Performance counters missing from results

Category: Troubleshooting & error messages
Date: 02 Feb 2011
Product: ANTS Performance Profiler
Versions: Performance Profiler 4.x -6.x, Memory profiler 5.x - 7.x

In certain situations, the performance counters may be missing from the performance counter results during a profiler session.

There are many possible causes for the problem, but they can usually be fixed across the board by rebuilding the performance counter objects.

If you're running Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 You can use the following commands to rebuild system performance counters. Open a command prompt and run the following commands:

cd %systemroot%\system32
lodctr /R

...and then reboot the computer. Other performance counters may exist outside the "system32" folder.

If you need to rebuild the .NET performance counters, first locate the file "corperfmonsymbols.ini". This should reside in the %systemroot%\microsoft.net\framework\v2.0.50727 directory, but may be in %systemroot%\inf\.netFramework as well. Use lodctr against this file to rebuild the performance counters from a command prompt by running the following commands:

unlodctr .NetFramework
cd %systemroot\inf\.netFramework (or the folder containing corperfmonsymbols.ini)
lodctr corperfmonsymbols.ini

For more information, please reference the Microsoft knowledge base: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300956

It is also possible that performance objects are disabled and therefore unavailable to query. The "EXCTRLST.exe" tool from Microsoft will show you whether or not a particular performance object is enabled and allow you to enable it. This tool can be downloaded for free from Microsoft's website at http://download.microsoft.com/download/win2000platform/exctrlst/1.00.0.1/nt5/en-us/exctrlst_setup.exe

If any of the performance counters are not enabled, they will not appear in the ANTS Profiler performance counter graph.

On some versions of Windows, performance counters can be disabled globally by setting the registry value HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib to "1".

If you're on a newer operating system, please follow the following instructions:

Click on Start, CMD (evelated as an Administrator)
Type "C:" without the quotation marks and Enter.
Type "CD\windows\system32" without the quotation marks and Enter.
Type "LodCtr.exe /S:Backup_Original.INI" without the quotation marks and Enter.
Note: This let's you backup the performance counters before we rebuild.
Type "LodCtr.exe /R:PerfStringBackup.INI" without the quotation marks and Enter.
Open up Perfmon and check to see if your counters are showing up properly.

P.S. Other commands that you can use with LODCTR.exe

========================================================
C:\>lodctr.exe /?

LODCTR
    Updates registry values related to performance counters.

Usage:
    LODCTR <INI-FileName>
        INI-FileName is the name of the initialization file that contains
            the counter name definitions and explain text for an extensible
            counter DLL.

    LODCTR /S:<Backup-FileName>
        save the current perf registry strings and info to <Backup-FileName>

    LODCTR /R:<Backup-FileName>
        restore the perf registry strings and info using <Backup-FileName>

    LODCTR /R
        rebuild the perf registry strings and info from scratch based on the cur
rent
            registry settings and backup INI files.

    LODCTR /T:<Service-Name>
        set the performance counter service as trusted.

    LODCTR /E:<Service-Name>
        enable the performance counter service.

    LODCTR /D:<Service-Name>
        disable the performance counter service.

    LODCTR /Q

    LODCTR /Q:<Service-Name>
        query the performance counter service information, either query all or s
pecified one.

    LODCTR /M:<Counter-Manifest>
        install Windows Vista performance counter provider definition XML file
            to system repository.

Note: any arguments with spaces in the names must be enclosed within
Double Quotation marks.

For more information please refer to: http://blogs.technet.com/b/yongrhee/archive/2009/10/06/how-to-rebuild-performance-counters-on-windows-vista-server2008-7-server2008r2.aspx