WindowsPerf (wperf)

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About this Install Guide

Reading time:  15 min
Last updated:  28 Apr 2026
Reading time:
  15 min
Last updated:
  28 Apr 2026
Author:Jason Andrews, Arm
Official docs:View
Author:
  • Jason Andrews, Arm
Official docs:
View

This guide shows you how to install and use the tool with the most common configuration. For advanced options and complete reference information, see the official documentation. Some install guides also include optional next steps to help you explore related workflows or integrations.

WindowsPerf is a Linux Perf-inspired performance profiling tool for Windows on Arm. Profiling is based on the Arm AArch64 PMU and its hardware counters. WindowsPerf supports the counting model for obtaining aggregate counts of occurrences of PMU events, and the sampling model for determining the frequencies of event occurrences produced by program locations at the function, basic block, and instruction levels. WindowsPerf is an open-source project hosted on GitLab .

WindowsPerf consists of a kernel-mode driver and a user-space command-line tool. You can seamlessly integrate the WindowsPerf command line tool with both the WindowsPerf Visual Studio Extension and the WindowsPerf VS Code Extension . These extensions, which you can download from the Visual Studio Marketplace, enhance the functionality of WindowsPerf by providing a user-friendly interface, and additional features for performance analysis and debugging. This integration allows developers to efficiently analyze and optimize their applications directly within their preferred development environment.

Note

You can’t use WindowsPerf on virtual machines, such as cloud instances.

Install WindowsPerf using winget

You can now install WindowsPerf directly from winget . Open an Administrator terminal on PowerShell and run:

    

        
        
winget install WindowsPerf

The output is similar to:

    

        
        Found WindowsPerf [Arm.WindowsPerf] Version 4.3.1.0
This application is licensed to you by its owner.
Microsoft is not responsible for, nor does it grant any licenses to, third-party packages.
Downloading https://developer.arm.com/-/cdn-downloads/permalink/WindowsPerf/Installer/windowsperf-4.3.1.msi
  3.07 MB
Successfully verified installer hash
Starting package install...
Successfully installed

Image Alt Text:Animated terminal output showing winget installing WindowsPerf, including package download, hash verification, and Successfully installed status to confirm installation completion.

The command will install the latest available WindowsPerf along with the WPA plugins . To check that the installation was successful, open a new terminal tab or window and follow the instructions under the verify installation section .

Uninstall WindowsPerf using winget

If you need to uninstall WindowsPerf, open an Administrator terminal on PowerShell and run:

    

        
        
winget uninstall WindowsPerf

The output from a successful uninstallation is similar to:

    

        
        Found WindowsPerf [Arm.WindowsPerf]
Starting package uninstall...
Successfully uninstalled
Note

WinPerf is an open-source project. If you’d like to develop WindowsPerf yourself, you may also need to install the Windows Driver Kit (WDK). For more information, see WDK release notes .

Verify that WindowsPerf is installed correctly

You can check everything is working by running the wperf executable.

Note

After you’ve installed the driver, you can use wperf without Administrator privileges.

For example:

    

        
        
wperf --version

The output is similar to:

    

        
                Component     Version  GitVer    FeatureString
        =========     =======  ======    =============
        wperf         4.0.0    b18197bd  +etw-app
        wperf-driver  4.0.0    b18197bd  +etw-drv

Install the WindowsPerf Virtual Studio Extension?

WindowsPerf GUI (Graphical User Interface) is a Visual Studio 2022 extension designed to bring a seamless UI experience to WindowsPerf, the command-line performance profiling tool for Windows on Arm. It is available on the Visual Studio Marketplace .

To install the extension:

  1. Open the Extensions menu in Visual Studio.
  2. Select Manage Extensions, then select Browse.
  3. Search for WindowsPerf.
  4. Select Install for the Arm WindowsPerf GUI extension.
How to set up wperf.exe path in the extension

To set the path to the wperf.exe executable, go to Tools -> Options -> WindowsPerf -> WindowsPerf Path and set the absolute path to the wperf.exe executable and then click on the Validate button.

Also, for more details and latest updates, see the WindowsPerf GUI project website on GitLab .

Install the WindowsPerf VS Code Extension

In addition to the command-line tools, WindowsPerf is available on the VS Code Marketplace .

To install and configure the extension:

  1. Open the Extensions view in VS Code using Ctrl+Shift+X.
  2. Search for WindowsPerf.
  3. Select Install.
  4. Open Settings using Ctrl+,.
  5. Go to Extensions > WindowsPerf.
  6. Set the path to the wperf executable.
Non-Windows on Arm host

You can generate reports only from a Windows on Arm device.

If you’re using a non-Windows on Arm host, you can import and analyze WindowsPerf JSON reports from such devices.

You don’t need to install wperf on non-Windows on Arm devices.

You’re now ready to use WindowsPerf. For more information about WindowsPerf, see the following links:

WindowsPerf

WindowsPerf GUI


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