Tracefmt (tracefmt.exe) is a command-line tool that formats and displays trace messages from an event trace log file (.etl) or a real-time trace session. Tracefmt can display the messages in the Command Prompt window or save them in a text file. It is located in the \tools\tracing subdirectory of the Microsoft Windows Driver Kit (WDK).

Tracefmt uses the formatting instructions in a trace message format (TMF) file to convert the binary trace messages to human-readable format. You can provide a TMF file or provide the image file for the trace provider and have Tracefmt create a TMF file.

Tracefmt can format trace events generated by the TraceEvent function, and trace messages generated by the WmiTraceMessage, the TraceMessage function, or the DoTraceMessage macro. For more information about TraceEvent and TraceMessage, see the Windows SDK documentation.

Important  Tracefmt requires the newest version of Dbghelp.dll. On systems prior to Windows Vista, copy the Dbghelp.dll file from the \bin\Platform subdirectory of the WDK into the directory in which Tracefmt.exe is located.

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