Consolidator
Consolidator is part of the voluntary Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).
since 0.9.8.11
Purpose
Identifier: \Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\Consolidator
Setup Foundry disables this scheduled task.
Consolidator is part of the voluntary Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). When participation is enabled, the task processes usage data and sends it to Microsoft. This data can include information about hardware and system configuration, performance and reliability, and the use of Windows features.
Microsoft’s documentation for older Windows Server releases describes the task more specifically as one stage of a multi-step process: Consolidator packages previously recorded CEIP data into a compressed binary format that can subsequently be transferred. Current Microsoft documentation covering Windows 10, Windows 11, and supported Windows Server releases describes its function more generally as collecting and sending usage data.
Notes
Privacy and security
The task operates for CEIP only when a user or administrator has consented to participation. Microsoft states that the associated information is sent periodically. Its legacy CEIP documentation identifies HTTPS as the transmission method and lists hardware configuration, performance and reliability measurements, and feature-usage information among the possible data categories.
Disabling the task prevents its configured triggers from starting Consolidator. CEIP data is therefore no longer processed or transmitted through this task. This change does not automatically disable other CEIP tasks or the separate mechanisms that handle required and optional Windows diagnostic data.
Effects of the change
The task remains registered in Task Scheduler but no longer runs automatically. If CEIP participation was enabled, Microsoft no longer receives the usage data handled by Consolidator through this route, leaving that part of CEIP participation inactive.
Microsoft does not associate Consolidator with a directly visible Windows feature. Disabling it therefore does not remove an app or turn off a user-facing capability. Only the background processing and the disk, processor, and network activity associated with its scheduled runs cease. If CEIP was already disabled, no practical change is expected because the task collects and sends usage data only for participating systems.
Notes
Consolidator is not equivalent to the general Windows diagnostic-data system. Current Windows versions manage required and optional diagnostic data through separate settings and components; disabling this individual task does not change those settings.
Microsoft’s detailed description of the earlier CEIP workflow applies specifically to Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. Microsoft nevertheless continues to list Consolidator as a scheduled task in current documentation covering Windows 10, Windows 11, and supported Windows Server releases. Internal processing details can therefore vary by Windows version.
Microsoft documentation
Microsoft Learn: Optimizing Windows configuration for VDI desktops
Microsoft Learn: Windows privacy compliance guide