Windows (Agent)

This guide will help you install Pyroscope Agent on Windows.

note

Pyroscope supports Pyroscope Agent on Windows for those versions of Windows 10 that are still within Microsoft’s servicing timeline.

Install

Pyroscope Agent for Windows is distributed as an MSI package. To install it locally, start PowerShell as Administrator and run the following commands.

Download package:

[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = "tls12"wget https://dl.pyroscope.io/release/pyroscope_agent_0.37.2_amd64.msi -outfile pyroscope_agent_0.37.2_amd64.msi

Install MSI package with msiexec:

msiexec.exe /i pyroscope_agent_0.37.2_amd64.msi

tip

To find out about other ways of installing Pyroscope, or to find packages for other CPU architectures (e.g ARM) visit our Downloads page.

Verify the installation

To verify Pyroscope Agent was installed correctly, try the pyroscope command:

pyroscope

tip

After installation, you may need to reload environment variables or re-open the shell:

$env:Path = [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","Machine")

You should see output, similar to the following:

 _ __  _   _ _ __ ___  ___  ___ ___  _ __   ___| '_ \| | | | '__/ _ \/ __|/ __/ _ \| '_ \ / _ \| |_) | |_| | | | (_) \__ \ (_| (_) | |_) |  __/| .__/ \__, |_|  \___/|___/\___\___/| .__/ \___|| |     __/ |                       | ||_|    |___/                        |_|
continuous profiling platform
USAGE  pyroscope [flags] <subcommand>
SUBCOMMANDS  server   starts pyroscope server. This is the database + web-based user interface  agent    starts pyroscope agent.  exec     starts a new process from <args> and profiles it  connect  connects to an existing process and profiles it
FLAGS        DEFAULT VALUES
  -version  false
Run 'pyroscope SUBCOMMAND --help' for more information on a subcommand.

System service

Pyroscope Agent is installed as a system service which is started automatically (pyroscope agent command). To make sure the service was installed correctly, query its state with PowerShell:

Get-Service pyroscope

You should see output, similar to the following:

Status   Name               DisplayName------   ----               -----------Running  pyroscope          Pyroscope Agent

Logging

When is running as a service on Windows, Pyroscope Agent writes logs to %PROGRAMDATA%\Pyroscope\Pyroscope Agent\pyroscope-agent.log file by default.

If agent fails to initialize and start, it writes a corresponding event to Windows Event Log Windows Logs/Application with Source field value "Pyroscope".

Next steps

Refer to Configuration and Integrations pages to learn more about Pyroscop Agent and how to configure it.