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EDIT- As it turns out I was using the Windows Performance Analyzer. With the Windows 8 ADK when you install the Performance Tools it makes an icon for the Performance Analyzer but no longer makes an icon for xperfview. xperfview 6.2.2900 is still included and still has its responsive interface and now it can properly read Windows 8 etl files. It can be found here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Windows Performance Toolkit\xperfview.exe

Sorry for the confusion. My original question is below, and the answer I checked correct tells how you can show the modules in Windows Performance Analyzer.

I used xperf 4.6.7231 to capture some latency info on a Windows 8 x64 system. I then tried to use the same version of xperfview to view the results but I couldn't. There was only "unknown". All my symbols are configured correctly and this is only a problem trying to use that version of xperfview on Windows 8.

Long story short I had to download the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) to get the latest version of Windows Performance Tools. xperfview from both Win8 and Win8.1pre ADKs work to properly view the etl file created on Windows 8.

The interface for xperfview has changed drastically in Windows 8 ADKs. It is now based on .NET and much less responsive than older versions. It also looks to have many more options. One thing I can't figure out (and I've checked the help and googled) is how I can do what I could in the older versions where I highlight a section, right-click it, then choose "Summary" to see drivers and their percentages at that selected time.

To give you an example here's a link to what xperfview looks like with its new .NET interface: enter image description here


and here's what it used to look like when you could select a summary. Note it says unknown that's because the old version doesn't handle Win8 etls right. This is just an example of what I'm looking for in the new version, but with the driver names of course. enter image description here

loop
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2 Answers2

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You have to click at the first icon over the graph. This shows the Graph + table. The 3rd icons shows you the table only.

enter image description here

magicandre1981
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  • Thanks. It works but not like I remember. When I highlight a certain section the modules duration etc isn't updated. It shows me the same modules and details no matter what I highlight. If you open DPC/ISR duration by module you should see some modules. Now highlight a certain section and those module details should change (right?) but they don't. In the old versions of xperfview they did. You highlighted a section and clicked summary and you got a summary for whatever you highlighted. – loop Jul 17 '13 at 18:52
  • I also hate the new UI, so I understand your pain. – magicandre1981 Jul 17 '13 at 18:54
  • Do you think that's a bug though? Can you confirm that behavior? When I highlight a section on the graph the modules details aren't updated to reflect what is happening in that particular section. They stay the same no matter what I highlight. – loop Jul 17 '13 at 18:56
  • what do you want to achieve? – magicandre1981 Jul 17 '13 at 18:58
  • Typically I will highlight a section with high DPC usage and I'll be able to see the offender in that section. With this new setup it's only showing the modules' overall durations, and not the durations in the section I'm highlighting. Also I figured out something you'll be interested in. It turns out I'm not using xperfview but Windows Performance Analyzer, and the original xperfview interface is still included they just don't make an icon for it anymore. I loaded the new xperfview 6.2.9200 and it works to read the windows 8 etl files. So I will update my answer with this info. – loop Jul 17 '13 at 19:06
  • but in the 8.1 WPT, the xperfview.exe is gone :'( I dump the ETL into a txt file to see overview of DPC/ISR. – magicandre1981 Jul 17 '13 at 19:07
  • no, in the tools for Windows 8.1 xperfview.exe is removed completely. – magicandre1981 Jul 17 '13 at 19:16
  • Oh ok. I have the Windows 8 ADK not the 8.1 preview version. It looks like it's no longer available in the 8.1 preview ADK. Thanks for clarifying. – loop Jul 17 '13 at 21:11
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With WPA the tables show data for the entire visible time range, not the selected time range. If you want to show a summary for the selected time range you need to zoom to that range. You can zoom in the current view or in a new view.

The new UI does take some getting used to, but it has a number of significant advantages: 1) Symbols load asynchronously without hanging the UI while they are loading. 2) Detailed analysis can be done in a single window -- xperfview would frequently require opening a dozen windows to analyze one trace. 3) More configurable (although some of the configuration options are not obvious). 4) More features, such as custom exporting of data and comparing of two traces 5) When a subset of the data (a process, and entry on a call stack) is selected then the areas where that piece of data is active are highlighted on the timeline.

WPA 8.0 had some bugs which forced me to occasionally use xperfview but with WPA 8.1 I no longer need to use xperfview. I don't miss it.

For an overview of new features in 8.1 see this post: http://randomascii.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/new-version-of-xperfupgrade-now/

For details on the custom export feature see this post: http://randomascii.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/exporting-arbitrary-data-from-xperf-etl-files/

For various articles on how to use xperf and WPA effectively see the whole series: http://randomascii.wordpress.com/category/xperf/

Bruce Dawson
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  • Thanks for the information, Bruce. I've stumbled on your blog before, interesting stuff. – loop Jan 04 '14 at 18:17
  • I miss xperfview. The new version also has bugs (stack missing for valloc in Win7). Because the new version loads symbols for the whole trace, it take much longer and uses more RAM compared to xperfview. Also WPA no longer selects some graphs, which makes it extremely hard for new users to use the tool. – magicandre1981 Jan 05 '14 at 05:53
  • @magicandre1981 The Stack column missing for virtual alloc in WPA is certainly annoying -- I guess that's the one time I still have to use xperfview. I haven't really noticed the increased memory usage, but I have 32 GB of RAM. I recommend it (seriously). I'm not sure what you mean by "WPA no longer selects some graphs". Do you mean that it defaults to not showing any graphs or tables? I think that both xperfview and WPA are extremely tough for new users. Microsoft could easily improve this by having more sensible defaults (like showing the Stack column in the sampled CPU data). – Bruce Dawson Jan 06 '14 at 23:11
  • @magicandre1981 Finally, the preference for WPA versus xperfview may be personal taste, but I suspect it is familiarity. It took me a little while to get used to WPA. It was tough at first when I tried to use it like xperfview when its paradigms are different. While WPA could still be improved (undo of zoom would be *awesome*) I strongly prefer it over xperfview. Having good defaults and layouts for various scenarios and graphs helps a lot. – Bruce Dawson Jan 06 '14 at 23:16
  • no, the new tool is unusable for new users. They are LOST! They have no idea which graphs they must look at. My main issue is the blurry font and the scrolling you see all the time. I liked the summary table which opened in a new Window which I can move around. I avoid the WPA crap as much as possible and only use it if an user give me an ETL from a 8.1 system. The 8.0 xperfview can read 8.1 ETL files any longer correctly. – magicandre1981 Jan 07 '14 at 09:27