Disable Windows Error Reporting
The `Disabled` value controls Windows Error Reporting (WER) for the computer.
since 0.9.8.11
Purpose
Show registry keys (1)
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\Disabled
The Disabled value controls Windows Error Reporting (WER) for the computer. When this REG_DWORD value contains 1, WER is disabled.
WER normally processes information about application crashes, unresponsive applications, kernel faults, and application-specific problems. Disabling it prevents these problems from being collected and sent to Microsoft through the normal WER reporting workflow. WER can consequently no longer return information about known problems or available solutions.
Notes
Security
Disabling WER prevents WER problem reports from being transmitted to Microsoft. Depending on the failure and other WER settings, a report can contain technical metadata, registered files, or diagnostic memory dumps. The setting therefore reduces the disclosure of potentially sensitive diagnostic information through WER.
This value does not disable every Windows diagnostic or telemetry mechanism. Other facilities for event logging, diagnostics, or data transmission are not necessarily affected.
Possible side effects
WER reports are no longer available through the normal reporting workflow for investigating recurring crashes and other detected problems. Microsoft and software vendors do not receive the corresponding problem data through WER, and WER cannot provide users with available troubleshooting information, solutions, or update guidance.
The setting does not prevent failures themselves. Applications can still crash or stop responding; only the subsequent WER processing is disabled.
Notes
This value is located directly under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting. It is distinct from the value with the same name under HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting, which belongs to an ADMX-backed Windows policy.
Local user-mode dump collection configured under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps is controlled independently of the rest of the WER infrastructure. Local dumps can therefore still be created while Disabled is set to 1.
Microsoft documentation
Microsoft Learn: Collecting User-Mode Dumps