When you start a new profiling session, you choose an application type from the left-hand column of the screen. Each type of application as associated settings, as well as performance counters and profiling modes.

Some settings are common to all application types (Profiling mode, file I/O and Profile child processes). Other settings are specific to individual application types. These are displayed when you click on that type.

Application types

Select the application type from the left-hand column:

• .NET executable
  Select this option to profile .NET executables, managed code add-ins, or remotely-hosted XBAP applications.
  For additional settings, see Profiling .NET executables, Profiling managed code add-ins, or Profiling XBAP applications.
• .NET Core application
  Select this option to profile .NET Core console or web applications.
  For additional settings, see Profiling .NET Core applications.
• Attach to .NET 4 process
  Choose the .NET process you want to attach to.
  This feature requires Windows Vista or later and .NET 4 (including .NET 4.5).
  When you attach to a .NET 4 process, the Sample method-level timings profiling mode is used and SQL profiling is disabled.
• IIS - ASP.NET
  Select this option to profile ASP.NET web applications running on IIS, WCF services running on IIS, or SharePoint.
  For additional settings, see Profiling ASP.NET applications running on IIS, Profiling WCF services running on IIS, or Profiling SharePoint.
  Note that you must profile ASP.NET web applications on the same computer as the one on which IIS is running.
• IIS Express - ASP.NET
  Select this option to profile ASP.NET web applications running on IIS Express.
  For additional settings, see Profiling ASP.NET applications running on IIS Express.
  Note that you must profile ASP.NET web applications on the same computer as the one on which IIS is running.

• Web development server - ASP.NET
  Select this option to profile ASP.NET web applications running on the web development server (WebDev, also known as Cassini).
  For additional settings, see Profiling ASP.NET applications running on the web development server.
  

  Note

  The web development server (aka Cassini) is no longer installed when you install Visual Studio version 2013 onwards. This means you will need to use IIS Express or real IIS to host your application.

• IIS - SharePoint
  Select this option to profile SharePoint sites and collections running in IIS.
  For additional settings, see Profiling SharePoint.
• IIS - ASP.NET Core
  Select this option to profile ASP.NET Core web applications running on IIS.
  For additional settings, see Profiling ASP.NET Core applications running on IIS.
  Note that you must profile ASP.NET Core web applications on the same computer as the one on which IIS is running.
• IIS Express - ASP.NET Core
  Select this option to profile ASP.NET Core web applications running on IIS Express.
  For additional settings, see Profiling ASP.NET Core applications running on IIS Express.
  Note that you must profile ASP.NET Core web applications on the same computer as the one on which IIS is running.
• Windows service
  Select this option to profile Windows services, or WCF services.
  For additional settings, see Profiling Windows services.
• COM+ server
  Select this option to profile a COM+ server application.
  For additional settings, see Profiling COM+ server applications.
• XBAP (XAML Browser Application)
  Use this option to profile a locally-hosted XBAP application.
  For additional settings, see Profiling XBAP applications.

Profiling Mode

The Profiling mode determines the level of detail gathered by the profiler while your application is running.

Each profiling mode involves a different amount of trade-off between the performance overhead introduced into your application by running the profiler on it and the detail of the results. More detail generally demands more overhead, which can slow the application down while it is being profiled. The profiler estimates this overhead and subtracts it from the timings, so in most cases results remain realistic. But for very short-lived methods, for example, the effects of the estimation can be more pronounced.

For detailed information, see Choosing a profiling mode

Record File I/O

If you have Windows Vista or later, you can record file I/O operations. For more information, see Profiling File IO.

To enable I/O profiling, under Additional profiler options, select Record file I/O performance. Note that enabling this option will make profiling slower.

When you attach to a .NET 4 process, Record file I/O performance is always enabled.

Profile child processes

To simultaneously record performance information from your application and all other processes started by your application, select Profile child processes.

When you attach to a .NET 4 process, Profile child processes is disabled.

Enable inlining

Enables inlining of methods by the .NET JIT compiler, for the process being profiled.

If you are profiling the release build of an application, selecting this option will produce a profile that is closer to the "real-world" performance. However, the accuracy of the results will be reduced. In particular, line-level timings will be distorted, hit counts will not be recorded for inlined methods, and time spent in inlined methods will be reported as part of the calling method.

By default, this option is not selected.

Include source code with saved results

Includes the contents of source files when you save profiling results. This means that you can review line-level performance data in saved results, without having to restore your source files to their original state.

Note that code generated using integrated decompilation is not saved with results even if this option is selected. For more information, see Integrated decompilation.

You may want to clear this option if, for example, you need to distribute performance profiling results for an application that has confidential source code.

By default, this option is selected.

Profile SQL calls

Performance data for SQL calls is automatically recorded in all modes except sampling. SQL call profiling works with all versions of SQL Server including SQL Server Compact, and with Oracle databases, and includes calls to databases hosted in the cloud on SQL Services (SQL Azure) and Amazon RDS.

Profile HTTP requests

Performance data for HTTP calls is automatically recorded in all modes except sampling. For more information, see Profiling web requests (HTTP requests).