Windows Event ID 1008 – Perflib: Performance Counter Provider Load Failure

Start by examining the Event ID 1008 details to identify which specific performance counter provider is failing.

1. Open Event Viewer by pressing Win + R, typing eventvwr.msc, and pressing Enter
2. Navigate to Windows Logs → Application
3. Filter for Event ID 1008 by right-clicking the Application log and selecting Filter Current Log
4. Enter 1008 in the Event IDs field and click OK
5. Double-click the most recent Event ID 1008 entry to view details
6. Note the service name and library path mentioned in the event description
7. Use PowerShell to get detailed event information:

Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{LogName='Application'; Id=1008} -MaxEvents 5 | Format-List TimeCreated, Id, LevelDisplayName, Message

Record the failing provider name and any error codes for use in subsequent troubleshooting steps.

Rebuild the performance counter registry to resolve corrupted counter configurations.

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator
2. Stop the Performance Logs and Alerts service:

net stop pla

3. Navigate to the system32 directory:

cd /d %windir%\system32

4. Rebuild the performance counter registry using lodctr:

lodctr /R

5. If the above command fails, use the more comprehensive rebuild:

cd /d %windir%\inf
lodctr /R

6. Restart the Performance Logs and Alerts service:

net start pla

7. Verify the fix by checking for new Event ID 1008 entries after a system restart

Clean up orphaned performance counter registry entries left by uninstalled applications.

1. Open Registry Editor by pressing Win + R, typing regedit, and pressing Enter
2. Navigate to the performance counter services key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

3. Look for services mentioned in the Event ID 1008 error message
4. For each problematic service, check if the Performance subkey exists
5. If the parent service no longer exists but Performance subkeys remain, delete the orphaned entries
6. Use PowerShell to identify potential orphaned entries:

Get-ChildItem "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services" | Where-Object { $_.GetSubKeyNames() -contains "Performance" } | ForEach-Object { $serviceName = $_.PSChildName; $service = Get-Service -Name $serviceName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue; if (-not $service) { Write-Output "Potential orphan: $serviceName" } }

7. Before deleting any registry keys, export them as backup:

reg export "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\[ServiceName]" C:\temp\perfcounter_backup.reg

8. Restart the system after making registry changes

Repair corrupted system files that may be affecting performance counter providers.

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator
2. Run System File Checker to scan for corrupted files:

sfc /scannow

3. If SFC finds issues, run DISM to repair the Windows image:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

4. After DISM completes, run SFC again to ensure all files are repaired:

sfc /scannow

5. Check the SFC log for details about repaired files:

Get-Content $env:windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log | Select-String "\[SR\]" | Select-Object -Last 20

6. Restart the system and monitor for Event ID 1008 recurrence
7. If issues persist, consider running Windows Memory Diagnostic:

mdsched.exe

This comprehensive approach addresses potential file corruption that could prevent performance counter DLLs from loading properly.

Perform advanced diagnostics and manual performance counter provider investigation.

1. Enable detailed performance counter logging by modifying the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Perflib

2. Create a new DWORD value named EventLogLevel and set it to 2 for verbose logging
3. Use Performance Monitor to identify specific counter issues:

perfmon.exe

4. In Performance Monitor, try adding counters from the failing provider to isolate the problem
5. Use PowerShell to enumerate all performance counter categories and identify missing ones:

Get-Counter -ListSet * | Sort-Object CounterSetName | Format-Table CounterSetName, Description -AutoSize

6. Check for specific DLL loading issues using Process Monitor (ProcMon):
7. Download ProcMon from Microsoft Sysinternals
8. Set filters for Process Name contains "winlogon" or "services"
9. Look for ACCESS DENIED or PATH NOT FOUND errors related to performance counter DLLs
10. Manually test performance counter provider loading:

$counterPath = "\\localhost\Processor(_Total)\% Processor Time"
try { Get-Counter -Counter $counterPath -MaxSamples 1 } catch { Write-Error "Counter access failed: $_" }

10. If all else fails, consider using the Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT) for deeper analysis
11. Reset the EventLogLevel registry value to 0 after troubleshooting to reduce log verbosity