Disable Performance Counters

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Service-name\Performance

Data type Range Default value

REG_DWORD

0 | 1

0

Description

Enables and disables registry-based performance counters for this service.

If the value of this entry is 1, then the Performance Library (Perflib) does not retrieve performance data about these counters from the registry. As a result, System Monitor and other tools that use the data cannot display it. Instead, the tools display a value of 0 or 100 percent, depending on the counter.

Perflib uses this entry to disable counters that cause serious errors. The disabling prevents those counters from jeopardizing the display of all performance counters on the system. You can use this entry to re-enable the counters for a service after the counter dynamic-link library (DLL) has been repaired or replaced.

Value Meaning

1

Disables performance counters for this service.

2

The Win32 version is disabled on computers running a Win64 version of the operating system.

4

The Win64 version of the service is disabled.

Change Method

To change the value of this entry, use Extensible Performance Counter List (Exctrlst.exe) available with Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools.

Activation Method

To make changes to this entry effective, restart Windows Server 2003.

Note

  • This entry affects only the performance counters for a particular service. To enable or disable all registry-based performance counters on the system, add the Disable Performance Counters Entry entry to the Perflib subkey.

  • To prevent Perflib from disabling counters, set the 0x2 (10) bit in the value of the Configuration Flags entry.

Tip

  • If particular performance counters do not appear in your performance monitoring tool, then check the Application Log in Event Viewer for events recorded by Perflib. When Perflib detects disabling errors in a counter DLL, it records an event in the log and sets the value of Disable Performance Counters to 1 to disable the counters.

Caution

  • If you set the value of this entry to 1, then the performance objects and counters for this service do not appear in any performance tool. You will not be able to use System Monitor, nor any tool that uses Performance Library data, to monitor these counters.

  • Do not use the registry editor Regedit.exe or Exctrlst.exe to enable counters that Perflib has disabled, unless the counter DLL has been repaired or replaced. If you do, then Perflib will detect the errors and disable the counters again. In addition, the troublesome counters can prevent you from monitoring any performance counters on your system.

See Also

Concepts

EventLogLevel Entry
Disable Performance Counters
ExtCounterTestLevel
OpenProcedureWaitTime
Open Timeout
Collect Timeout