What is Windows Server Event Viewer?

Microsoft Windows Server Event Viewer is a monitoring tool that shows a log of events that can be used to troubleshoot issues on a Windows-based system. The Event Viewer displays information about application, security-related, system and setup events.

What is the use of Event Viewer in Windows?

Event Viewer is a component of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system that lets administrators and users view the event logs on a local or remote machine.

What is an Event Viewer and how is it used?

The Event Viewer is a tool in Windows that displays detailed information about significant events on your computer. Examples of these are programs that don't start as expected, or automatically downloaded updates. Event Viewer is especially useful for troubleshooting Windows and application errors.

What do event logs tell you?

Event logging provides a standard, centralized way for applications (and the operating system) to record important software and hardware events. The event logging service records events from various sources and stores them in a single collection called an event log.

What is the importance of Event Viewer?

The Event Viewer is designed to help system administrators keep tabs on their computers and troubleshoot problems. If there isn't a problem with your computer, the errors in here are unlikely to be important.

Overview of Event Viewer in Windows Server 2016

Which logs can be found in Event Viewer?

What are the 3 types of logs available through the Event Viewer?

Types of Event Logs

They are Information, Warning, Error, Success Audit (Security Log) and Failure Audit (Security Log).

What do Windows event logs contain?

What are Windows Event Logs? At their core, Windows event logs are records of events that have occurred on a computer running the Windows operating system. These records contain information regarding actions that have taken place on the installed applications, the computer, and the system itself.

How do I check Windows server logs?

Can I disable Windows event log?

No — it's not safe to disable the Windows Event Log service. Indeed, in the very description of the service, Microsoft warns: Stopping this service may compromise security and reliability of the system.

How does Event Viewer diagnose a problem?

How many Windows event logs are there?

The Navigation pane is where you choose the event log to view. By default, there are five categories of Windows logs: Application – Information logged by applications hosted on the local machine. Security – Information related to login attempts (success and failure), elevated privileges, and other audited events.

How do you find out who deleted Event Viewer logs?

Open the Event Viewer and search the security log for event ID 4656 with a task category of "File System" or "Removable Storage" and the string "Accesses: DELETE". Review the report. The "Subject: Security ID" field will show who deleted each file.

Where are Windows event logs stored?

Event Logs. The event logs are located in Windows or WINNT directory under %WinDir%\system32\config. These files end in . evt, but we have seen them with different capitalization schemes (.

How do you read event logs?

To open Event Viewer in any version of Windows, go to Control Panel and change the view to Large or Small icons if the view is not already set that way. Click on the icon for Administrative Tools. From the Administrative Tools screen, double-click on the shortcut for Event Viewer. The Event Viewer window pops up.

How do I read a server log file?

Double-click on the log file and it will likely open in a text program by default, or you can choose the program you'd like to use to open the file by using the right-click and “Open With” option. Another option is to use a web browser and open the server log file in HTML.

Can I delete event logs?

1] Delete the Event Log using the Event Viewer

msc or Event Viewer. When you see the icon, right-click on it and select Run as Administrator to launch the Event Viewer. Finally, double-click on the folders in the left pane, right-click on the events you want to have deleted and then choose Clear Log.

What are the 5 level events the Event Viewer shows?

Windows uses the following levels: Critical, Error, Warning, Information, Verbose (although software developers may extend this set and add own specific levels).

What is Event Viewer tool?

Microsoft Windows Server Event Viewer is a monitoring tool that shows a log of events that can be used to troubleshoot issues on a Windows-based system. The Event Viewer displays information about application, security-related, system and setup events.

What is the difference between logs and event?

An "event" is any one record returned from an index or search. It could be a single log, or a single record that contains a count of logs, or a single record that says "100". A "log" is a specific type of event, specifically documenting that something happened at a particular time.

Which logs should be monitored?

How long are Windows event logs retained?

A data retention period of 90 days means that developers and security teams will have access to a rolling 90-day window of indexed log data for analytics purposes - that's your data retention window.

What happens when the maximum event log size is reached?

The default setting is that Windows rotates the Security log, the settings are as follows: Maximum log size: 20480 (KB) When maximum event log size is reached: Overwrite events as needed (oldest events first)

How far back do Windows security logs go?

By default windows event log Maximum file size is defined as 20Mb's. After it reach the defined value, it will over right the historical events with the latest ones. When it's a critical system or a domain controller, best practice is to save logs for at least 6 months.