Debugging Process Monitor Startup Failures on 64-bit Windows 7 Systems


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When Process Monitor (ProcMon) fails to launch on specific 64-bit Windows 7 machines, the absence of error messages makes troubleshooting particularly challenging. Through multiple test cases, I've identified these common characteristics in affected systems:

// Typical symptom reproduction code
ProcessStartInfo procInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("procmon.exe");
procInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
Process proc = Process.Start(procInfo); // Returns without error but no GUI appears

The root cause often stems from Windows 7's driver signature enforcement. Process Monitor relies on the ProcmonX64.sys driver, which may fail to load silently when:

  • SecureBoot is enabled (even though Win7 doesn't officially support it)
  • Third-party security software intercepts driver loading
  • The driver cache becomes corrupted

First, check if the driver loaded successfully using PowerShell:

Get-WinEvent -LogName System | Where-Object {
    $_.Id -eq 219 -and $_.Message -like "*procmon*"
} | Format-List -Property TimeCreated,Message

For systems where standard fixes fail, this C# workaround forces proper driver initialization:

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

class ProcMonLoader {
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
    static extern IntPtr LoadLibrary(string dllName);
    
    public static void Main() {
        LoadLibrary("procmon64.dll"); // Pre-load dependency
        Process.Start("procmon.exe /AcceptEula /Quiet");
        System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(3000); // Allow driver init
    }
}

Add these registry tweaks to relax driver enforcement temporarily:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"EnableLUA"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Driver Signing]
"Policy"=hex:01,00,00,00

When ProcMon remains unusable, consider these PowerShell alternatives for process monitoring:

# Real-time process creation events
Register-WmiEvent -Query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceCreationEvent WITHIN 1 WHERE TargetInstance ISA 'Win32_Process'" 
    -Action { Write-Host "New process:" $Event.SourceEventArgs.NewEvent.TargetInstance.Name }

# File system monitoring alternative
$watcher = New-Object System.IO.FileSystemWatcher
$watcher.Path = "C:\Windows\System32\drivers"
$watcher.Filter = "*.sys"
$watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = $true

Several users have reported that Process Monitor (ProcMon) from SysInternals fails to launch silently on specific 64-bit Windows 7 machines. The executable shows no error messages or crash dialogs - it simply doesn't start when double-clicked. Interestingly, this behavior isn't universal across all Win7 x64 systems.

Based on community reports and Microsoft documentation, these are the most frequent causes:

  • Driver signature enforcement conflicts
  • Incomplete extraction of the SysInternals suite
  • Antivirus interference with the low-level monitoring tool
  • Missing Visual C++ redistributables
  • Corrupted process monitor configuration

Process Monitor relies on the ProcMon driver (PROCMON24.SYS) which may trigger Windows' driver signature enforcement. Try this PowerShell command to check the status:


bcdedit /enum | find "testsigning"

If it returns "testsigning Yes", you'll need to either:

  1. Disable driver signature enforcement temporarily (not recommended for production)
  2. Or install the signed version from Microsoft's official package

Here's a reliable method to ensure proper installation:


# PowerShell cleanup script
Stop-Process -Name "procmon" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Remove-Item "$env:ProgramFiles\Sysinternals\*monitor*" -Recurse -Force
Remove-Item "HKCU:\Software\Sysinternals\Process Monitor" -Recurse -Force

Then download a fresh copy from Microsoft and extract using:


Expand-Archive -Path "~\Downloads\ProcessMonitor.zip" -DestinationPath "$env:ProgramFiles\Sysinternals\" -Force

Some legacy systems require compatibility settings. Create a .reg file with this content:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers]
"C:\\Program Files\\Sysinternals\\procmon.exe"="~ RUNASADMIN DISABLETHEMES"

When Process Monitor fails silently, use its sibling tool to investigate:

  1. Launch Process Explorer as Administrator
  2. Attempt to start Process Monitor
  3. Check for child processes that might be crashing
  4. Look for missing DLL dependencies in the stack trace

If the issue persists, consider these temporary alternatives:


# Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) basic capture
logman create trace ProcMonDebug -o debug.etl -p "{9a280ac0-c8e0-11d1-84e2-00c04fb998a2}" 0xFFFFFFFF 0xFF -nb 16 16 -bs 1024 -f bincirc -max 4096 -ets

Or use the built-in Performance Monitor with these counters:

  • Process > % Processor Time
  • Process > Handle Count
  • Process > Thread Count