Short description

Describes the telemetry collected in PowerShell and how to opt-out.

Long description

PowerShell sends basic telemetry data to Microsoft using Application Insights.This data allows us to better understand the environments using PowerShell andenables us to prioritize new features and fixes. PowerShell anonymizes thetelemetry information before sending.

PowerShell sends the following information at startup:

• The manufacturer, name, and version of the operating system
• The version of PowerShell
• The value of thePOWERSHELL_DISTRIBUTION_CHANNEL environment variable
• The version of the Application Insights SDK used by PowerShell
• The geographic location of the host, based on the IP address
• The parameters passed to pwsh without the parameter values
• The Execution Policy setting of the current session
• A randomly generated GUID representing the user running the instance
• A randomly generated GUID representing the session instance

Startup telemetry data is only collected when starting thepwsh executable.This information isn't sent if the PowerShell engine is embedded in some otherhost application.

PowerShell sends the following information during the session:

• The count of calls to thePowerShell.Create() API
• The names and versions of Microsoft-owned modules imported
• The count of imported modules that have theCrescendoBuilt tag
• The names of enabled experimental features
• The names of disabled experimental features
• Value of$PSNativeCommandUseErrorActionPreference preference variable,eithertrue,false orunset
• The count of remote session open operations
• The names of registered subsystems:Completion andgeneral. If the nameof the subsystem name not one of those, thenanonymous is submitted as thename.
• The count ofCommandNotFound feedback suggestions provided.
• The count ofPowerShellUnsafeAssemblyLoad usage and whether the load wassuccessful or not.

PowerShell sends this information periodically during the lifetime of thesession for all host applications.

To opt-out of this telemetry, set the environment variable$Env:POWERSHELL_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT totrue,yes, or1. For thisenvironment variable to have effect, it must be set before starting thePowerShell process. For more information, seeabout_Environment_Variables.

The$Env:POWERSHELL_DISTRIBUTION_CHANNEL environment variable is set by theinstaller packages to record the method and source of installation forPowerShell. Since this information is included in the telemetry data sent toMicrosoft, users shouldn't change this value.

For more information about these environment variables, seeabout_Environment_Variables.

For more information about Microsoft's statement on privacy, seeMicrosoft Privacy Statement