New Windows 11, lots of Events 131

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Built a brand new Windows 11 and was getting a ton of event 131 in the log file

Found that adding this registry key made them go away.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Device Metadata]

“PreventDeviceMetadataFromNetwork”=dword:00000001

https://www.askwoody.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exportkey.reg

You can also download it from the above link.

Found a ton of people impacted by the same issue.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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a, Bob99, EyesOnWindows

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I noticed that too last Saturday on my Windows 10 test system when I experienced a five minute delay in my taskbar’s icon appearing on logging in. I too used the solution presented in that answers.microsoft.com url in your post to avoid the problem. None of my other systems experienced that behavior so I suspect that it only manifests when a driver update is needed. However I have no clue as to which driver the system is wanting to update.

HP Compaq 6000 Pro SFF PC / Windows 10 Pro / 22H2
Intel®Core™2 “Wolfdale” E8400 3.0 GHz / 8.00 GB
HP ProDesk 400 G5 SFF PC / Windows 11 Pro / 23H2
Intel®Core™ “Coffee Lake” i3-8100 3.6 GHz / 16.00 GB

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Same here on Windows 10 22H2 x64…a bunch of those errors with the same message every time the machine boots. So, I added the key and dword value to the indicated location. That’ll cut down on at least a few of those errors piling up. Might also cut down on a warning that’s issued right before the errors occur, an event 201 warning that “A connection to the Windows Metadata and Internet Services (WMIS) could not be established”. SEE FOLLOW UP POST BELOW in response to @lmacri .

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Hi Susan:

This alternate workaround should work for affected Win 10 users and does not require a registry edit, but I’m not sure if there is an identical advanced system setting in Win 11:

1. Open your Advanced System Settings by going to Settings | System | About and select the Advanced System Settings link (under Related Settings). You can also open a Run dialog box and enter sysdm.cpl or simply search for “Advanced System Settings” from the search box on your taskbar.
2. Choose the Hardware tab and click the Device Installation Settings button.
3. For the question “Do you want to automatically download manufacturers’ apps and custom icons available for your devices?” select “No (your device might not work as expected)” and then click Save Changes.

See my 23-Dec-2023 post on page 1 of DiverJer’s Device Setup Manager Metadata staging failed Event ID 131 in the MS Answers forum (where I post as user Great White North) for further comments about this workaround.
———–
Dell Inspiron 15 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.4780 * Firefox v130.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.24070.5-1.1.24070.3 * Malwarebytes Premium v5.1.10.127-1.0.5021 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7783

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Cybertooth

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@lmacri –

As indicated above, I had initially modified the registry to produce the entry shown in Susan’s OP.

However, after reading through the myriad of pages (22 and counting) in the thread she quoted, I found several folks complaining that their PCs wouldn’t boot successfully all the way back to the desktop after making that modification. So, I decided to back out the registry changes because, yes I have the 131, 200, 201 and 202 messages, but as you said in your OP in the thread about the same thing you quoted above,

These DeviceSetupManager Event ID 131 errors in my Event Viewer are annoying but they don’t seem to be causing any obvious problems on my Win 10 laptop (e.g., like high CPU activity) and they aren’t serious enough to be logged in my Reliability Monitor

only in my case, it’s not on a laptop, it’s on a desktop. Since this has been ongoing since late November/early December of last year, I seriously doubt MS is going to do a thing about it, to tell you the truth.

In Susan’s linked thread, there is evidence that MS tried to fix it with the February 2024 monthly update, but their fix didn’t work. They tried changing the server name that is supposed to be used by the errant service, but that server was also inoperable with no replacement in sight per the posts in Susan’s thread (which might also be echoed in the MS thread you posted in).

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Susan Bradley wrote:

Built a brand new Windows 11 and was getting a ton of event 131 in the log file

I very seldom check Event Viewer, but I did after reading your post.  And yep, I had lots of 131 errors, likely (just a guess) because I have driver updates blocked via Group Policy.  My setup doesn’t allow merging registry files (have to be logged in as a member of the Administrators group, which I seldom do), so I typed yours in, and the 131 events stopped cold.

Did a few reboots, and no ill effects noted.  I’ll check my B side next (my clean install side) to see what’s up over there.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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a

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If the Event Logs of every daily Windows driver I’ve run since forever (NT, 7, 8, 10 and 11) hadn’t always been what looked to me like a hot mess, I might have been interested in trying this. I remember seeing 131s last year when I brought my Windows 10 desktop across Laplink to Windows 11. I then figured it could have been a Laplink or Lenovo issue. Of course now I’d estimate it to be a Windows issue, with its 50 million lines of code. I’ve got better things to do than incessant fiddling with a product which should have almost zero issues.

Human, who sports only naturally-occurring DNA ~ oneironaut ~ broadcaster

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@SB Because you posted this, I looked at control Panel/Device Manager and noticed 7 things w/o drivers in Other devices. I re-installed the ASUS “chipset drivers” (and all the other ones, again) but all it did was flick at me. I clicked on ASUS/chipset/”more” and saw another supposed chipset driver installer, grabbed and installed it and all but one went away. (fie on asus…) but I only get 7 131 errors so I will not do the registry, but thanks for getting me to look!

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I used @lmacri method on my W10 Home box and 131 errors seem to have stopped. No registry fiddling needed.

Same settings applied on my W11 Home box using the same procedure. Will let you know how it goes.

cheers, Paul

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Confirming W11 has stopped producing 131 errors.

cheers, Paul

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Cybertooth

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Ever since the introduction of Windows 10 I have gotten the distinct impression that Microsoft would prefer that we all just stop looking at the Event Viewer (mainly from the responses to questions in the various Microsoft forums online). Coincidentally (?), my Event Viewer, ever since the introduction of Windows 10 and 11, has been absolutely loaded with errors and especially warnings on every machine running either of those two operating systems. Both of my computers running Windows 11 have a lot of those event 131 errors. By contrast my two 11 year old Windows 7 Haswell chipset 4th generation Intel PC machines each always display zero errors and just one warning (related to an old USB memory stick), which seems to me to represent evidence of a smooth running and reliable computer. On my two Windows 11 computers I only look at the Event Viewer after boot up to check for new errors and warnings and confirm that the many, many others are still showing and weren’t corrected by any recent Microsoft updates. To me this all just represents confirmation of the precipitous decline of Microsoft as a developer of computer operating systems.

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