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Viewing Trace Data

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Applies To: Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server Technical Preview, Windows Vista

To view the data contained in a trace log file, you must execute a utility that the DTC provides. This utility, msdtcvtr, converts the binary trace file to a text file that you can read.

Note

Running the msdtcvtr utility batch file requires that the tracefmt.exe tool (which is included in the Platform SDK) is in the path. The tracefmt.exe tool can be obtained from the \Bin folder in the directory in which you've installed the Platform SDK. The msdtcvtr batch file is located in the WINDOWS\system32\MsDtc\Trace folder.

Prior to viewing trace data, you should flush the data from its memory buffers to the file on disk. Otherwise, the data in your view might be incomplete.

To view sample trace data resulting from a background trace

  1. From the Start menu, choose Programs, point to Accessories, and click Command Prompt.

  2. Enter the msdtcvtr command, using the following syntax:

    msdtcvtr {-MODE 1 | -tracelog tracelogfilename } [options]

    The following tables describe the parameter and option values you can use in the command line.

    Parameter Description
    -MODE 1 Displays background trace data
    -tracelog file Specifies the name of the binary trace file to be displayed
    Option Description
    -H or ? Displays Help
    -o filename Specifies the name of the ASCII output file, without extension
    -MOF filename Displays MOF file

To view sample trace data resulting from the tracing of an individual transaction

From the command line, enter the msdtcvtr command, using the following syntax:

msdtcvtr {-MODE 2 | -tracelog tracelogfilename } [options]

The following tables describe the parameter and option values you can use in the command line.

Parameter Description
-MODE 2 Displays trace data generated from the user interface
-tracelog file Specifies the name of the binary trace file to be displayed
Option Description
-H or ? Displays Help
-o filename Specifies the name of the ASCII output file, without extension
-MOF filename Displays MOF file