When your PC randomly freezes, stutters, or becomes unresponsive, and Event Viewer shows no errors—it’s time to break out the big guns: Windows Performance Recorder.
WPR is a powerful, built-in tool that lets you record system behavior in real time and analyze it with surgical precision.
What Is Windows Performance Recorder?
WPR is part of the Windows ADK (Assessment and Deployment Kit). It captures kernel-level performance data including:
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CPU usage by process
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Disk I/O bottlenecks
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Driver delays
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Thread scheduling
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Interrupt latency
This data can then be analyzed using Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA).
How to Install WPR
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Download Windows ADK (small install option available)
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Install Windows Performance Toolkit only
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Launch WPRUI.exe
Basic Usage Steps
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Choose Performance scenario (General, CPU, Disk, etc.)
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Click “Start” to begin recording
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Reproduce the issue—freeze, lag, or spike
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Click “Save” and give the file a name
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Open the saved file in WPA for analysis
What to Look For in WPA
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CPU usage over time by thread
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I/O Read/Write latency by process
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High ISR/DPC execution time (driver problems)
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Context switches per second (indicates CPU overload or starvation)
Pro-Level Tip
If you’re diagnosing game stutter or frame drops, enable GPU tracing before you record. This reveals DirectX call delays, GPU queue stalls, and driver overhead.
Real Use Case
A developer experienced 3-second freezes in Visual Studio. WPR traced the issue to Windows Defender scanning .DLL files during compile. Solution? Exclude the project folder in Defender settings. Problem solved.
WPR is complex—but incredibly powerful. If you’re tired of guessing and want answers, this tool is how professionals diagnose what Task Manager and Event Viewer can’t see.