Performance Counters for Windows Driver (pcw) Service Defaults in Windows 10
Performance Counters for Windows Driver by Microsoft Corporation.
Default Settings
| Startup type: | Boot |
| Display name: | Performance Counters for Windows Driver |
| Service name: | pcw |
| Service type: | kernel |
| Error control: | normal |
| Group: | System Reserved |
| Path: | %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\pcw.sys |
| Registry key: | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\pcw |
Default Behavior
Performance Counters for Windows Driver is a kernel device driver. In Windows 10 it is starting by the operating system Boot Loader as a part of the driver stack for the boot volume. If Performance Counters for Windows Driver fails to start, the failure details are being recorded into Event Log. Then Windows 10 will start up and notify the user that the pcw service has failed to start due to the error.
Restore Default Startup Configuration of Performance Counters for Windows Driver
1. Run the Command Prompt as an administrator.
2. Copy the commands below, paste them into the command window and press ENTER:
sc config pcw start= boot
sc start pcw
3. Close the command window and restart the computer.
The pcw service is using the pcw.sys file that is located in the C:\Windows\System32\drivers directory. If the file is removed or corrupted, read this article to restore its original version from Windows 10 installation media.