Policy

Limit the maximum network bandwidth for BITS background transfers

Windows 11 25H2

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Policy overview

Key metadata and intent for this policy.

ClassComputer
CategoryNetwork > Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
Supported onWindows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1, or computers with BITS 2.0 installed.

Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows7, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2003, WindowsServer2008, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016, WindowsVista, WindowsXP

This policy setting limits the network bandwidth that Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) uses for background transfers. (This policy setting does not affect foreground transfers.) You can specify a limit to use during a specific time interval and at all other times. For example, limit the use of network bandwidth to 10 Kbps from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., and use all available unused bandwidth the rest of the day's hours. If you enable this policy setting, BITS will limit its bandwidth usage to the specified values. You can specify the limit in kilobits per second (Kbps). If you specify a value less than 2 kilobits, BITS will continue to use approximately 2 kilobits. To prevent BITS transfers from occurring, specify a limit of 0. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting, BITS uses all available unused bandwidth. Note: You should base the limit on the speed of the network link, not the computer's network interface card (NIC). This policy setting does not affect Peercaching transfers between peer computers (it does affect transfers from the origin server); the "Limit the maximum network bandwidth used for Peercaching" policy setting should be used for that purpose. Consider using this setting to prevent BITS transfers from competing for network bandwidth when the client computer has a fast network card (10Mbs), but is connected to the network via a slow link (56Kbs).

Internal name
BITS_MaxBandwidth
Policy ID
9467e9aa77de
Elements
5

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.

ElementTypeRegistry mappingConstraints & behavior
Limit background transfer rate (Kbps) to:
ID BITS_MaxTransferRateText
decimal
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\MaxTransferRateOnSchedule
Type REG_DWORD
Range: ? to 4294967200
Limit background transfer rate (Kbps) to:
ID BITS_MaxTransferRateText_1
decimal
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\MaxTransferRateOffSchedule
Type REG_DWORD
Range: ? to 4294967200
From
ID BITS_BandwidthLimitSchedFrom
enum
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\MaxBandwidthValidFrom
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
to
ID BITS_BandwidthLimitSchedTo
enum
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\MaxBandwidthValidTo
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
Use all available unused bandwidth
ID BITS_UseSystemMaximum
boolean
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS\UseSystemMaximum
Type REG_DWORD
Options: true (), false ()
True: None · False: None

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