Online Device Help

  • Article

This section provides information about:

  • The benefits of Online Device Help

  • How Online Device Help communicates with sites on the Internet

  • How to control Online Device Help to limit the flow of information to and from the Internet

On This Page

Benefits and Purposes of Online Device Help
Overview: Using Online Device Help in a Managed Environment
How Online Device Help Communicates with Sites on the Internet
Controlling Online Device Help to Limit the Flow of Information to and from the Internet
Alternate Methods for Controlling Online Device Help
Procedure for Controlling Online Device Help

Benefits and Purposes of Online Device Help

Online Device Help (also known as the "Get help for my hardware device" wizard) delivers targeted content on problems with hardware and peripheral devices installed on the system. This mitigates the need for users to call support professionals to resolve hardware issues. Users interact with Online Device Help in Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 (SP1) when installing new hardware (through the Found New Hardware Wizard).

At the conclusion of the Found New Hardware Wizard, when the user’s system uses a device driver that is not found on the Windows XP SP1 installation CD or is not available through Windows Update, Online Device Help collects anonymous data on the problem device (including a unique hardware identifier for that device) and sends that information over the Internet to a server at Microsoft. If a match for the device is found, content on that device is then downloaded to the user’s system and is displayed in the Help and Support Center user interface. This content may include:

  • Information from the independent hardware vendor (IHV) about upcoming and planned device support.

  • Links to the product compatibility area in Help and Support Center to enable users to search or browse the Windows Catalog Web site for compatible devices. The Windows Catalog Web site is located at:

    https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=29899

    A link to the Web site of the IHV for that device.

The data provided by Online Device Help enables Microsoft to identify the number and system locale of users experiencing hardware problems due to missing drivers and to identify the most common problem devices. Microsoft works with these hardware vendors to provide targeted troubleshooting content on the most common problem hardware devices.

This section of the white paper explains how to control Online Device Help in a managed environment.

Overview: Using Online Device Help in a Managed Environment

Users have control over whether to upload the data required by Online Device Help. In a managed environment, however, it is unlikely that users can choose to install any device; this function would normally be controlled in some fashion by the IT department. You can block Online Device Help at the firewall or through the Services snap-in. The configuration options and procedures for controlling Online Device Help are described later in this section.

How Online Device Help Communicates with Sites on the Internet

If no information for a particular hardware device is found on either the Windows XP installation CD or through Windows Update, users are prompted to release anonymous information about their hardware profile through Online Device Help. This subsection summarizes the communication process:

  • Specific information sent or received: The following information is collected from the user’s computer and uploaded to a server at Microsoft. The user is not uniquely identified.

    • The hardware ID, also known as the PnPID (code that indicates the device manufacturer, device name, and version)

    • The time and date that the data was sent

    • Language code of the operating system, and platform and build information

  • Default and recommended settings: Online Device Help is enabled by default. Recommended settings are described in the next subsection, "Controlling Online Device Help to Limit the Flow of Information to and from the Internet."

  • Triggers: Online Device Help is triggered if no information for a particular hardware device is found after the user has completed the Found New Hardware Wizard.

  • User notification: Users are prompted to send anonymous hardware profile data to a server at Microsoft. If users opt to send this information, the privacy statement is displayed. Users can view the contents of the hardware.xml file being uploaded by clicking a link on the privacy statement page.

  • Logging: Errors that result from problems installing hardware devices without drivers are logged to the event log.

  • Encryption: The data transferred to Microsoft is not encrypted.

  • Access: The raw data uploaded to the server is accessible to operations engineers at Microsoft.com and is used in the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) to improve Windows-compatible hardware and drivers.

  • Privacy statement: Online Device Help is covered by its own privacy statement. The privacy statement (located in a file on the user's computer at systemroot\pchealth\helpctr\system\dfs\privacy.htm) is displayed when users opt to send the anonymous hardware profile data to Microsoft.

  • Transmission protocol and port: The transmission protocol used is HTTP and the port is 80.

  • Ability to disable: You cannot disable Online Device Help directly. Disabling Internet access or HTTP port 80 will, however, block Online Device Help.

Controlling Online Device Help to Limit the Flow of Information to and from the Internet

Users have control over whether to upload anonymous hardware profile information about their system. You cannot disable Online Device Help directly. To block Online Device Help, you can restrict Internet access. You can also use a firewall or configure the Services snap-in.

How controlling Online Device Help can affect users and applications

If you decide to disable Online Device Help, users will not be prompted to upload anonymous hardware profile information and they will not receive up-to-date, targeted self-help content on hardware issues relating to missing or problem drivers.

Note If you restrict Internet access to block Online Device Help, the feature will queue the data and periodically retry to upload the hardware profile information for some period of time. If an Internet connection becomes available during that period, Online Device Help will upload the queued data. If an Internet connection does not become available, no data will be uploaded. Users will not be impacted in either case.

Alternate Methods for Controlling Online Device Help

You can also control Online Device Help by disabling the Upload Manager service (uploadmgr) that manages synchronous and asynchronous file transfers between clients and servers on the network. Disabling this service will block the upload of the anonymous hardware profile data (although users will still be able to complete the Found New Hardware Wizard). The following subsection gives the procedure for this method.

Procedure for Controlling Online Device Help

You cannot disable Online Device Help directly but can do so indirectly by disabling the Upload Manager service in Windows XP.

To disable Online Device Help by disabling the Upload Manager service

  1. Click Start, and then either click Control Panel, or point to Settings and then click Control Panel.

  2. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Services.

  3. In the details pane, right-click Upload Manager, and then click Properties.

  4. Click the Log On tab, then click the hardware profile that you want to configure, and then click Disable.

    Important If the Upload Manager service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.