The core and APM/trace components of the Windows Agent run under the ddagentuser account, which is created at install time. The Live Processes component, if enabled, runs under the LOCAL_SYSTEM account. Learn more about the Datadog Windows Agent User.
Each of the following configuration options can be added as a property to the command line when installing the Agent on Windows. For additional Agent configuration options, see more Agent configuration options.
Variable
Type
Description
APIKEY
String
Adds the Datadog API KEY to the configuration file.
SITE
String
Set the Datadog intake site, for example: SITE=
TAGS
String
Comma-separated list of tags to assign in the configuration file. Example: TAGS="key_1:val_1,key_2:val_2"
HOSTNAME
String
Configures the hostname reported by the Agent to Datadog (overrides any hostname calculated at runtime).
Override the cryptographically secure password generated for the ddagentuser user during Agent installation (v6.11.0+). Must be provided for installs on domain servers. Learn more about the Datadog Windows Agent User.
APPLICATIONDATADIRECTORY
Path
Override the directory to use for the configuration file directory tree. May only be provided on initial install; not valid for upgrades. Default: C:\ProgramData\Datadog. (v6.11.0+)
PROJECTLOCATION
Path
Override the directory to use for the binary file directory tree. May only be provided on initial install; not valid for upgrades. Default: %ProgramFiles%\Datadog\Datadog Agent. (v6.11.0+)
Notes
The /qn option runs a quiet install. To see the GUI prompts, remove it.
Some Agent versions may cause a forced reboot. To prevent this, add the parameter: REBOOT=ReallySuppress.
Some Agent components require a kernel driver to collect data. To know if a kernel driver is required for your component, see its documentation page or search for kernel driver in the associated Agent configuration files.
If a valid datadog.yaml is found, that file takes precedence over all specified command line options.
More Agent configuration options
Each of the following configuration options can be added as a property to the command line when installing the Agent on Windows.
Note: If a valid datadog.yaml is found, that file takes precedence over all specified command line options.
Variable
Type
Description
LOGS_ENABLED
String
Enable ("true") or disable ("false") the log collection feature in the configuration file. Logs are disabled by default.
APM_ENABLED
String
Enable ("true") or disable ("false") the APM Agent in the configuration file. APM is enabled by default.
PROCESS_ENABLED
String
Enable ("true") or disable ("false") the Process Agent in the configuration file. The Process Agent is disabled by default.
HOSTNAME_FQDN_ENABLED
String
Enable ("true") or disable ("false") the usage of FQDN for the Agent hostname. It is equivalent to set hostname_fqdn in the Agent configuration file. The usage of FQDN for the hostname is disabled by default. (v6.20.0+)
CMD_PORT
Number
A valid port number between 0 and 65534. The Datadog Agent exposes a command API on port 5001. If that port is already in use by another program, the default may be overridden here.
If using a proxy, sets your proxy password. For the process/container Agent, this variable is required for passing in an authentication password and cannot be renamed. Learn more about using a proxy with the Datadog Agent.
EC2_USE_WINDOWS_PREFIX_DETECTION
Boolean
Use the EC2 instance id for Windows hosts on EC2. (v7.28.0+)
[DEPRECATED] ADDLOCAL
String
Enable additional agent component. Setting to "MainApplication,NPM" causes the driver component for Network Performance Monitoring to be installed. (version 7.44.0 and previous)
Agent 7 only supports Python 3. Before upgrading, confirm that your custom checks are compatible with Python 3. See the Python 3 Custom Check Migration guide for more information. If you’re not using custom checks or have already confirmed their compatibility, upgrade using the GUI or Command line instructions.
If you’re upgrading from a Datadog Agent version < 5.12.0, first upgrade to a more recent version of Agent 5 (>= 5.12.0 but < 6.0.0) using the EXE installer and then upgrade to Datadog Agent version >= 6.
Installation log files
You can find Agent installation log files at %TEMP%\MSI*.LOG.
"%ProgramFiles%\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" status
"%ProgramFiles%\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" launch-gui
"%ProgramFiles%\Datadog\Datadog Agent\bin\agent.exe" flare
Configuration
Use the Datadog Agent Manager to enable, disable, and configure checks. Restart the Agent for your changes to be applied.
The main Agent configuration file is located at:
C:\ProgramData\Datadog\datadog.yaml
Configuration files for integrations are in:
C:\ProgramData\Datadog\conf.d\ OR
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Datadog\conf.d\
Note: ProgramData is a hidden folder.
Uninstall the Agent
There are two different methods to uninstall the Agent on Windows. Both methods remove the Agent, but do not remove the C:\ProgramData\Datadog configuration folder on the host.
Add or remove programs
Press CTRL and Esc or use the Windows key to run Windows Search.
Search for add and click Add or remove programs.
Search for Datadog Agent and click Uninstall.
PowerShell
Note: Enable WinRM to use the commands below.
Use the following PowerShell command to uninstall the Agent without rebooting:
To verify the Agent is running, check if the DatadogAgent service in the Services panel is listed as Started. A process called Datadog Metrics Agent (agent.exe) should also exist in the Task Manager.
To receive more information about the Agent’s state, start the Datadog Agent Manager:
Right click on the Datadog Agent system tray icon -> Configure, or
Run launch-gui command from an elevated(run as Admin) command line
PowerShell: & "<PATH_TO_AGENT.EXE>" launch-gui
cmd: "<PATH_TO_AGENT.EXE>" launch-gui
Then, open the status page by going to Status -> General.
Get more information on running checks in Status -> Collector and Checks -> Summary.
On your target host, launch the Datadog Agent Manager and select the “Windows Service” integration from the list. There is an out-of-the-box example; however, this example uses DHCP.
To get the name of the service, open services.msc and locate your target service. Using DHCP as the target, you can see the service name at the top of the service properties window:
When adding your own services, be sure to follow the formatting exactly as shown. If formatting is not correct the integration fails. Note: Special characters in a service name must be escaped. For example, the name MSSQL$BILLING can be added with MSSQL\$BILLING.
Also, whenever you modify an integration, the Datadog service needs to be restarted. You can do this from services.msc or from the UI sidebar.
For Services, Datadog doesn’t track the metrics—only their availability. (For metrics, use the Process or WMI integration). To set up a Monitor, select the Integration monitor type then search for Windows Service. From Integration Status -> Pick Monitor Scope, choose the service you would like to monitor.
Monitoring system load for Windows
The Datadog Agent collects a large number of system metrics by default. The most commonly used system metrics are system.load.* but these metrics are Unix specific.
While Windows does not offer the system.load.* metrics, an equivalent option that’s available by default is system.proc.queue.length. This metric shows the number of threads observed as delayed in the processor ready queue that are waiting to be executed.
