More often than not, the performance tool is only used on a Windows 2003 Server when something is going wrong. This being the case, if the performance tool becomes corrupted you usually don’t know it until you really need it to work.
The most common way you can tell if your performance counter values are corrupted is that when you attempt to view then, they all show up as random numbers rather than their actual names. Luckily, the process used to restore these performance counters is pretty painless.
These counters are stored on your local system under the %systemroot%\System32\ directory in two files named Perfc009.dat and Perfh009.dat. These files must be retrieved in their original form off of the Windows Server installation CD-ROM. They are there, in compressed form, under the I386 directory, listed as Perfc009.da_ and Perfh009.da_.
Once you have done this, some registry work must be done. Start the registry editor and browse to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib. Change the LastCounter value to 1846 and the LastHelp value to 1847. Next, browse to HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services and find the Performance subkey and delete the FirstCounter, FirstHelp, LastCounter, and LastHelp values if they exist.
After this is done, open a command prompt and browse to the System32 directory. Type findstr drivername *.ini and hit enter. Write down the list of ini files display and then type lodctr inifilename for each file listed. Restart your computer.
The last step in this process after the restart is complete is to open a command prompt, browse to the system32 directory, and type lodctr /r.
Okay…maybe not entirely painless…but it will definitely do the trick!
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Chris Sanders is a consultant for KeeFORCE, one of the most popular network consulting firms in western Kentucky. Chris is the author of the book Practical Packet Analysis as well as several technical articles. His personal website at http://www.chrissanders.org contains a great deal of information, articles, and guides related to network administration, network security, packet analysis, and general information technology.
