BITS / QMGR - Background Intelligent Transfer Service

[Juxi Zoza]

Something is performing a background transfer of data to and FROM my machine
over the web.

I don't have ANY programs set for automatic updating. So, I disabled the
BITS service until I can find out what program has initiated the transfers.

I've searched the KB & SDK libraries and can't find anything that tells a
user how to determine what information is being exchanged and with whom.

Is there a way for a Win2kPro user to find out what is going on when BITS is
active?
Is there a way (other then disabling the BITS service) to kill the job and
purge the transfer queue?

Sorry for cross posting, but I thought the readers of these different groups
would be my best chance for a solution.

 

[XP User]

BITS newsgroup is microsoft.public.windows.backgroundtransfer
You can use bitsadmin tool to find the status of BITS transfers
happening on the machine

 

[Juxi Zoza]

Yes, I saw and read the articles in SDK library about "bitsadmin" & "qmgr".
Unfortunately, I don't have the program and MS doesn't seem to want to
release it, except as part of SDK cd. The version I would need would have
to be for Win2000 Pro client, not a 2003 server.

You would think that if MS released a tool that had the potential for so
much good and EVIL, they would provide the client a method to audit what is
going on. They should advise you that a transfer is in progress, allow you
to view a log or the queue, and if you have admin rights to stop the
process.

I don't know what is going and coming over the web to my system and have
been forced to disable BITS, until I find out what is going on.

I'm not big on bashing MS, but this is an exception. NO BODY, not even MS,
is allowed access to my machine without my knowledge and prior approval.

Can anyone help?

 

[Juxi Zoza]

Yes, I saw and read the articles in SDK library about "bitsadmin" & "qmgr".
Unfortunately, I don't have the program and MS doesn't seem to want to
release it, except as part of SDK cd. The version I would need would have
to be for Win2000 Pro workstation, not a 2003 server.

You would think that if MS released a tool that had the potential for so
much good and EVIL, they would provide the client a method to audit what is
going on. They should advise you that a transfer is in progress, allow you
to view a log or the queue, and if you have admin rights to stop the
process.

I don't know what is going and coming over the web to my system and have
been forced to disable BITS, until I find out what is going on.

I'm not big on bashing MS, but this is an exception. NO BODY, not even MS,
is allowed access to my machine without my knowledge and prior approval.

Can anyone help?

 

[QuarkBomb]

bitsadmin is part of the support tools on the XP or Win2003 disc.

I think qmgr is a seperate download, if not an integrated part of the
system.

: Yes, I saw and read the articles in SDK library about "bitsadmin" &
"qmgr".
: Unfortunately, I don't have the program and MS doesn't seem to want to
: release it, except as part of SDK cd. The version I would need would have
: to be for Win2000 Pro client, not a 2003 server.
:
: You would think that if MS released a tool that had the potential for so
: much good and EVIL, they would provide the client a method to audit what
is
: going on. They should advise you that a transfer is in progress, allow
you
: to view a log or the queue, and if you have admin rights to stop the
: process.
:
: I don't know what is going and coming over the web to my system and have
: been forced to disable BITS, until I find out what is going on.
:
: I'm not big on bashing MS, but this is an exception. NO BODY, not even
MS,
: is allowed access to my machine without my knowledge and prior approval.
:
: Can anyone help?
:
:
: : > BITS newsgroup is microsoft.public.windows.backgroundtransfer
: > You can use bitsadmin tool to find the status of BITS transfers
: > happening on the machine
: >
: : > > Something is performing a background transfer of data to and FROM my
: machine
: > > over the web.
: > >
: > > I don't have ANY programs set for automatic updating. So, I disabled
: the
: > > BITS service until I can find out what program has initiated the
: transfers.
: > >
: > > I've searched the KB & SDK libraries and can't find anything that
tells
: a
: > > user how to determine what information is being exchanged and with
whom.
: > >
: > > Is there a way for a Win2kPro user to find out what is going on when
: BITS is
: > > active?
: > > Is there a way (other then disabling the BITS service) to kill the job
: and
: > > purge the transfer queue?
: > >
: > > Sorry for cross posting, but I thought the readers of these different
: groups
: > > would be my best chance for a solution.
:
:

 

[XP User]

bitsadmin is available in BITS 1.5 SDK package which can be downloaded
from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...37-62F9-4B9F-993B-F754F968B8A6&displaylang=en

 

[Juxi Zoza]

Mystery solved! Thanks to all for your assistance!

Using "bitsadmin" I was able to determine that MSN Messenger was trying to
do an update. I remember now that a few days ago MSN Messenger said that an
update was available. I clicked on the "update", changed my mind and
attempted to cancel. I thought that was the end of it. But, bitsadmin
showed that a job was in the queue for Messenger. Still don't know why, for
a period of time, it appeared that more data was going upline, instead of
downline. Maybe, there was more than one job and I didn't see the one(s)
that were done, just the uncompleted job remaining in the queue.

When I got to the bitsadmin download page ) (thanks XP User), nearly all
the links showed an alternate color. Obviously, I had been all around it,
but never actually got to the needed page. :-(

{jumps_on_soapbox}
Would have been nice (read that... "user friendly") if MS had put an icon in
the system tray to indicate that BITS job was in progress. And, allowed a
mouse over to see the job name, and (if admin authority) right click to
display active jobs and issue basic commands: "/suspend", "/resume",
"/cancel", etc.

 

[Michael Zoran [MSFT]]

Glad to hear that everything is working out for you now. As a side note,
bitsadmin should work on all versions of BITS 1.0( Windows XP ) and above.
The only issue would be that newer commands will not work on older versions.

Keeping transfers hidden was an intentional design decision with BITS and
the products that use BITS. The idea is that the end user should not need
to worry about the transfers. They should just automagically complete in
the background.