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Microsoft has confirmed that Windows Recall is rolling out to everyone with Windows 11 KB5055627 on Copilot+ PCs. Recall is an AI-powered feature that captures your screen, so you can quickly find and jump back into what you have seen before on your PC. As Microsoft describes, you can use Recall to “recall” the moment you saw on your PC.
You Should Know:
Windows Recall works by continuously capturing snapshots of your screen and using AI to index the content. Here are key technical details and commands to work with this feature:
1. Enable/Disable Recall:
Check Recall status Get-WindowsCapability -Online -Name "Windows.Client.AI.Recall" Enable Recall feature Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName "Windows.Client.AI.Recall" -All
2. Recall Storage Management:
Change Recall data storage location Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Recall" -Name "DataPath" -Value "D:\RecallData" Limit Recall storage (in MB) Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Recall" -Name "MaxStorageMB" -Value 1024
3. Query Recall Data via PowerShell:
Search Recall database
$recallSession = New-Object -ComObject Recall.Query
$results = $recallSession.Search("keyword", (Get-Date).AddDays(-7), (Get-Date))
$results | Format-Table -AutoSize
4. Privacy Controls:
Exclude specific applications from Recall Add-Content -Path "$env:ProgramData\Microsoft\Recall\Exclusions.txt" -Value "chrome.exe" Add-Content -Path "$env:ProgramData\Microsoft\Recall\Exclusions.txt" -Value "outlook.exe" Clear Recall history for specific time period Clear-RecallHistory -StartTime (Get-Date).AddDays(-30) -EndTime (Get-Date)
5. Network Monitoring for Recall:
Monitor Recall network activity (Linux command for security testing) sudo tcpdump -i any -n port 443 and host recall.windows.com -w recall_traffic.pcap
6. Registry Tweaks:
Disable Recall for specific users New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Recall" -Name "DisableForUsers" -Value "user1,user2" -PropertyType String -Force Change snapshot interval (in minutes) Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Recall" -Name "SnapshotInterval" -Value 10
7. Group Policy Controls:
Export Recall GPO settings
Get-GPO -All | Where-Object { $_.DisplayName -like "Recall" } | Backup-GPO -Path C:\GPOBackups
What Undercode Say:
Windows Recall represents a significant shift in how operating systems handle user activity tracking. While powerful for productivity, security professionals should be aware of several implications:
1. Forensic Analysis:
Analyze Recall database on Linux (requires Windows partition access) sudo apt install libesedb-utils esedbexport /mnt/windows/ProgramData/Microsoft/Recall/recall.edb
2. Memory Analysis:
Check for Recall processes in memory dump volatility -f memory.dump windows.pslist | grep -i recall
3. Network Security:
Block Recall telemetry at firewall (Linux example) sudo iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -d recall.windows.com -j DROP
4. Alternative for Linux Users:
Time-based screen capture alternative while true; do import -window root $(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).png; sleep 300; done
5. Windows Event Logs:
Monitor Recall-related events Get-WinEvent -LogName "Microsoft-Windows-Recall/Operational" -MaxEvents 50 | Format-Table -AutoSize
6. Disk Space Monitoring:
Check Recall storage usage Get-ChildItem -Path "$env:ProgramData\Microsoft\Recall" -Recurse | Measure-Object -Property Length -Sum
7. Registry Forensics:
Export all Recall registry settings reg export "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Recall" recall_settings.reg
8. Process Monitoring:
Linux command to monitor Windows processes remotely (via WMI) wmic -U domain/user%password //192.168.1.100 "SELECT FROM Win32_Process WHERE Name LIKE '%recall%'"
9. Security Hardening:
Disable Recall via Group Policy Set-GPRegistryValue -Name "Default Domain Policy" -Key "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Recall" -ValueName "DisableFeature" -Type DWord -Value 1
10. Alternative Search Tools:
Linux equivalent for content search sudo apt install recoll recollindex -m ~/Documents recoll -q "search term"
Expected Output:
References:
Reported By: Phuong Nguyen – Hackers Feeds
Extra Hub: Undercode MoN
Basic Verification: Pass ✅
