Running the Windows Server Solutions Log Collector

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Applies To: Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard, Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials

You can run the Log Collector from the server or a computer on the network. If you run the Log Collector from the server, you can only collect logs from the server. If you run the Log Collector tool from a network computer, you can choose to collect logs from the server, in addition to the logs for that computer.

You must have appropriate administrative privileges to run the Log Collector. If you are collecting log files for a server, you must be a Server Administrator; if you are collecting log files on a network computer, you must be a Client Administrator for that computer.

To run the Log Collector tool on the server by using the wizard

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Windows Server Solutions Tools, and then click Log Collector.

    Note

    If you are not logged on to the server with administrative privileges, the Log Collector tool prompts you to enter your credentials.

  2. When you are prompted for a location to save the collected log files, you can choose the default location, \\<ServerName>\logs, or specify another location. To accept the default location, click Next. To change the location, click Browse, navigate to the folder where you want to save the log files, and click Save.

    Note

    You do not need to supply file names for the log files. The Log Collector tool names the zip file collection by concatenating the “computer name” and the “time stamp” of the file.

  3. A progress bar is displayed while the logs are being collected.

  4. To view the contents of the log collection file, select the Open the file location where the logs were saved check box, and click Close to close the wizard and open the log collection file.

To run the Log Collector tool on a network computer by using the wizard

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Windows Server Solutions Tools, and then click Log Collector.

    Note

    If you are not logged on to the network computer with administrative privileges, enter your user name and password when prompted, and then click Next.

  2. Select which logs you would like to collect, as follows:

    1. Select the Server logs check box to collect log files on the server.

    2. The Client PC logs check box is selected by default, indicating that the Log Collector tool will collect the logs from the network computer that is running the tool. If you only want to collect server logs, unselect the Client PC logs check box.

    3. Click Next.

    Note

    If you chose to collect server logs, enter the Server Administrator’s user name and password when prompted, and click Next.

  3. When prompted for a location to save the collected log files, you can choose the default location, %temp%, or specify another location. To accept the default location, click Next. To change the location, click Browse, navigate to the folder where you want to save the log files, and click Save.

    Note

    You do not need to supply file names for the log files. The Log Collector tool names the zip file collection by concatenating the “computer name” and the “time stamp” of the file.

  4. A progress bar is displayed while the logs are being collected.

  5. To view the contents of the log collection file, select the Open the file location where the logs were saved check box, and click Close to close the wizard and open the log collection file.

Running the Log Collector tool manually

After the Log Collector is installed, a scheduled task is created for running the tool. You can subsequently run the tool from the Scheduled Task Manager without using the wizard, if there are issues with starting the wizard.

To manually run the Log Collector tool on the server

  1. Log on directly or remotely to the server.

  2. Open the Task Scheduler.

  3. In the root of the Task Scheduler Library, browse to the scheduled task named LogCollector.

  4. Right-click LogCollector, and then click Run. The Log Collector tool places the logs in the default folder on the server, \\<ServerName>\Logs. If you do not have write permission for the folder, or the folder does not exist, logs are placed in the <temp> subdirectory.

To manually run the Log Collector tool on a network computer

  1. Log on directly or remotely to the network computer.

  2. Open the Task Scheduler.

  3. In the root of the Task Scheduler Library, browse to the scheduled task named LogCollector.

  4. Right-click LogCollector, and then click Run. The Log Collector tool places the logs in the default folder on the network computer, <temp>.