Configuring Windows Spotlight

This week is all about configuring Windows Spotlight. Windows Spotlight is definitely not something new, as it already exists since the beginning of Windows 10, but it is good to be familiar with the capabilities and configuration options. This week will be a refresher. Windows Spotlight is a Windows feature that can be used to display different wallpapers on the background of the desktop and the lock screen, and offers suggestions, fun facts, tips or organizational messages. In that case, when using Windows Spotlight for displaying different wallpapers, a new image is displayed every day on the lock screen or the desktop. On top of that, when using Windows Spotlight for displaying suggestions, fun facts, tips, recommendations are displayed on how to enhance productivity in Microsoft products. Besides all of that, when using Windows Spotlight for displaying organizational messages, messages from the organization are displayed. In the latter cases those recommendations and messages are shown in different locations, such as the lock screen, the background, the taskbar, or the Get Started app. This post will provide a brief look at the configuration options, followed with the user experience.

Configuring Windows Spotlight via the Settings Catalog

When looking at the configuration of Windows Spotlight, it is good to be familiar with the different configuration options. Especially, because more and more have been showing up over the years. Some are directly related to configuration options for the user, while others are related to behavior that the IT administrator can prevent. The table below provides an overview of the available settings, and what those settings can be used for. When applicable it even mentions how the user can configure it.

Setting (friendly name)	Description
Allow Spotlight Collection	This setting can be used to specify whether Spotlight collection is allowed as a background setting (Personalization > Background > Personalize your background).
Allow Windows Spotlight	This setting can be used to specify whether to turn off all Windows spotlight features at once.
– Allow Tailored Experiences With Diagnostic Data	This setting can be used to specify whether to prevent Windows from using diagnostic data to provide customized experiences to the user.
– Allow Third Party Suggestions In Windows Spotlight	This setting can be used to specify whether to allow app and content suggestions from third-party software publishers in Windows spotlight features.
– Allow Windows Consumer Features	This setting can be used to specify whether to turn on experiences that are typically for consumers only.
– Allow Windows Spotlight On Action Center	This setting can be used to specify whether to prevent Windows spotlight notifications from being displayed in the Action Center.
– Allow Windows Spotlight Windows Welcome Experience	This setting can be used to specify whether to prevent the Windows spotlight Windows welcome experience feature.
– Allow Windows Tips	This setting can be used to specify whether to prevent Windows Tips (System > Notifications > Additional settings > Get tips and suggestions when using Windows).
– Configure Windows Spotlight On Lock Screen	This setting can be used to specify whether to configure Windows Spotlight on the lock screen (Personalization > Lock screen > Personalize your lock screen).
Allow Windows Spotlight On Settings	This setting can be used to specify whether to turn off suggestions in Settings app (Privacy & Security > General > Show me suggested content in the Settings app).

That basically means that the main configurations are covered within three settings but once allowing Windows Spotlight that enables many more fine-grained configuration options. The configurations options are all available via ADMX-backed settings in the Policy CSP. Those settings are all backed by the CloudContent.admx. Luckily, the configuration is pretty straightforward, as all settings are available within the Experience category in the Settings Catalog. The following eight steps walk through the process of allowing Windows Spotlight for the different backgrounds only.

1. Open the Microsoft Intune admin center portal and navigate to Devices > Windows > Configuration profiles
2. On the Windows | Configuration profiles blade, click Create > New Policy
3. On the Create a profile blade, select Windows 10 and later > Settings catalog and click Create
4. On the Basics page, provide at least a unique name to distinguish it from similar profiles and click Next
5. On the Configuration settings page, as shown below in Figure 1, perform the following actions and click Next

• Click Add settings, navigate to Experience and select Allow Spotlight Collection (User), Allow Windows Spotlight (User), and Allow Windows Spotlight On Settings (User) in Settings picker
• Configure the required settings for the environment with the values like the following
  • Switch the slider with Allow Windows Spotlight On Settings (User) to Block, to block suggestions in the Settings app
  • Switch the slider with Allow Windows Spotlight (User) to Allow, to allow the usage of Windows Spotlight
    • Switch the slider with Allow Tailored Experiences With Diagnostic Data (User) to Block, to block Windows from sending diagnostic data for better customized experiences
    • Switch the slider with Allow Third Party Suggestions In Windows Spotlight (User) to Block, to block content suggestions from third parties
    • Switch the slider with Allow Windows Consumer Features to Block, to block Windows consumer features
    • Switch the slider with Allow Windows Spotlight On Action Center (User) to Block, to block Windows Spotlight messages in Action Center
    • Switch the slider with Allow Windows Spotlight Windows Welcome Experience (User) to Block, to block the Windows welcome experience
    • Switch the slider with Allow Windows Tips to Block, to block Windows tips
    • Select Windows spotlight enabled with Configure Windows Spotlight On Lock Screen (User), to allow the usage of a Windows Spotlight background on the lock screen
  • Configure Allow Spotlight Collection (User) to 1, to allow the usage of a Windows Spotlight background on the desktop

6. On the Scope tags page, configure the required scope tags and click Next
7. On the Assignments page, configure the assignment for the required user or devices and click Next
8. On the Review + create page, verify the configuration and click Create

Note: When blocking Windows Spotlight, it is also not possible to use Organizational Messages.

Experiencing Windows Spotlight

When looking at experiencing the configuration of Windows Spotlight, there are many places to look. And it is all pretty straightforward. There are many different settings and registry keys to look at, but the most obvious is the desktop background. Below in Figure 2, is an overview of the desktop background still being configurable for the user, while the suggested content in the Settings app is no longer available. That enables IT to still control diagnostic data and to many different notifications towards the user, while still allowing the user to get a daily new desktop or lock screen background.

More information

For more information regarding Windows Spotlight refer to the following docs.

• Configure Windows spotlight | Microsoft Learn