How to retrieve the number of running applications/processes inside an Azure Virtual Machine

Question

How to retrieve the number of running applications/processes inside an Azure Virtual Machine

Sree Aravind M 40

We need to identify how to get the number of running applications/processes inside an Azure Virtual Machine. Looking for supported approaches to retrieve this information from within the VM environment. This can include APIs, monitoring tools, agents, or any Azure-native solutions. The requirement is to programmatically or operationally determine active processes. Kindly provide the recommended and supported method to achieve this.

Jilakara Hemalatha 12,105 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-08T05:34:32.26+00:00

Hello Aravind,

Just checking if above information was helpful! Please let me know if you have any queries.

2 answers

Your answer

Jilakara Hemalatha 12,105 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-08T05:34:32.26+00:00

Hello Aravind,

Just checking if above information was helpful! Please let me know if you have any queries.

Answer 1

Sree Aravind M hi and thx for stay with us at Q&A platform,

yeah Azure itself doesnt know whats running inside ur VM. It only sees CPU, RAM, disk etc process list = inside guest OS only, so u got 3 real options, simplest run command inside VM

linux

ps -e --no-headers | wc -l

windows

(Get-Process).Count

trigger via

Azure Run Command

SSH / RDP

proper way (at scale) Azure Monitor Agent + Log Analytics, enable VM insights, then u can query processes

example KQL

InsightsMetrics

| where Name == "Processes"

or use process tables depending on config, this is the only “Azure-native” way to do it centrally

third option custom script / agent. Deploy something that collects process count and pushes to

Log Analytics

App Insights

or your API

important there is no Azure API like: “give me process count for VM”

bc Azure does not inspect inside OS unless agent is installed

rgds,

Alex

RajKumar Kannan 120 Reputation points

2026-04-09T07:53:45.9166667+00:00

Hi Alex,
when i
InsightsMetrics

| where Name == "Processes", run this query I got empty data,
Can you please clarify this clearly.
Thank You for your response.

Answer 2

Hello Aravind,

Thank you for reaching out Q/A.

I understand that you are looking for a supported and programmatic way to retrieve the count and details of running applications/processes inside an Azure Virtual Machine.

To set the right expectation, Azure does not expose process-level information at the platform (fabric) level, since all running processes exist within the guest operating system. As a result, retrieving this information always requires either executing commands inside the VM or using a supported monitoring agent.

Below are the recommended and supported approaches:

1.VM Insights with Processes & Dependencies:

This is the primary Azure-native and fully supported approach for continuously monitoring running processes inside a VM.

How it works:

Enable VM Insights from the Azure Portal (VM → Monitoring → Insights)
During setup, ensure “Enable processes and dependencies” is selected
This deploys the Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) along with the Dependency Agent
Process data is collected into the VMProcess table in the Log Analytics workspace
You can use KQL queries to retrieve process details and process counts

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/vm/tutorial-enable-monitoring

2.Performance Counter for Process Count:

For near real-time monitoring of process count metrics, you can configure custom performance counters using a Data Collection Rule (DCR) with the Azure Monitor Agent.

Works for both Windows and Linux VMs
Useful for alerting scenarios (for example, when process count exceeds a threshold)
Best suited for numeric monitoring rather than detailed process inspection

Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/vm/data-collection-performance

Azure VM Run Command (On-Demand / Ad-hoc)

For one-time or ad-hoc retrieval without relying on continuous monitoring:

Windows:

az vm run-command invoke --resource-group <ResourceGroupName> --name <VMName> --command-id RunPowerShellScript --scripts "(Get-Process).Count"

Note: This approach is recommended for on-demand checks only and is not suitable for continuous monitoring or alerting scenarios.

Please refer below documentations also:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/reference/tables/vmprocess

Monitor Azure Virtual Machines

Query map data from VM Insights

Hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any queries.

RajKumar Kannan 120 Reputation points

2026-04-09T07:49:31.9166667+00:00

Hi Jilakara, during the VM Insights enabled from the Azure Portal, there is no option called “Enable processes and dependencies”.
Can you please clarify this with required screenshot that would be more helpful.
Thankyou.
Jilakara Hemalatha 12,105 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-10T10:52:52.7066667+00:00

Thank you for your patience.

I have validated this scenario in my environment. From an Azure Virtual Machines perspective, application lifecycle management inside the VM is not exposed to the Azure platform. Azure manages only the infrastructure lifecycle of the VM, but it does not provide native visibility into or control over the applications running within the guest operating system.

Additionally, the Log Analytics Workspace** / **Azure Monitor approach does not always provide detailed and real-time process-level information. In most cases, it returns limited insights such as overall process counts, and may not reliably list all active processes with their exact instances.

There is an alternative and more reliable method to retrieve process details without logging into the VM by using Run Command.

To check the running processes:

Navigate to the Virtual Machine in the Azure Portal

Go to Operations → Run Command

Select RunPowerShellScript

Execute the following command:

Get-Process | Group-Object ProcessName | Sort-Object Count -Descending | Select Name, Count

It will show the count like below:

Also, you can use the Azure CLI To retrieve only the total process count:

az vm run-command invoke \ --resource-group "RGNAME" \ --name "VMNAME" \ --command-id "RunPowerShellScript" \ --scripts "Get-Process | Measure-Object | Select-Object Count"

Note: The above command returns only the total number of running processes.

To retrieve process names along with their counts:

az vm run-command invoke \ --resource-group <RGNAME> \ --name <VMNAME> \ --command-id RunPowerShellScript \ --scripts "Get-Process | Group-Object ProcessName | Sort-Object Count -Descending | Select Name,Count | ConvertTo-Json"

Share via

How to retrieve the number of running applications/processes inside an Azure Virtual Machine

2 answers

Your answer