How to Disable Error Reporting in Windows

Disable error reporting to Microsoft in Windows 10, 8, 7, etc.

The error reporting feature in Windows is what produces those alerts after certain program or operating system errors, prompting you to send the information about the problem to Microsoft.

You might want to disable error reporting to avoid sending private information about your computer to Microsoft, because you’re not connected to the internet all the time, or just to stop being prompted by the annoying alerts.

Error reporting is enabled by default in all versions of Windows but is easy to turn off from either the Control Panel or from Services, depending on your version of Windows.

Before doing this, please keep in mind that not only is it beneficial for Microsoft, but it’s also ultimately a good thing for you, the Windows owner. These reports send vital information to Microsoft about a problem that the operating system or a program is having and helps them develop future patches and service packs, making Windows more stable.

The specific steps involved in disabling error reporting depends significantly on which operating system you’re using. See What Version of Windows Do I Have? if you’re not sure which set of instructions to follow.

Disable Error Reporting in Windows 10

Use the WIN+R keyboard shortcut to open the Run dialog box.

Enter services.msc.

Right-click or tap-and-hold Windows Error Reporting Service.

Select Properties.

Choose Disabled from the menu next to Startup type.

Can’t select it? If the Startup type menu is grayed out, log out and log back in as an administrator. Or, reopen Services with admin rights, which you can do by opening an elevated Command Prompt and then executing the services.msc command.

Select OK or Apply.

You can now close out of the Services window.

Another way to disable error reporting is through Registry Editor. Navigate to the registry key you see below, and then find the value called Disabled. If it doesn’t exist, make a new DWORD value with that exact name.

You can make a new DWORD value from the Edit > New menu in Registry Editor.

Double-click or double-tap the Disabled value to change it from a 0 to a 1, and then save it by selecting OK.

Disable Error Reporting in Windows 8 or Windows 7

Choose System and Security.

If you’re viewing the Large icons or Small icons view of Control Panel, select Action Center and skip to Step 4.

Choose Action Center.

Select Change Action Center settings from the left side of the Action Center window.

Select Problem reporting settings from the Related settings section at the bottom of the window.

Pick one of the four options:

• Automatically check for solutions (the default option)
• Automatically check for solutions and send additional report data, if needed
• Each time a problem occurs, ask me before checking for solutions: Choosing this will keep error reporting enabled but will prevent Windows from automatically notifying Microsoft about the issue. If your concern about error reporting is only privacy related, this is the best option for you.
• Never check for solutions: This will fully disable error reporting in Windows.

There’s also a Select programs to exclude from reporting option that you’re welcome to explore if you’d rather customize reporting instead of completely disable it. This is probably more work than you’re interested in, but the option is there if you need it.

If you can’t change these settings because they’re grayed out, choose the link at the bottom of the window that says Change report settings for all users.

Choose OK on the Problem Reporting Settings window, and then again on the Change Action Center settings window. You can now close the Action Center window.

Disable Error Reporting in Windows Vista

Choose Start and then Control Panel.

Select System and Maintenance.

If you’re viewing the Classic View of Control Panel, double-click Problem Reports and Solutions and skip to Step 4.

Choose Problem Reports and Solutions.

Select Change settings on the left side of the window.

Choose one of the two available options:

• Check for solutions automatically (the default option)
• Ask me to check if a problem occurs: Choosing this will keep error reporting enabled but will prevent Windows Vista from automatically notifying Microsoft about the issue.

If your only concern is sending information to Microsoft, you can stop here. If you’d like to fully disable error reporting, you can skip this step and continue on with the remaining instructions below.

Select Advanced settings.

Choose Off under the For my programs, problem reporting is: heading.

There are several advanced options here that you’re welcome to explore if you’d rather not completely disable error reporting in Windows Vista, but for the purposes of this tutorial, we’re going to completely disable the feature.

Select OK.

Select OK on the window with the Choose how to check for solutions to computer problems heading.

You might notice that the Check for solutions automatically and Ask me to check if a problem occurs options are now grayed out. This is because Windows Vista error reporting is completely disabled and these options are no longer applicable.

Select Close. You can also close any other related open Windows.

Disable Error Reporting in Windows XP

Go to Start and then Control Panel.

Select Performance and Maintenance.

If you’re viewing the Classic View of Control Panel, double-click System and skip to Step 4.

Select System under the or pick a Control Panel icon section.

Select the Advanced tab.

Select Error Reporting near the bottom of the window.

Choose Disable error reporting.

We recommend leaving the But notify me when critical errors occur checkbox checked. You probably still want Windows XP to notify you about the error, just not Microsoft.

Select OK on the Error Reporting window.

Select OK on the System Properties window

You can now close the Control Panel or Performance and Maintenance window.

Windows 10 — screen won’t turn off after specified time

See title. worked fine at first. I had it set to 10 minutes. Now I have to turn my screen on and off manually.

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Follow these steps and check the status.

— Access “Control Panel” and click on “Power Options”.

— Click on “change plan settings”.

Set “never” for “put the computer to sleep”. This will ensure that the computer does not go to sleep mode.

Select couple of minutes for this option “turn off the display”. When you select 1 or 2 minutes for the turn off display, the battery power consumption is also reduced.

Once this is done save the settings and check if this helps.

Please keep us posted on the status of the issue. If it still persists, we would try to assist you further.

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For anyone with this problem

after a few days and hours of trying and searching, i found a solution though linustechtips forum.

It seems that its something USB related/connected.

someone on Linus forums said that after unplugging his joystick, the timeout for his screens started working again.

so i unplugged my Xbox controller and within 1min. my screens went off as they should 🙂

so i guess that something is not working as it should in windows, and the reason for only a few having this problem is that they are using some sort of joystick/controller and it keep windows ‘Active’ somehow

Hope this will help a bit 🙂

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Date-8-14-2015 after a few hours of looking around and trial and error. Found this on razer site. If you do have a game controller of any type including game pads windows ten has a issue with them. So far this has worked the best for me. Razer orbweaver stealth was not letting my pc sleep, screen saver and screen timer work. Hope this helps..

Since I started using Windows 10 my computer will not go into sleep mode and my screen saver mode will not come on.

This happens due to a compatibility issues between Joystick devices and Windows 10. To avoid this please disable the game controller device under Device Manager >> Human Interface Device >> HID-compliant Game Controller. However, do note that when you disable the game controller, you might lose virtual joystick related features in Synapse.

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Same here, with Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick. Installing the most recent drivers, from the manufacturer’s site, did no good obviously, since multiple brands of joysticks and controllers, and thus drivers, are exhibiting the same problem.

On a side note, I noticed that when rebooting with the joystick plugged in, the OS refuses to see the joystick. Go into Control Panel, and it is not in the Devices lineup. Triggering the search for new hardware will not find it. You must unplug the joystick, and then plug it back in again, to get the OS to register its presence.

My point being that while plugged in, in either state (recognized by the OS or not), it causes the monitor to never go into sleep mode, and the system will never go into hibernate mode. Unplug the joystick, and leave it that way, and all is good (even without a reboot), with sleep & hibernate.