How to Use Xperf
If you’re a Windows user, chances are you’ve had to deal with a slow or unresponsive system at some point. Maybe your computer just doesn’t seem as fast as it used to be, or maybe it’s been crashing more often than usual. Whatever the case may be, there’s a tool that can help you figure out what’s going on: Xperf.
Xperf is a powerful tool for performance analysis, and in this blog post we’ll show you how to use it to troubleshoot your own system. We’ll cover how to install Xperf, how to collect data with it, and how to interpret the results. By the end of this post, you should have a good understanding of what Xperf can do and how it can help you fix your slow or unreliable Windows system.
- Download and install Xperf from the Microsoft website
- Open a command prompt with administrative privileges and change to the directory where Xperf is installed
- To start collecting data, type in the following command: xperf -on base+latency+dispatcher -stackwalk Profile+CSwitch+ReadyThread -BufferSize 1024 -MinBuffers 256 -MaxBuffers 512 -FileMode Circular && timeout -1 && xperf -d
4 - This will create a file called
in the current directory that contains the performance data collected by Xperf - To stop collecting data, press Ctrl-C in the command prompt window
Diagnose High CPU on Windows with XPerf
How to Run Xperf Command?
Xperf is a powerful tracing tool included in the Windows Performance Toolkit. It can be used to trace various events on the system, including CPU utilization, disk activity, network traffic, and more.
To use Xperf, you must first install the Windows Performance Toolkit.
This can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. Once installed, open a command prompt and navigate to the folder where the toolkit was installed. By default, this will be C:\Program Files\Windows Kits\10\Tools\x64\.
From here, you can run Xperf with a variety of options to trace different events. For example, to trace CPU utilization, you would use the following command:
xperf -on PROC_THREAD+LOADER -stackwalk Profile+CSwitch+ReadyThread
This will start tracing CPU utilization and output the results to a file named cpuusage.etl in the current directory. To view the results, you can use XperfViewer which is included in the toolkit.
What Does Xperf Do?
Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT) consists of two main components: Windows Performance Recorder (WPR) and Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA). WPR is a data-collection tool that you can use to trace performance issues. WPA is an analysis tool that you can use to examine the resulting data collected by WPR.
The Xperf tool is included in the WPT and provides a set of advanced capabilities for tracing and analyzing system events. Xperf can be used to collect traces on both local and remote systems. The data collected by Xperf can be helpful in diagnosing a wide variety of performance issues, such as boot or shutdown delays, application start times, unexpected bugs, and crashes.
In addition to its tracing capabilities, Xperf also provides a powerful set of tools for analyzing the trace data that it collects. These tools allow you to generate graphs and reports that can help you identify performance bottlenecks and understand the root cause of problems.
Where Can I Find Xperf?
If you’re looking for Xperf, you can find it in the Windows Performance Toolkit. The Windows Performance Toolkit is a free download from Microsoft that contains a number of tools to help you troubleshoot performance issues on your computer.
Once you’ve downloaded and installed the Windows Performance Toolkit, launch Xperf by going to Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Xperf.
Xperf is a powerful tool that can be used to collect a variety of performance data from your computer. To use Xperf, you’ll need to first create a trace session. A trace session is simply a collection of data that Xperf will gather during a specific period of time.
To create a trace session, click on the “Create new trace” button in the main window of Xperf. This will open the Create New Trace Session dialog box. In this dialog box, you’ll need to specify a name and location for your trace session and select the type of data that you want to collect.
There are two types of data that you can collect with Xperf: kernel events and user events. Kernel events are low-level events that are generated by the operating system itself. User events are high-level events that are generated by applications running on your computer.
For most purposes, it’s best to select both types of data when creating a trace session. However, if you’re only interested in collecting data from a specific application, then you can just select user events.
Once you’ve selected the type of data to collect, click on the “Start tracing now” button to start your trace session.
Xperf will begin collecting data immediately and will continue doing so until you stop it manually or until your specified duration has elapsed (if one was specified).
To stop tracing, go back to the main window of Xperf and click on the “Stop tracing” button. This will end your current trace session and save all collected data to disk so that it can be analyzed later.
How Do I Download Windows Performance Recorder?
Assuming you would like a step-by-step guide on how to download and install the Windows Performance Recorder:
1. Go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48212 and click “Download.”
2. Run the downloaded “.msi” file and follow the prompts in the installer.
3. Once it is installed, open up the recorder by going to Start > All Programs > Windows Kits > Performance Toolkit > Windows Performance Recorder.
4. In order to record your screen, select “Record screen activity.”
To monitor your CPU usage, memory usage, disk activity, and networking activity while recording your screen, check all of the boxes under “Performance Counters.” Then click “Start Recordings.”
5. A command prompt window will appear asking if you want to launch a target application – select Yes in order to continue or No if you do not want to launch an application at this time.
If you choose Yes, another pop-up window will appear where you can either browse for an executable or type in the name of an executable file that you wish to launch (e.g., Notepad). For this example, we will launch Notepad so go ahead and type in “notepad” before clicking OK.
6a) If everything was set up correctly, once you click OK another command prompt window should appear asking if you want to start profiling – select Yes in order to continue or No if you do not want to start profiling at this time; OR
6b) If nothing happens after clicking OK or if an error message appears instead of a second command prompt window asking about whether or not you want to start profiling: i) Make sure that UAC (User Account Control) is turned off by going into Start > Control Panel > User Accounts > Change User Account Control Settings; ii) Set it so that it never notifies you by dragging the slider all the way down then hit OK;
iii) Try steps 4 through 6 again until successful; iv) Once successful, return back into Step 2 above and turn UAC back on by setting it back up notch (i.e., so that it notifies me only when apps try make changes my PC); v) Close out of everything else and re-open WPR from Step 3 above one last time before proceeding with step 7 below.
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Credit: www.sprinklerwarehouse.com
What is Xperf
Xperf is a performance analysis tool that is included in the Windows Performance Toolkit. It provides detailed information about system activity, including CPU utilization, memory usage, disk activity, and network traffic. Xperf can be used to identify bottlenecks and troubleshoot performance issues.
Xperf Windows 10
Xperf is a powerful performance analysis tool that comes with Windows 10. It can be used to identify bottlenecks and issues with your system’s performance. In this blog post, we’ll show you how to use Xperf to troubleshoot your Windows 10 PC.
To get started, open the Performance Monitor by pressing the Windows key + R, then typing “perfmon” into the Run dialog box. Click on the “Performance Monitor” shortcut.
In the Performance Monitor window, click on the “Data Collector Sets” node in the left-hand pane.
Then, in the right-hand pane, click on the “User Defined” node.
Right-click on the “User Defined” node and select “New -> Data Collector Set.” This will open the New Data Collector Set Wizard.
On the first page of the wizard, give your new data collector set a name and description. Then, select “Create manually (Advanced),” and click Next.
On the next page of the wizard, select only the “Performance Counter” checkbox under Available counters, and click Next.
On the next page of the wizard, click on the Add button under Included Counters. In the Add Counters dialog box that appears, make sure that all instances of your processor are selected under Select instances from list:, then scroll down and expand Processor under Available counters: . Select % Processor Time from both lists , then click OK .
You should now see % Processor Time appear in both lists under Included Counters . If you have multiple processors , you will need to add this counter for each one . When you’re finished adding counters , click Next .
Under Save and execute this data collector set: , choose whether you want to run this data collector set now or at a later time . If you choose to run it now , make sure that Start immediately is selected , then click Finish . Otherwise , just click Finish without selecting any options .
Your new data collector set will now appear in User Defined under Data Collector Sets in Performance Monitor . To start collecting data , right – click on it and select Start from context menu .
Xperf Download
Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT) is a powerful tool that can be used to analyze the performance of Windows systems. One of the tools in WPT is Xperf, which can be used to collect and analyze data about system activity.
Xperf is a powerful tool that can be used to troubleshoot performance issues on Windows systems.
It can be used to collect data about system activity, such as processor utilization, disk activity, and network traffic. This data can then be analyzed to identify bottlenecks and other problems.
Xperf is available for download from the Microsoft website.
To use Xperf, you must first install the Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT). Once WPT is installed, you can launch Xperf from the Start menu.
To collect data with Xperf, you need to specify what events you want to trace.
You can select from a predefined list of events, or you can create your own custom event tracing profiles. Once you have selected the events you want to trace, you need to start collecting data by running Xperf with the appropriate options.
Once data collection has started, you can use XperfViewer to visualize the data that has been collected.
XperfViewer provides a variety of views that can help you understand what is happening on your system. For example, the Processor Activity view shows how much time each processor is spending in different states (such as idle or busy). The Disk Activity view shows information about disk reads and writes.
And the Network Traffic view shows information about network traffic patterns.
If you see something unusual in any of these views, you can further investigate by drilling down into the raw data collected by Xperf. This raw data includes a detailed record of all events that occurred during tracing.
Xperf Stackwalk
If you’re a Windows performance analyst, then you’re probably familiar with the Xperf tool. One of the features of Xperf is its ability to capture stack traces, or “stackwalks.” This can be extremely helpful in understanding what your application is doing and where bottlenecks may be occurring.
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at how to use Xperf to perform a stackwalk. We’ll also discuss some of the challenges that can arise when trying to interpret the results.
First, let’s briefly review how stacks work.
When a program is executing, it uses a data structure called a “stack” to keep track of which function is currently being executed and where it should return when that function finishes. Each time a new function is called, it pushes another entry onto the top of the stack. When a function returns, it pops the top entry off of the stack.
When you take a stacktrace with Xperf, you are essentially snapshotting the current state of the stack for each thread in your process. This can be very useful for understanding what your program is doing at a given moment in time. However, it’s important to keep in mind that these snapshots are taken at regular intervals (usually every millisecond), so they may not always accurately reflect reality if your program is changing very rapidly.
Now that we’ve reviewed how stacks work and how Xperf captures them, let’s take a look at an example. We’ll use an simple console application that calls two functions: main() and foo(). Here’s what our code looks like:
void foo() { }
int main()
{ while (true) { foo(); } } Compile and run this code, and then open up XperfViewer (you can find it under Start Menu > All Programs > Windows Kits > Performance Tools).
Click on File > Open and select your trace file.
Xperf Capture
NET Application Performance
If you’re looking for ways to optimize the performance of your .NET applications, Xperf is a great tool to use.
It can help you identify bottlenecks and potential areas for improvement.
To get started with Xperf, you’ll first need to capture a trace of your application. This can be done using the command line tool or the Windows GUI.
Once you have a trace, you can use the Xperfviewer to analyze it. This tool will show you a summary of all the events that occurred during the trace, as well as provide detailed information about each event.
You can also use Xperf to compare the performance of different versions of your application.
This can be helpful if you’re trying to determine which changes are having the biggest impact on performance.
If you’re serious about improving the performance of your .NET applications, Xperf is a valuable tool to have in your arsenal.
Windows Performance Analyzer
Windows Performance Analyzer is a tool that helps you analyze the performance of your Windows operating system. It can be used to identify bottlenecks and optimize your system for better performance.
To use Windows Performance Analyzer, you first need to open the tool by clicking on the Start Menu, then type “perfmon” into the search box.
Once perfmon is open, click on the “Data Collector Sets” node in the left-hand pane. In the right-hand pane, click on “User Defined.” Right-click on “User Defined” and select “New > Data Collector Set.”
Give your new data collector set a name (e.g., My Windows Performance Analysis) and description (e.g., This data collector set will help me analyze my Windows performance). Click “Next.” On the next page, select “Create manually,” then click “Next.”
On the following page, select “Performance Counter” under Available Data Sources and click “Add >” button in the middle of the page.
In the Add Counters dialog box that appears, expand “(Processor)” under Available Counters, select “% Processor Time” from the list of counters, and click “Add >” again. Click “Close” when you’re done adding counters.
Now all you have to do is specify how often you want to collect data (the default is every 60 seconds) and how long you want to run this data collector set (the default is 10 minutes). When you’re finished configuring your settings, click “Finish.”
Now that your data collector set is created, go ahead and start it by right-clicking on it in perfmon and selecting “
Click on the Stop Condition tab at the top of properties dialog box that appears and make sure Continuous execution is selected before clicking OK. To start collecting data, simply right-click on your newly created data collector set again and choose Start from context menu. After 10 minutes have elapsed or sooner if you’ve configured a shorter duration , stop collection by right-clicking on your data collector set one final time and choosing Stop from context menu.
Now it’s time to view & analyze your collected data!
Install Xperf
If you’re looking to get more out of your Windows performance monitoring, installing Xperf is a great way to do it. Xperf is a tool that’s part of the Windows Performance Toolkit, and it provides a lot more data than the default tools in Windows.
To install Xperf, first download the Windows Performance Toolkit from Microsoft.
Once you have that, unzip it and open up the folder. In that folder, you’ll find xperf.exe. To install it, just copy xperf.exe to your C:\Windows\System32 folder.
Now that Xperf is installed, you can use it to collect data about your system’s performance. To do that, open a command prompt and type in “xperf -on base+latency+dispatcher”. This will start collecting data about your system’s base performance, latency, and dispatcher activity.
You can leave this running for a while to collect data, or you can run it for a specific period of time by adding “-Duration #” after the on parameter (replacing “#” with the number of seconds you want it to run).
Once you’ve collected some data, you can view it by typing “xperf -d outputfile.etl”, replacing “outputfile” with the name of the file where your data was saved. This will open up an Event Viewer session with your Xperf data loaded into it.
From there, you can explore all sorts of information about how your system is performing!
Xperf Command Line
If you’re a Windows performance junkie like me, you’re probably familiar with the Xperf tool. This handy tool allows you to collect data about your system’s performance, which can be helpful when troubleshooting issues or trying to optimize performance.
One thing that I recently discovered is that Xperf can also be used from the command line.
This means that you can use it without opening the GUI interface, which can be handy in some situations. In this blog post, I’ll show you how to use the Xperf tool from the command line.
First, let’s take a look at the basic usage of Xperf.
The syntax for running Xperf is as follows:
xperf [-option1 [-suboption1] …] [-option2 [-suboption2] …] [filename]
The options and suboptions allow you to specify what data you want to collect and how it should be collected.
For example, the -on option tells Xperf to turn on data collection for specific event providers. The -stackwalk option enables stack walking for kernel events (more on this later). The filename argument allows you to specify where the collected data should be saved; if no filename is specified, the data will be saved in a file called “Perflogxxx.etl” in your current directory.
Now that we’ve seen the basic usage of Xperf, let’s take a look at some examples of how it can be used from the command line. To start, let’s say that we want to collect information about CPU utilization on our system. We can do this by using the following command:
Conclusion
If you’re a Windows user, you’ve probably come across the Xperf tool. This powerful tool can be used to troubleshoot a variety of issues on your computer. In this post, we’ll show you how to use Xperf to troubleshoot your computer’s performance.
To use Xperf, first open the Command Prompt as an administrator. Then, type in the following command:
xperf -on DiagEasy -stackwalk profile -buffersize 1024 -MinBuffers 256 -MaxBuffers 512000 -FileMode Circular && timeout –1 && xperf -d C:\temp\xperflog.etl
This will start collecting data about your computer’s performance. To stop it, press Ctrl+C in the Command Prompt window. The data will be saved in the C:\temp\xperflog.etl file.
Now that you have a log file full of data, it’s time to analyze it. To do this, you’ll need to download and install the Windows Performance Toolkit . Once you have it installed, open the Windows Performance Analyzer and go to File > Open > Data Files and select your xperflog.etl file.
Expand the “CPU Usage (Sampled)” node and double-click on “% Privileged Time” under “Summary Table.” This will bring up a graph of your CPU usage over time. If you see spikes in CPU usage, that could indicate an issue that needs further investigation.