How do you file a bug report for Windows?

I have come across an issue that I feel is a bug in Windows Media Player 12 in Windows 7. What is the official process for submitting an issue to Microsoft from a consumers perspective as an end user of Windows?

There's no submit a bug report option directly. The way you do it is to call Microsoft Support and open a support request(can also be done online). If they can reproduce your issue and verify that it's actually a bug in WMP 12 they will file a bug report.

Be prepared to go through all troubleshooting steps they will have you perform, otherwise it will most likely never be reported as a bug.

You do not need to fill in a bug submission form. Windows 7 makes it available through the Action Center an automatic Problem Reporting tool.

• Goto Start Menu and type action center. Hit enter.
• Click Change Action Center settings on the left sidebar
• Down the bottom of the new window, click Problem Reporting settings
• Make sure it is set to either one of the first 3 options: Automatically check for - solutions, or Automatically check for solutions and send additional data, or ask me before checking for solutions.
• Click Ok. You are back at Change Action Center Settings.
• Click Customer Experience Improvement Program settings
• Make sure you select the option to participate in the program

This is all you need for crashes, hangs and other windows related problems to be sent directly to Microsoft.

Manual online bug reporting tools are only available to subscribers of TechNet or MSDN.