Tracing Side-by-Side Errors with SxsTrace

19 May 2025

If you’re troubleshooting Side-by-Side (SxS) errors on Windows, the SxsTrace tool can be really helpful. Here’s how you can quickly generate and parse a trace log:

Step 1: Generate the Trace Log

SxsTrace Trace -logfile:SxsTrace.etl

This command starts the trace and saves the output to SxsTrace.etl.

Step 2: Repeat any step at OS level like launching an app that crashes.

Step 3: Parse the Trace Log

SxsTrace Parse -logfile:SxsTrace.etl -outfile:SxsTrace.txt

This converts the .etl trace into a readable .txt file. Open SxsTrace.txt to review detailed information about the SxS error and troubleshoot accordingly.

That’s it! Using SxsTrace makes diagnosing SxS issues much easier.