windows secure, current, and functioning. More detail to help diagnose problems and improve Windows and related Microsoft products and services.
Documented examples Device and operating-system configuration and capabilities, system health, basic error reporting, and update readiness. Includes required data, and may add device and connectivity details, app and feature use, performance and errors, software setup and inventory, Microsoft browser activity, and inking, typing, or speech-related categories.
Does this cover connected-experience service data? No. Required service data is a separate category. No. Optional diagnostic data does not include or control that separate category.

Optional diagnostic data always includes required diagnostic data. The available choices and the controls an individual can use depend on the Windows edition and whether an organization manages the device. Microsoft’s current organizational guidance describes the levels and controls. Microsoft’s guidance to configure Windows diagnostic data

What can optional diagnostic data reveal?

The examples below are categories Microsoft documents, not a guarantee that Windows records each activity on every PC. The event, Windows release, settings, and the way a feature is used affect what is applicable. Microsoft’s optional diagnostic data documentation

Device, connection, and configuration details

Optional events may include hardware and operating-system properties, settings and capabilities, network or connectivity details, and peripheral or driver information. Microsoft says these signals can help investigate compatibility and update problems.

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App and feature use

Documented examples include which apps or Windows features are used, how often and for how long an app runs, whether it is in the foreground or background, and how someone interacts with it. Depending on the event and app context, examples can include navigation, choices, or some user-provided input—such as a name entered for an alarm, a menu choice, a favorite, an in-app content search, or reading activity.

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Performance, errors, and crash reports

Optional data may give more detail about app or system status, response behavior, crashes, and hangs. Microsoft warns that memory state included in enhanced crash reporting may unintentionally contain parts of a file that was open when an app crashed. This is a specific crash-reporting caveat; it is not evidence that ordinary required telemetry uploads complete files. Microsoft’s Windows diagnostic-data summary

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Microsoft browser activity

Microsoft’s optional-data examples include text typed into a Microsoft browser’s address or search field, URLs that may contain search terms, page titles, notification text, and autocomplete or suggestion information. This is a Microsoft-browser category; it should not be read as a claim that Windows diagnostic data records the complete history of every browser.

Inking, typing, and speech-related data

Microsoft lists inking, typing, and speech utterance categories among optional data. Its documentation describes the use of this category for natural-language improvement as anonymized. That wording applies to the described category and use; it does not mean all Windows diagnostic data is anonymous. Microsoft’s documentation also describes other optional-data categories as pseudonymized.

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Why does Microsoft collect it?

Microsoft says diagnostic data helps keep Windows secure and up to date, troubleshoot problems, and improve Windows and related Microsoft products and services. Some uses are conditional: with Tailored experiences enabled, applicable data may also support personalized recommendations, tips, offers, and promotion of third-party apps, services, hardware, or peripherals. Those additional uses should not be generalized to every diagnostic event or to a device where the relevant setting is off. Microsoft’s diagnostic-data configuration guidance

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Does turning off optional diagnostic data stop all Windows data from being sent?

No. Required diagnostic data and optional diagnostic data are only two categories. Microsoft separately documents required service data for cloud-backed connected experiences. It is distinct from diagnostic data, and the diagnostic-data setting does not decide whether a service sends data needed for an experience the user chooses to use. Find My Device and Windows backup are examples of connected experiences that can send service data. Optional connected experiences can be turned off; some essential services have separate administrator controls. Microsoft’s explanation of required service data for Windows

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Microsoft characterizes most required service data as ephemeral and typically discarded within 48 hours. That is a qualified description of most such data, not a deletion deadline for every service or a retention promise for all diagnostic data. Microsoft’s required service data guidance

Data collected by a specific app or online service under its own terms is another matter. Changing Windows diagnostic-data options does not, by itself, establish what that separate app or service collects.

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Where can you check the diagnostic-data setting?

  1. On many consumer Windows 11 installations, open Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback.
  2. Review the diagnostic-data options shown on that device. If the option to send optional diagnostic data is available and enabled, Windows can send optional categories in addition to required data.
  3. Review related controls separately, including Tailored experiences and controls for connected experiences. They govern different uses or services; they are not all substitutes for the diagnostic-data choice.
  4. If the PC is managed by an employer, school, or other organization, ask its administrator which policy applies. Management, edition, and Windows release can affect which settings appear and who controls them.

Microsoft’s documentation uses several labels across consumer and organizational contexts: Security (historically called diagnostic data off), Basic (required), Enhanced, and Full (optional). Enhanced is not a Windows 11 diagnostic-data setting; it applied to older Windows 10 releases and some server versions. Do not assume that a label from older guidance appears in current Windows 11 Settings. Microsoft’s configuration guidance

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Does the answer vary by region or Windows release?

Yes. Microsoft’s catalog cited here applies to Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, and event details can change with Windows releases and configuration. Microsoft also says that, since March 6, 2024, Edge diagnostic data is collected separately from Windows diagnostic data on Windows 11 version 23H2 and later in the European Economic Area. Edge has its own data settings there. This is a dated, region-specific distinction—not a rule for every Windows 11 device worldwide. Microsoft’s organizational diagnostic-data guidance

What can you conclude about one particular PC?

Microsoft’s public documentation establishes the categories and examples Windows may send under specified conditions. It does not show which events a particular PC actually transmitted, when they were transmitted, or the exact contents of a device’s traffic. To determine those specifics would require device-level evidence interpreted against its Windows build, settings, policies, and feature use. The documented examples are therefore useful for understanding the scope of collection, but they should not be mistaken for a universal list of fields uploaded by every Windows 11 computer.

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