By default, Windows® Backup notifies end-users to configure Windows Backup. Notifications can appear in the Action Center after seven days without having configured Windows Backup, or when an end-user attaches an external hard drive.
If you do not intend to enable Windows Backup, and instead provide a third-party backup solution to end users, you should disable the Windows Backup notifications.
Disable Windows Backup End-User Notifications
Windows Backup notifications are controlled by a registry key. This registry key is not present in default Windows installations. To disable Windows Backup notifications, you must manually add this registry key, or work with your third-party backup-application vendor to populate this registry key.
- Key location:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsBackup
- Key name: DisableMonitoring
- Type: REG_DWORD
- Value:
- If this key is set to 0, or if this key does
not exist, then Windows Backup will display notifications to
the end user to configure Windows Backup.
- If this key is set to 1, and an end-user has
not already configured Windows Backup, then notifications to
configure Windows Backup will not be displayed to the end user in
the Action Center, or when a user attaches an external hard
disk.
- If this key is set to 0, or if this key does
not exist, then Windows Backup will display notifications to
the end user to configure Windows Backup.
Windows Backup Features, by Edition
The following table describes the different features of Windows Backup and in which Windows editions the features are available.
| Windows Backup feature | Windows 7 Starter Edition, Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium | Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 7 Ultimate |
|---|---|---|
|
Backup and Restore Control Panel |
Available |
Available |
|
Backup space management |
Available |
Available |
|
Scheduled file backup Supports hard disk, CD, and DVD |
Available |
Available |
|
Scheduled system backup (critical volumes only) Supports hard disk only |
Available |
Available |
|
Scheduled file backup to network |
Not available |
Available |
|
Scheduled system backup to network |
Not available |
Available |
|
Advanced system backup, which allows backup of manually defined volumes, in addition to critical volumes Supports hard disk, DVD, and network share |
Not available |
Available |
|
Group Policy support |
Not available |
Available |