How to: Retrieve Raw Performance Counter Values 

You retrieve raw performance counter values by retrieving the current value of the RawValue property on the PerformanceCounter class.

To retrieve a counter's raw value

1. Create a PerformanceCounter instance and configure it to interact with the desired category and counter. For more information, see How to: Create PerformanceCounter Component Instances or How to: Configure PerformanceCounter Component Instances.

2. Retrieve the current value of the RawValue property.

   The following example illustrates how to use the RawValue property to retrieve the current value of the % Processor Time counter:

   Dim MyCounter As New PerformanceCounter()
   MyCounter.CategoryName = "Processor"
   MyCounter.CounterName = "% Processor Time"
   MyCounter.InstanceName = "_Total"
   Dim raw As Int64
   raw = MyCounter.RawValue
   

   System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter myCounter =
      new System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter();
   myCounter.CategoryName = "Processor";
   myCounter.CounterName = "% Processor Time";
   myCounter.InstanceName = "_Total";
   long raw = myCounter.RawValue;
   

   System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter myCounter =
      new System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter();
   myCounter.set_CategoryName("Processor");
   myCounter.set_CounterName("% Processor Time");
   myCounter.set_InstanceName("_Total");
   long raw = myCounter.get_RawValue();
   

See Also

Tasks

How to: Retrieve Calculated Performance Counter Values
How to: Retrieve Performance Counter Samples
How to: Retrieve Lists of Counters and Categories

Concepts

Performance Counter Value Retrieval