Windows* Targets
Use the
Intel® VTune™
for the performance analysis of Windows* targets.
Profiler
Prepare a Windows Target for Analysis
Before you begin analyzing your target for performance, you need to configure and build it as follows:
- Enable downloading debug information for the system libraries by configuring the Microsoft* Symbol Server.
- Build your target in theReleasemode with the recommended compiler optimization settings.
- Create a baseline against which you can compare the performance improvements as a result of tuning.For example, you instrument your code to determine how long it takes to compress a certain file. Your original target code, augmented to provide these timing data, serves as your performance baseline. Every time you modify your target, compare the performance metrics of your optimized target with the baseline, to verify that the performance has improved.
Choose a Target from Visual Studio* IDE
For
the
VTune
integrated into the Microsoft Visual Studio* IDE, you may choose an analysis target and run a performance analysis directly from your development environment.
Profiler
To choose an analysis target for an existing solution:
- Open a solution in thefolder. To display the folder, in the Visual Studio IDE, selectIntel VTuneResultsProfilerView > Other Windows > Intel.VTuneResultsProfiler
- If the solution contains more than one project, select an appropriate project.VTunetoolbar and menu items are enabled. By default, theProfilerVTuneinherits the Visual Studio settings and uses the application generated for the selected project as your analysis target. You may right-click the project and selectProfilerConfigure Analysistoolbar button to verify target properties from the menu. By default, the target type is set toLaunch Application.
To choose an existing standalone executable file:
- From the Visual Studio menu, chooseFile > Open > Project/Solution.TheOpen Projectdialog box opens.
- Select theExecutable Files (*.exe)filter and choose an executable file.Visual Studio software creates a solution with a single project that contains your executable file.VTunefeatures are enabled.Profiler
- Right-click the project and selectIntel>VTuneProfilerversionConfigure Analysis...option.TheConfigure Analysiswindow opens.
- Click theBinary/Symbol SearchorSource Searchbutton 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 selectProperties.When finalizing the collected data, theVTuneuses these directories to search for binary (executables and dynamic libraries), symbol (typicallyProfiler.pdbfiles), and source files supporting your target in the particular order.VTuneautomatically locates the files for C/C++ projects which are not moved after building the application and collecting the performance data.Profiler
- Save the solution.
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
project, you access the
Profiler
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.