Policy
Set up a maintenance schedule to limit the maximum network bandwidth used for BITS background transfers
Microsoft Windows
Policy overview
Key metadata and intent for this policy.
Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows7, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2008, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016
This policy setting limits the network bandwidth that Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) uses for background transfers during the maintenance days and hours. Maintenance schedules further limit the network bandwidth that is used for background transfers. If you enable this policy setting, you can define a separate set of network bandwidth limits and set up a schedule for the maintenance period. You can specify a limit to use for background jobs during a maintenance schedule. For example, if normal priority jobs are currently limited to 256 Kbps on a work schedule, you can further limit the network bandwidth of normal priority jobs to 0 Kbps from 8:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. on a maintenance schedule. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, the limits defined for work or nonwork schedules will be used. Note: The bandwidth limits that are set for the maintenance period supersede any limits defined for work and other schedules.
Registry values
How enabled and disabled states update the registry.
No explicit registry values are set for enabled or disabled states.
Policy elements
Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.
| Scope | Element | Type | Registry mapping | Constraints & behavior | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer | High Priority Limit: ID BITS_MaintenanceHighPriorityLimit | decimal | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\Throttling\MaintenanceSchedule Value name HighBandwidthLimit Type REG_DWORD | Range: ? to 4294967200 | |
| Computer | Normal Priority Limit: ID BITS_MaintenanceNormalPriorityLimit | decimal | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\Throttling\MaintenanceSchedule Value name NormalBandwidthLimit Type REG_DWORD | Range: ? to 4294967200 | |
| Computer | Low Priority Limit: ID BITS_MaintenanceLowPriorityLimit | decimal | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\Throttling\MaintenanceSchedule Value name LowBandwidthLimit Type REG_DWORD | Range: ? to 4294967200 | |
| Computer | From ID BITS_MaintenanceDaysFrom | enum | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\Throttling\MaintenanceSchedule Value name StartDay Type REG_DWORD | Options: Sunday (0), Monday (1), Tuesday (2), Wednesday (3), Thursday (4), Friday (5), Saturday (6) | |
| Computer | To ID BITS_MaintenanceDaysTo | enum | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\Throttling\MaintenanceSchedule Value name EndDay Type REG_DWORD | Options: Sunday (0), Monday (1), Tuesday (2), Wednesday (3), Thursday (4), Friday (5), Saturday (6) | |
| Computer | From ID BITS_MaintenanceHoursFrom | enum | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\Throttling\MaintenanceSchedule Value name StartHour Type REG_DWORD | Options: 12 AM (0), 1 AM (1), 2 AM (2), 3 AM (3), 4 AM (4), 5 AM (5), 6 AM (6), 7 AM (7) … +16 more | |
| Computer | To ID BITS_MaintenanceHoursTo | enum | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\Throttling\MaintenanceSchedule Value name EndHour Type REG_DWORD | Options: 12 AM (0), 1 AM (1), 2 AM (2), 3 AM (3), 4 AM (4), 5 AM (5), 6 AM (6), 7 AM (7) … +16 more | |
| Computer | High Priority Unit: ID BITS_MaintenanceHighPriorityUnit | enum | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\Throttling\MaintenanceSchedule Value name HighBandwidthType Type REG_DWORD | Options: Kbps (1), Mbps (2), Unlimited (3) | |
| Computer | Normal Priority Unit: ID BITS_MaintenanceNormalPriorityUnit | enum | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\Throttling\MaintenanceSchedule Value name NormalBandwidthType Type REG_DWORD | Options: Kbps (1), Mbps (2), Unlimited (3) | |
| Computer | Low Priority Unit: ID BITS_MaintenanceLowPriorityUnit | enum | Path Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\Throttling\MaintenanceSchedule Value name LowBandwidthType Type REG_DWORD | Options: Kbps (1), Mbps (2), Unlimited (3) |