Windows* Targets

Use the Intel® VTune™ Profiler for the performance analysis of Windows* targets.

Prepare a Windows Target for Analysis

Before you begin analyzing your target for performance, you need to configure and build it as follows:

Choose a Target from Visual Studio* IDE

For the VTune Profiler integrated into the Microsoft Visual Studio* IDE, you may choose an analysis target and run a performance analysis directly from your development environment.

To choose an analysis target for an existing solution:

  1. Open a solution in the Intel VTune Profiler Results folder. To display the folder, in the Visual Studio IDE, select View > Other Windows > Intel VTune Profiler Results.

  2. If the solution contains more than one project, select an appropriate project.

    VTune Profiler toolbar and menu items are enabled. By default, the VTune Profiler inherits the Visual Studio settings and uses the application generated for the selected project as your analysis target. You may right-click the project and select Configure Analysis toolbar button to verify target properties from the menu. By default, the target type is set to Launch Application.

To choose an existing standalone executable file:

  1. From the Visual Studio menu, choose File > Open > Project/Solution.

    The Open Project dialog box opens.

  2. Select the Executable Files (*.exe) filter and choose an executable file.

    Visual Studio software creates a solution with a single project that contains your executable file. VTune Profiler features are enabled.

  3. Right-click the project and select Intel VTune Profilerversion > Configure Analysis... option.

    The Configure Analysis window opens.

  4. Click the Binary/Symbol Search or Source Search button at the bottom to specify search directories. By default, the search directories are defined by the Microsoft Visual Studio* C++ project properties. To view default project search directories for system functions in Visual Studio, right-click the project in the Solution Explorer and select Properties.

    When finalizing the collected data, the VTune Profiler uses these directories to search for binary (executables and dynamic libraries), symbol (typically .pdb files), and source files supporting your target in the particular order. VTune Profiler automatically locates the files for C/C++ projects which are not moved after building the application and collecting the performance data.

  5. Save the solution.

Note

Different versions of Visual Studio may have different user interface elements. Refer to the Visual Studio online help for the exact user interface elements that you need to view file location.

Configure a Windows Target

When creating a VTune Profiler project, you access the Configure Analysis window and select any of the three available target types for further configuration: Launch Application, Attach to Process, or Profile System. For example, for the Launch Application target type, you need to specify an application (and its parameters, if required) for analysis:

When done with the configuration, click the Browse button on the HOW pane on the right to select and run an analysis type.

See Also