Event Tracing for Windows IoT Core

Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) provides developers the ability to start and stop event tracing sessions, instrument an application to provide trace events, and consume trace events. ETW on Windows IoT Core devices supports both manifest-based and classic events, and is no different than other Windows 10 devices.

This section will provide useful links on the basics of writing and consuming events. Find more detailed information from the Windows Event Tracing page.

Writing Events

Find a UWP sample that implements the different methods of writing events as part of the Windows Universal Samples GitHub. This will run on Windows IoT Core devices and is also a great code reference.

Detailed guide on writing events and obtaining GUIDs can be found here.

Consuming Events

Events are either saved to an ETL file or captured in real time. Use FTP or Windows File Sharing to retrieve ETL files from Windows IoT Core devices.

Use Tools in Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit

Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit includes three tools to help capture and analyze events.

1. Windows Performance Analyzer visualizes ETL files on desktop, with a step-by-step guide here.

2. Xperf command-line tool captures real-time events and writes them to an ETL file. This tool is already installed on Windows IoT Core devices, just run the following commands on the devices:

   // Start capturing events from specific GUID and save them to an ETL file
   xperf -start <Session Name> -f <ETL File> -on <GUID>
   
   // Stop capturing events with the specified session name
   xperf -stop <Session Name>
   

3. Tracerpt command-line tool converts ETL files into xml files.

   // Generate dumpfile.xml from ETL file
   tracerpt <ETL File>
   

Use Device Portal

Device portal can capture events in real time, with instructions here.

Use Function Calls

Enable an application to consume events from an ETL file or in real-time using function calls. Learn how to use these functions here.