Throttle BITS Bandwidth Using Regedit

This guide explains how to limit the network bandwidth used by the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) in Windows using the Registry Editor (Regedit). By configuring specific registry values, you can prevent background downloads, such as Windows Updates, from consuming all your available network capacity during peak and off-peak hours.

Step 1: Open the Registry Editor

  1. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog box.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter or click OK.
  3. If prompted by User Account Control (UAC), click Yes.

Step 2: Navigate to the BITS Policy Key

In the address bar at the top of the Registry Editor, navigate to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\BITS

Note: If the BITS key does not exist under Windows, right-click on the Windows folder, select New > Key, and name it BITS.

Step 3: Create and Configure the Throttling Values

You will need to create several DWORD (32-bit) Values under the BITS key to define bandwidth limits and active hours. Right-click on the empty space in the right pane, choose New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and configure the following parameters:

  1. EnableBitsMaxBandwidth
    • Value name: EnableBitsMaxBandwidth
    • Value data: 1 (This activates the bandwidth limit policy).
  2. MaxBandwidthThrottleRate
    • Value name: MaxBandwidthThrottleRate
    • Value data: Set to Decimal and enter the maximum transfer rate allowed during peak hours in Kbps (e.g., 500 for 500 Kbps).
  3. MaxBandwidthThrottleRateNonPeak
    • Value name: MaxBandwidthThrottleRateNonPeak
    • Value data: Set to Decimal and enter the maximum transfer rate allowed outside peak hours in Kbps (or leave it higher for faster off-peak downloads).
  4. MaxBandwidthValidFrom
    • Value name: MaxBandwidthValidFrom
    • Value data: Set to Decimal and enter the starting hour for peak time using a 24-hour format (e.g., 8 for 8:00 AM).
  5. MaxBandwidthValidTo
    • Value name: MaxBandwidthValidTo
    • Value data: Set to Decimal and enter the ending hour for peak time using a 24-hour format (e.g., 17 for 5:00 PM).

Step 4: Apply the Changes

  1. Close the Registry Editor.
  2. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run net stop bits && net start bits to restart the service, or simply restart your computer.

BITS will now enforce your configured download speed limits during the specified peak and off-peak hours.