Get Started with
Intel® VTune™
Profiler for Windows* OS
Intel® VTune™
for Windows* OS Profiler
Before You Begin
- Build your application with symbol information and inReleasemode with all optimizations enabled. For detailed information on compiler settings, see theVTuneonline user guide.ProfilerYou can also use thematrixsample application available in<. You can see sample results ininstall-dir>\samples\en\C++\matrix<.install-dir>\Projects\sample (matrix)
- Set up the environment variables:<install-dir>\env\vars.batBy default, the<is:install-dir>
- [Program Files]\IntelSWTools\VTune Profiler <when installed as a standalone version;version>
- [Program Files]\Intel\oneAPI\vtune\<for Intel oneAPI Base Toolkit installation;version>
You do not need to execute
vars.bat
when using
Intel® VTune™
within Microsoft* Visual Studio*.
Profiler
Step 1: Start
Intel® VTune™
Profiler
Intel® VTune™
Profiler
Start
Intel VTune
through one of these ways:
Profiler
Source | Start
VTune
Profiler |
---|---|
Standalone (GUI)
|
|
Standalone (Command line)
| Run the
vtune command.
|
Microsoft* Visual Studio* IDE
| Open your solution in Visual Studio. The
VTune
toolbar is automatically enabled and your Visual Studio project is set as an analysis target.
Profiler |
You do not need to create a project when running
Intel® VTune™
from the command line or within Microsoft* Visual Studio.
Profiler
Step 2: Configure and Run Analysis
After creating a new project, the
Configure Analysis
window opens with these default values:
Setting
| Default Value
|
---|---|
Target System
| Local Host |
Analysis Target
| Launch Application |
Analysis Type
| Performance Snapshot |

- In theLaunch Applicationsection, browse to the location of your application executable file.
- ClickStartto run Performance Snapshot on your application. This analysis presents a general overview of issues affecting the performance of your application on the target system.
Step 3: View and Analyze Performance Data
When data collection completes,
VTune
displays analysis results in the
Profiler
Summary
window. Here, you see a performance overview of your application.
The overview typically includes several metrics along with their descriptions.

![]() | Expand each metric for detailed information about contributing factors.
|
![]() | A flagged metric indicates a value outside acceptable/normal operating range. Use tool tips to understand how to improve a flagged metric.
|
![]() | See guidance on other analyses you should consider running next. The
Analysis Tree highlights these recommendations.
|
Next Steps
Performance Snapshot is a good starting point to get an overall assessment of application performance with
VTune
. Next, check if your algorithm requires tuning.
Profiler
- Run Hotspots Analysis on your application.
- Follow a Hotspots tutorial. Learn techniques to get the most out of your Hotspots analysis.
- Once your algorithm is well-tuned, run Performance Snapshot again to calibrate results and identify potential performance improvements in other areas.