Microsoft took a bit of a beating from the Windows enthusiast community regarding its practice of data collection, and despite many denials that the collected data could be linked to you personally, as well as a revamped Privacy Dashboard, introduced in the Creators Update, people and even governments are still a bit wary as to what Microsoft is doing with that data.
As a result, and going all the way back to the first edition of Windows 10, quite a few programs came out that edited Group Policy and registry settings to block the transmission of such data. However, with the new Privacy dashboard being much more manageable with the Creators Update, some people might fancy getting back to being an Insider, and below, we"ll help you do that!
Before we begin, the following steps can"t be done on Windows 10 Home, because it doesn"t include the Group Policy Editor, but you can use the free Policy Plus app to do the same thing.
Steps to fix greyed out "Get started" button and "Some settings are managed by your organization" message in Windows 10:
- Open the Start Menu. Type in gpedit.msc and right-click the app from the search results. Choose Run as Administrator from the context menu (or Policy Plus in Windows 10 Home).
- In the Group Policy Editor, go to Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Data Collection and Preview Builds.
- Find the Allow Telemetry item and double-click it to edit the policies.
- Change the setting to Enabled. Change the drop-down menu entry to 3 - Full and click Apply.
- Now open the item again and change the Setting to Not configured and hit the Save button.
- That"s it, done.
After you have completed the steps, you won"t even need to restart Windows to "Get started" and enroll back in the Windows Insider Program, but you may have to close the Windows 10 Settings window, and reopen it.
This might not be for everyone, but if you installed an app long ago to disable all of the data collecting telemetry and have since decided you want to be an Insider again, this may help you. As a side note, Microsoft has said it"s "seen a positive reception" to Windows 10 privacy improvements.
With the Fall Creators Update just over a month out, the current Fast ring builds are quite stable, and with this method you"ll get early access to it today.
Let us know in the comments if you"ve decided to become a Windows Insider again!