windows_exporter/docs/runbooks/windowscollectorfailed.md

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WindowsCollectorFailed

Meaning

The collector identified by the collector label has reported windows_exporter_collector_success == 0 for five minutes.

Impact

Metrics from this collector are incomplete or missing. Alerts relying on those metrics may stop evaluating even though the exporter remains reachable.

Diagnosis

1. Find the failing collector and compare the affected hosts:

   windows_exporter_collector_success{job="windows_exporter"} == 0
   

2. Review exporter logs for that collector's error and duration. Check whether the failure started after an exporter upgrade, Windows update, or account permission change.

3. Check the collector's documentation for supported Windows roles, required privileges, and performance counters. Confirm the required service or role exists and is running on the host.

4. Compare windows_exporter_collector_duration_seconds with the scrape timeout. windows_exporter_collector_timeout == 1 means the collector ran out of time, or its call from an earlier scrape is still running. Test the relevant performance counters locally with Windows Performance Monitor.

5. If every collector of the host fails at the same time, check windows_exporter_scrape_queue_timeout. A value of 1 means the scrape ended while it waited for an earlier scrape, so no collector ran. Several Prometheus servers or jobs that scrape the same exporter, or a scrape that uses most of its timeout, cause this.

Mitigation

Restore the required service, privileges, or performance counter availability. Limit expensive collector queries when collection exceeds the timeout, and adjust timeouts only after measuring normal collection time. Disable a collector on hosts where its role is absent. If the problem began with an upgrade, check release notes and apply a fix or roll back through the normal change process. Confirm the collector succeeds and its dependent metrics resume.