PRB: Unable to Add a Performance Counter on Windows 2000 (263612)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

This article was previously published under Q263612

SYMPTOMS

When you select a counter in the Add Counters dialog box in the Performance Monitor utility (PerfMon.exe), the Add button may be disabled. Consequently, the corresponding performance counter cannot be monitored through Performance Monitor.

CAUSE

The Add button is disabled if the Performance Extension DLL for the selected performance object reports that there are currently 0 instances of the object. This behavior is also seen if the Performance Extension DLL reports that there are 0 instances for a performance object that doesn't even support instance data.

RESOLUTION

The PERF_OBJECT_TYPE structure describes object-specific performance information that is returned by a Performance Extension DLL. This structure contains a member called NumInstances that specifies the number of object instances for which counters are provided.

If the performance object will never provide instance data by means of PERF_INSTANCE_DEFINITION structures, the NumInstances value should be set to PERF_NO_INSTANCES, or -1. If the performance object supports 0 or more instances, the NumInstances value should reflect the current number of instances of the object.

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:11/20/2003
Keywords:kbKernBase kbPerfMon kbprb KB263612