Why are Disk and Network columns disabled in Task Manager in Windows Server 2012?

Question

Compared to Windows 8, Windows 2012's Task Manager has Disk and Network columns disabled.

1. Why are these columns disabled?
2. How can one activate them, especially the Network column?

Answer 1

This is because disk metrics are disabled by default on Windows Server 2012 because of significant performance impact, however, it is enabled in Windows 8.Use Resource Monitor to gauge Disk and Network IO usage. - Syed Yusuf from Microsoft R&D

If you need to see the metrics, you can use Resource Monitor.

Alternatively:

You can enable Disk performance monitoring on this tab by running the following command from a Command Prompt launched using the "Run as Administrator" option.

diskperf -y

Sources:

• http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserver8gen/thread/db697958-b1a7-4037-b24a-846dff42fe1f/?prof=required
• http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2012/10/27/windows-8-windows-server-2012-the-new-task-manager.aspx
• http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithmayer/archive/2012/10/14/task-mastering-the-new-task-manager-31-days-of-favorite-features-in-winserv-2012-part-14-of-31.aspx#.UJS1iMXMiUk

Answer 2

Same problem , thanks for ronalchn's explanation... I will let it go. Before that ,I was searching for solution . In case someone need it:

One way to unlock this option is to hack the taskmgr.exe program. By using a reverse software like ida to edit taskmgr.exe , search IsServer ,change a jnz to six nop.

Source:

https://www.zhihu.com/question/57357900

A video is available here, you don't have to know what he says,just follow the steps.

Windows Server 2012/2012 R2/2016 Unlock all functions

Answer 3

I've tried diskperf and Windows 7 says "counters on this system are automatically enabled on demand" so that didn't help.

I found an interesting fix just now (run as administrator):

LODCTR /r

"Rebuild the perf registry strings and info from scratch based on the current registry settings and backup INI files."

For the first time ever, I now have disk statistics showing up in Process Explorer with Windows 7.

Answer 4

I found next post (at russian), where described how to patch taskmanager for missing columns (and direct link to patched at end of post). http://habrahabr.ru/post/160161/