Windows Analytics blog https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/feed.xml Windows Analytics is a suite of telemetry-driven insights for Enterprises Tue, 10 Jul 2018 21:47:49 GMT en-US hourly 1 This blog has moved! https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/this-blog-has-moved Tue, 10 Jul 2018 13:47:49 GMT http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/upgradeanalytics/?p=1455 https://aka.ms/blog/WindowsAnalytics. While you're there, check out Deepam Dubey's latest post on How Upgrade Readiness collects application inventory for your OMS workspace?. All older posts have been migrated to the new location and we'll be redirecting this site in the coming weeks. ]]> Upgrade Readiness has been re-enabled on Windows 7 EU devices https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/upgrade-readiness-re-enabled Mon, 02 Jul 2018 08:00:18 GMT http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/upgradeanalytics/?p=1415 We have a strong commitment to providing the tools and resources that put our customers in control of their privacy. To that end, on May 14th we chose to temporarily reduce the Windows diagnostic data collected on Windows 7 and 8.1 devices in European countries (EEA and Switzerland).

Windows Analytics Upgrade Readiness customers may have noticed data from affected devices not being updated. Note: This change had no impact on Windows 10 devices or on devices outside of a European country.

After further evaluation we have now re-enabled a limited subset of the diagnostic data for Windows 7 devices, sufficient to use Upgrade Readiness. In order to resume diagnostic data collection, you must run the latest upgrade readiness deployment script on your Windows 7 devices.

Note: Data from Windows 8.1 devices still remains unavailable in European Countries, as does data from Windows 7 devices needed for the Upgrade Readiness app usage and IE site discovery features.

]]> New technical content available; decks, draft SDK and device configuration topic https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/new-technical-content-available-decks-draft-sdk-and-device-configuration-topic Tue, 03 Apr 2018 07:28:42 GMT http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/upgradeanalytics/?p=1375
  • Windows Analytics Overview decks, to explain the benefits and requirements of deploying Windows Analytics. We are releasing these decks to the technical community to make it easier for partners to have discussions with their customers, and customers to have discussions with their internal stakeholders.
  • Windows Analytics draft extensibility docs, to enable ISVs, partners and IT pros to move beyond the functionality in the portal and learn how to create custom reports, custom alerts, integrate analytics data with other data sets for richer insights, or integrate analytics data into existing tools and workflows. Be aware that this content is in early draft format and we are planning to make some breaking schema changes in the next year, so expect to see changes to the document as we refine the content and please plan to port forward any queries that your write.
  • New device configuration and FAQ/tshoooter topics that cover all three Windows Analytics solutions in one place. These replace, update and unify the previous solution-specific topics
    •  ]]>         A new version of the deployment script (2.4) is now available and checks for two 1803 breaking changes https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/a-new-version-of-the-deployment-script-2-4-is-now-available-and-checks-for-two-1803-breaking-changes Tue, 03 Apr 2018 05:59:37 GMT http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/upgradeanalytics/?p=1355 In Windows 10, version 1803, the device name is no longer sent to the diagnostic data management service by default and requires a separate opt-in. The latest version of the deployment script enables this opt-in by default, but you can disable this behavior by setting DeviceNameOptIn = false. Note that the device name is also sent to AppInsights, so to ensure the device name is not sent to either place you would need to also set AppInsightsOptIn = false. Please be sure to enable this opt-in if you wish to continue to see device names in the admin portal for Windows 10, version 1803 devices. You can learn more about the deployment script here.  In addition, there was a slight change to the Connected User Experience and Diagnostic component endpoint URL for Windows 10, version 1803, so please be sure your network configuration allows access to this new end-point. You can learn more about the endpoint URLs here.]]> Announcing Delivery Optimization Insights for Windows Analytics: Update Compliance https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/announcing-delivery-optimization-insights-for-windows-analytics-update-compliance Wed, 28 Mar 2018 08:25:04 GMT http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/upgradeanalytics/?p=1325 Delivery Optimization, an in-box Windows 10 feature for reducing bandwidth consumption. IT Administrators can utilize the bandwidth savings of Delivery Optimization to reduce bandwidth costs and load on their network, and now have the insights to see the exact impact being made. Delivery Optimization Insights allows IT pros to view how much bandwidth they've saved over the past 28 days, as well as a breakdown of:
    • Their device configuration settings for Delivery Optimization
    • The percentage of bandwidth savings by content type (Windows 10 updates, drivers, apps, etc.)
    • Bandwidth savings amount (bytes) for each content type
    Existing users of Update Compliance will see Delivery Optimization appear in their solution automatically. For more information, check out the Delivery Optimization Insights documentation.]]>         Upgrade Readiness now helps assess Spectre and Meltdown protections https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/upgrade-readiness-now-helps-assess-spectre-and-meltdown-protections Tue, 13 Feb 2018 09:54:44 GMT http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/upgradeanalytics/?p=1256 Update: This post was updated on February 26, 2018 to include a section on "How to use these new blades".   It’s important to protect your computers against the hardware security vulnerabilities known as Spectre and Meltdown.  Microsoft has published guidance for IT Pros that outlines the steps Microsoft has taken as well as steps you can take to take advantage of all available protections.   As outlined in the guidance for IT Pros article, Microsoft recommends three steps to help protect against the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities:
    1. Verify that you are running a supported antivirus application.
    2. Apply all available Windows operating system updates, including the January 2018 and later Windows security updates.
    3. Apply any applicable processor firmware (microcode) updates provided by your device manufacturer(s).
      To help you keep track of all this, we’re rolling out an update to Upgrade Readiness that provides insight into the status of your devices across these three axes.  Note that you may see a large number of blank, “unknown”, or “to be determined” statuses at first.  Rest assured, we will be working on enhancing the data that you see in Upgrade Readiness as new information becomes available.   One action that you can take immediately is to ensure that your computers are able to reach the following endpoint: 
    http://adl.windows.com
      This may involve adding this URL to your company’s whitelist which may require approval from your security group.  This endpoint is used to communicate updates to Microsoft’s compatibility information with client computers.  By ensuring your computers can reach this endpoint, you can help them get the most up-to-date information Microsoft has available about supported antivirus solutions and versions, security update statuses, etc.  

    How to use these new blades

      The first new blade, called "Anti-virus status by computer," is designed to help you determine if your devices' anti-virus solution is compatible with the latest Windows OS updates from Microsoft.  You're able to see how many of your devices have an anti-virus solution with no known issues, issues reported, or an unknown status for a particular Windows security update.  For example, in the image below, we can see that an anti-virus solution that has no known issues with the January 3, 2018 Windows OS update is installed on about 2,800 devices.  We include the target Windows OS update in the blade because the same anti-virus solution may have different compatibility statuses across different security updates.   The second blade, called "Windows security update status by computer," indicates whether a Windows OS security update that includes Spectre/Meltdown related fixes (January 3, 2018 or later) has been installed, as well as whether specific fixes have been disabled.  While protections are enabled by default on Windows clients, some IT admins may choose to disable specific protections.  You can learn more about this on Microsoft's guidance for IT pros page.  (Note that separate guidance applies to Windows Servers.)  In the example below, we can see that about 4,300 devices have a Windows security update that includes Spectre/Meltdown protections installed, and those protections are enabled. Important! If you are seeing computers with statuses of either “Unknown – action may be required” or “Installed, but mitigation status unknown,” it is likely that you need to whitelist the above endpoint.   The third blade -- "Firmware security update status by computer" -- will show how many of your devices have installed a firmware update that includes Spectre/Meltdown protections.  As of the time this blog post was published, firmware status data is not yet available.  Our goal is to provide this information once it becomes available from our CPU partners.  No action will be required to start seeing this information once it is available.   We’ll be updating this blog post over the next several weeks as we continue to enhance this feature.  In the meantime, please let us know if you have any questions or feedback.  You can always reach us at uasupport@microsoft.com.  ]]>         Announcing post-upgrade insights in Upgrade Readiness https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/announcing-post-upgrade-insights-in-upgrade-readiness Sun, 17 Dec 2017 21:04:43 GMT http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/upgradeanalytics/?p=1225   Update Progress The first blade in Step 4 allows you to monitor the progress and status of your deployment.  We've added a "DeploymentStatus" attribute to all computers that have attempted to upgrade within the past 30 days.  These values are summarized in the Update Progress blade.  You'll be able to see the number of computers that have successfully upgraded, failed to upgrade, are stalled, etc. Clicking into this blade allows you to view computer-level details about the deployment.  For example, if I click into "Failed", I can see the source OS version, the target OS version, and the failure reason for each of the 278 computers that failed to upgrade.  In the case of the computer below, an attempt was made to upgrade from version 1703 to 1709, but the operation timed out.   Driver Issues The Driver Issues blade allows you to see device manager errors for your upgraded computers.  We include data for all compatibility-related device errors, such as "driver not found" (DNF) and "driver not started".  Errors are summarized on the blade by error type; you can, of course, click in to see computer-level details about which device(s) are failing and where to obtain a driver. For example, if we drill into error code "28 - driver not installed", we see that the computer below is missing the driver for a network controller.  Upgrade Readiness also tells us that a suitable driver is available online on Windows Update.  If this computer is configured to automatically receive updates from Windows Update, we would expect this issue to resolve itself following the computer's next Windows Update scan.  If this computer does not automatically receive updates from Windows Update, we would need to deliver the driver manually.   User Feedback The 3rd new blade focuses on gathering subjective feedback from your end users.  If a user submits feedback through the Feedback Hub app on a computer that exists in your workspace, we will surface that feedback to you in this blade.  The Feedback Hub app is built into Windows 10 and can be accessed by typing "Feedback Hub" in the Cortana search bar. We recommend that you encourage your end users to submit any feedback they have through the Feedback Hub.  Not only will this feedback be sent directly to Microsoft for review, but you'll also be able to see it via Upgrade Readiness.  It's important to note that feedback submitted through the Feedback Hub will be publicly visible therefore it's best to avoid submitting feedback on internal line-of-business applications. When viewing user feedback in Upgrade Readiness, you'll be able to see the raw Title and Feedback text from the user's submission in the Feedback Hub, as well as the number of upvotes the submission has received.  (Note that since feedback is publicly visible, the number of upvotes is a global value and not specific to your company.)  If a Microsoft engineer has responded to the feedback submission in the Feedback Hub, we'll pull in the Microsoft Response for you to see.   We hope you find this addition to Upgrade Readiness useful.  Take a look at Step 4 in your workspace, and let us know what you think!  As always, we welcome your comments, questions, and feedback at uasupport@microsoft.com.]]> Announcing the General Availability of Windows Analytics: Update Compliance https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/announcing-the-general-availability-of-windows-analytics-update-compliance Tue, 17 Oct 2017 10:00:03 GMT http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/upgradeanalytics/?p=1195 Update Compliance, as the newest addition to Windows Analytics. With the GA release, we will continue to make Update Compliance available for all Windows 10 desktops with Pro or higher licenses. Update Compliance is targeted to the IT pro who wants to gain a holistic view of all their Windows 10 devices -- without any additional infrastructure requirements. Update Compliance enables IT pros to:
    • Quickly identify devices with issues that need attention
    • Maintain a closer perspective on the progress and status of Windows 10 updates
    • Gain insights into Windows 10 Defender Antivirus status for devices that use it
    Update Compliance allows IT pros to track all of these aspects of their devices, regardless of the management solution being used. Update Compliance accomplishes this via utilizing Windows 10 device telemetry. While this release provides general availability of the features that we previously released for public preview, we are really just getting started. In our next update, we'll be bringing visualizations and insights into internet bandwidth saved when utilizing Delivery Optimization for Windows 10. As a reminder, Update Compliance requires Windows telemetry be enabled at "Basic or higher" and a unique Commercial identifier be configured on the device, and the data will begin to flow. The "Basic" telemetry events are fully documented here, which should help streamline the review with your privacy and compliance teams. More information of devices being monitored for Update Compliance is described in the Update Compliance documentation. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to use the comments below.]]>         Announcing the General Availability of Windows Analytics: Device Health https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/announcing-the-general-availability-of-windows-analytics-device-health Tue, 17 Oct 2017 09:18:54 GMT http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/upgradeanalytics/?p=1205 Device Health as the newest addition to Windows Analytics. As an IT pro, you can use Device Health to proactively detect and remediate end-user impacting issues, including:
    • Frequently crashing devices that may need to be rebuilt or replaced
    • Device drivers that are causing device crashes, and alternative versions of those drivers that may reduce the crash rate
    • Windows Information protection misconfigurations that result in end-user prompts
      With the GA release, we now require customers to have purchased enough E3 or E5 license to cover the set of devices being monitored for Device Health as described in the Device Health documentation. There is no additional cost beyond the cost of these licenses, and we do not require the licenses be installed on the machines being monitored (e.g., it's OK to monitor a "pro" device). While this release provides general availability of the features that we previously released for public preview, we are really just getting started. We expect to soon release preview versions of App Reliability (to help identity app crashes so they can be reduced) and Login Health (to help identity usage and errors by login type, so they can be reduced). As a reminder, Device Health requires the enhanced level of Windows diagnostic data. With the 1709 release of Windows, there is a new policy available to "Limit enhanced diagnostic data to the minimum required by Windows Analytics". These events are fully documented here, which should help streamline the review with your privacy and compliance teams. If you do have any questions or feedback, feel free to use the comments below.]]>         Announcing the Public Preview of Windows Analytics: Device Health https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/upgradeanalytics/announcing-device-health Mon, 31 Jul 2017 07:23:42 GMT http://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/upgradeanalytics/?p=1155 Device Health as the newest addition to Windows Analytics. As an IT pro, you can use Device Health to proactively detect and remediate end-user impacting issues, including:
    • Frequently crashing devices that may need to be rebuilt or replaced
    • Device drivers that are causing device crashes, and alternative versions of those drivers that may reduce the crash rate
    • Windows Information protection misconfigurations that result in end-user prompts
    • And there are many more insights on the way, as we add new functionality to Device Health every month
    Device Health uses diagnostic data to provide these insights without additional infrastructure requirements. Proactively remediating end-user issues enables you to reduce support costs and improve efficiency. Device Health is a solution in Operation Management Suite (OMS) Log Analytics. If you are new to OMS, you can sign up and add the Windows Analytics bundle, which includes Device Health, Update Compliance and Upgrade Readiness. Existing OMS customers can simply add the Device Health solution. Usage of Device Health (Preview) is not counted towards any of your existing OMS subscription/quota or the Azure subscription/pay-as-you-go model. There are a couple of steps you need to take in order to see your organization’s data in Device Health. These are described in detail in the Device Health Getting Started documentation. At a high level, you need to do the following: New customers: create an OMS workspace and link the workspace to an Azure subscription. (If you do not have one, we recommend you get one with pay-as-you-go model.) Existing OMS customers and Upgrade Analytics customers: add the Device Health solution from the solution gallery. All customers:
    1. Subscribe to Windows Analytics solutions. (Go to OMS settings > Connected Sources > Windows Telemetry, and click Subscribe.)
    2. Copy the Commercial ID Key from Windows Telemetry tab in OMS and configure devices with the key you copied. (You can use Group Policy or MDM to configure.)
    3. Ensure minimum telemetry configuration on your devices is set to Enhanced.
    4. Ensure your network configuration allows devices to send telemetry data to Microsoft telemetry service endpoints, and that you have not disabled Windows Error Reporting
    Once the data is sent, it will typically show up in Device Health within 24-48 hours. Here is an example of how Device Health (Preview) displays that data: The middle “blade” above shows devices that have had the most crashes in the last week and may need to be rebuilt or replaced. The blade on the right shows you which device drivers have caused the most devices to crash in the last two weeks, and a click through will help you determine if updating to a newer driver version can help reduce crashes. You can follow this blog to get more information on any new updates we announce on Windows Analytics. If you do have any questions or feedback, feel free to use the comments below.]]>